and other Products from Scotch Fir. 363 
had done running, and they were in general stripped of the 
bark on two sides, as bigh as a man could reach, and some 
were dead from the operation; others did not look much 
the worse for it. I find the usual task is for one man to 
attend three thousand trees, which taken together would 
produce one hundred to one hundred and ten barrels of tur- 
pentine. 
April 15, 1792. 
On my return from Wilmington to Cowen’s tavern, di- 
stant about sixteen miles from thence, I was informed that 
the master of the house ‘had’ been a’superintendant of ne- 
groes who collected turpentine. 1 found the information 
T had before received was not perfectly correct; he told me 
he attended to six slaves fora year for a planter, and be- 
tween the Ist of April and'the Ist of September they made six 
hundred barrels of turpentine. The cutting: the: trees for 
the purpose’ of collecting is! called boxing thai and it is 
reckoned a’ good aiayd belt boxsixtytin aday; the trees 
will not) run longer! ‘thaw! four yéars, and? itis necessary to 
take off a thin’ piece! of the wobdvabout!onee “a week, and 
also as often as it’ raitis, as (that stops ‘the trees running. 
While in North Caroline, P was particalarin my inquiries 
respecting the making tar and pitch, ‘and ol saw: several tar- 
kilns; they have two sorts’of wood that'they make it from, 
both of which are the piteh+pine ; the sort from which most 
of it is'made are old’ tréés which “have fallen down in the 
woods, and the sap rotted off, and is what they call light- 
wood, not from the weight of it,7as it is very heavy, but 
from its combustible nature, as it will light with a candle, | 
and a piece of it thrown into the fire will give hght cnough to 
read and write by; all thé pitch-pine' will not become light= 
wood; the peoplé'concerned in making tar know it from 
the appearance of the turpentine inathe grain’ of the wood: 
the other sort of wood which iscused)after'the trees which 
have been boxed ‘for turpentine*(have done running, they 
split off the faces over whiclr the turpentine bas run, and of 
this wood is made what is called green»tar; bemg made from 
green wood instead ofedry. °\When'a sufficient quantity of 
wood is got togethers the first step'is to fix a'stake in the 
ground; to which (they® fasten a'string, and’from the stake, 
as a centre, they déscribe a ‘circle on the ground according 
to the size they wish’to have the kiln; they consider that 
one twenty feet in diameter and fourteen feet high should 
produce them two hundred’barrels of tar ; they then dig out 
all the earth a spit deep, shelving inwards within the circle, 
and sloping to the centre; the earth taken out is thrown 
up 
