NAVAL STORES 173 



etc., are removed by this raking. The pine woods are then set fire, gen- 

 erally speaking, to improve the grazing, keep down the brush, which 

 would interfere with the turpentining operation, sand to prevent forest 

 fires from starting from some accidental or intentional cause. When 

 the woods burn in this way, after raking, there is little likelihood of fires 

 getting into the highly inflammable boxes and doing irreparable damage 



Photograph by U. S. Forest Service. 



FIG. 46. '' Dipping " the resin from the old-fashioned box. This method is very wasteful 

 compared to the cup systems. 



by burning out the boxes and resulting in the felling of the tree by wind- 

 fall. 



CUP AND GUTTER OR APRON SYSTEMS 



Owing to the serious losses resulting from the wasteful process of 

 turpentining by the old box system and the growing scarcity of virgin 

 longleaf pine forests still untapped in the South and the consequent 

 need for more conservative methods of tapping the trees, several 



