334 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



July 



bined, which does not include there- 

 with a thorough patrolling during the 

 dry season by alert and energetic ran- 

 gers, of all the main traveled trails, 

 roads, railroads, and places where 

 fires are most likely to be started. One 

 forest fire, under certain conditions, 

 would quickly and thoroughly destroy 

 all the advantages gained by several 

 seasons' hard work. In the matter 

 of forest fires, the old adage might 

 well be changed to read : "An ounce 

 of prevention is worth many pounds 

 of cure." Thorough patrolling and 

 preventing the starting of forest fires 

 in dry seasons is the best and the only 

 sure way of fighting them. 



I want to say right here that I am 

 as bitterly opposed to allowing any 

 of the old system of "cut and slash" 

 lumbering to be put in operation in the 

 public forests of the State of New 

 York as anyone can possible be. I 

 am deeply interested in the welfare 

 of the Adirondacks, where the greater 

 part of my life has been spent in some 

 capacity closely connected with the 

 forests of this state, of which I am 

 still a legal resident, and have an ear- 

 nest desire to see the public forests 

 of the Empire State administered on 

 sound business principles, always 

 carefully safeguarding the combined 

 interests of the people. 



PRACTICAL RESULTS OF THE CUP 

 AND GUTTER SYSTEM OF 

 TURPENTINING 



BY 



CHARLES H. HERTY, Ph. D. 



""I" 1 HE cup and gutter system of col- 

 lecting crude turpentine, pro- 

 posed as a substitute for the box sys- 

 tem commonly in use, was described 

 at length in Bulletin 40, Bureau of 

 Forestry. The saving that it effected 

 was also shown in the experimental 

 tests, the results of which were given 

 at the same time. 



Since the publication of the bulle- 

 tin, experimental and comparative 

 tests have been carried on steadily, but 

 only the results of a year's commer- 

 cial test of the new system on the 

 turpentine farm of Messrs. Powell, 

 Bullarcl & Co., at Ocilla, Ga., have 

 been published. 



The matter contained in this arti- 

 cle is issued to show the practical re- 

 sults of three years working of the 

 new system, to call attention to sev- 

 eral improvements that have been 

 made in equipment and methods, and 

 to point out several faults that have 



developed. All the comparative tests 

 were made on similar half crops as 

 described in Bulletin 40. Readers who 

 are not familiar with turpentining are 

 referred to that publication, but it 

 may be said in general that in this 

 system the resin is collected in a suit- 

 able vessel, preferably of hard burned 

 clay, being caught and conducted to 

 this vessel by inclined metal gutters 

 inserted in shallow cuts in the tree. 



The advantages claimed for the sys- 

 tem were two : First, that it protects 

 the tree against the destructive action 

 of storms and fire ; second, that it in- 

 creases both the quality and the quan- 

 tity of the product. 



RESULTS. 



Since the publication of Bulletin 40 

 the plot of timber there described as 

 a "first-year crop" has been worked 

 two years more, as a "second-year 

 crop" and as a "third-year crop," com- 



