RESIN-TAPPING. 707 



the marsh pine (P. serotina) of the North American States, 

 North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, 

 and Louisiana. Dr. Mohr states that 2,000,000 acres of these 

 pines were being worked for resin in 1890, and that about 

 500,000 acres of new forest were taken up annually. In five 

 or six years after these forests have been invaded, they present 

 a picture of ruin and desolation painful to behold, the seedlings 

 and poles being burned and all hope for the restoration of 

 the forests excluded. At present, attempts are being made 

 successfully to introduce a conservative system of resin-tapping 

 into these forests* (Fig. 368). 



In India, resin-tapping has been introduced by Government 

 agency in certain forests of Pinus lonyifolia in the North-West 

 of India, and is practised on a careful plan based on that 

 employed in Gascony. Kesin also may be obtained in India 

 from Pinus excelsa; from P. Khasya and P. Mcrkusii, in Burma 

 and the Malay States, also from Pinus Thunbergii in Japan. 



A. SUPPLY OF EESIN FROM THE MARITIME PINE IN THE 

 LANDES OF GASCONY. 



1. Mode of T 



The maritime pine contains very large and numerous resin- 

 ducts, and the flow of resin being much more active in the 

 sapwood than the heartwood, superficial cuts into the former, 

 which pass through these canals, cause the resin to flow into 

 receptacles placed to receive it. 



Towards the end of February or the beginning of March, in 

 order to prevent pieces of the coarse external bark from 

 mingling with the resin, the rough bark or rhytidome of the 

 maritime pine is trimmed off as a preparatory measure, so 

 that only a few inner cortical layers are left outside the sap- 

 wood; they then present a smooth reddish surface. Only 

 portions of the trunk that are to be tapped during the ensuing 

 season are thus prepared. 



From the 1st to the 10th of March (according to the 

 weather), the resin-tapper makes an incision with a special 

 implement in the trunk of suitable trees. This is in the shape 



* "A New M<-tl)od of Turpentine Orcharding, 11 by Dr. C. H. Hertz, U.S. 

 Department of Agriculture, Bull, xl., 11)03. 



z z 2 



