PINACEiE 435 



the zinc into a vessel specially placed for the purpose. When 

 the face of the wound dries, the resin passages are reopened by 

 the removal of a thin section of bark and wood, the operation 

 being repeated as often as required. At the end of the season 

 the wound may extend to a height of 2 ft. above the ground, the 

 width being restricted to 3^ in. The same cut is extended 

 upwards for four or five years, by which time it has reached a 

 height of 10-10 J ft. Work is then commenced upon another 

 section of the trunk, taking care to leave a strip of bark intact 

 between each two cuts. Young trees that have to be removed 

 for thinning purposes are tapped freely and practically exhausted 

 in four or five years. Trees intended to grow to maturity are 

 not tapped until they have attained a diameter of 13 in. at 5 ft. 

 from the ground. Such trees may be grown on a 60, 70, 80, or 

 100 years' rotation, with a rest of a year after every 4 or 5 years' 

 tapping. The crude resin is distilled and the turpentine and rosin 

 separated. Although tapping is said to decrease the rate of 

 growth of the trees, the timber is improved thereby, the wood 

 being harder and more durable than that of untapped trees. A 

 great quantity of the smaller-sized wood is imported into the 

 S. Wales collieries for use as pit-props. Timber from larger trees 

 is cut into lumber and utilized as above. Although the principal 

 seat of the resin industry is W. France, extraction and dis- 

 tillation is also carried on in Corsica, particularly in the Zonga 

 forest. The average yield per tree is stated to be rather less than 

 in the Landes. Destructive distillation is only employed for roots 

 and waste wood. The forest workers in Corsica are encouraged 

 to extract the roots for this purpose. 



P. Pinaster thrives on light and well-drained soils, particularly 

 those of considerable depth, but it does not succeed on clay. It 

 is essentially a low level and maritime species, and few trees 

 give better results in sea sand, or are more suitable for planting 

 on sand-dunes. Unfortunately it is not very hardy and it does 

 not succeed in the colder parts of the British Isles. In the 

 southern counties of England, however, it is quite at home, and 

 often forms a very handsome specimen. Excellent examples are to 

 be seen at Bournemouth and at Mount Edgecumbe. When well 

 established in warm climates, trees 25-50 years old produce cones 

 freely and natural reproduction is good. In the British Isles 

 natural seedlings are common in the pme woods about Bourne- 

 mouth. When grown for the extraction of resin the trees are 

 allowed to develop with good-sized heads, and to encourage this, 

 drastic thinning is practised, for, like most other pines, it demands 

 full light. In France and Portugal some 2,500,000 acres, chiefly 

 sand-dunes, have been reclaimed from a barren, fever-stricken 

 waste by planting the maritime pine. In the Scilly Islands it 

 has been used with Cupressns macrocarpa to provide the necessary 



