62 ALGERIA 



per tree per year, payable in two equal installments on 

 July 15 and January 15 of each year. 



The contract governing the method of tapping the tree 23 

 allows a maximum width of 0.09 m. (3.5 inches) for the scar dur- 

 ing the first 2 years, 0.08 m. (3.1 inches) the third, and 0.07 m. 

 (2.7 inches) the fourth; a height of 0.55 m. (22 inches) the first, 

 0.60 m. (24 inches) the second and 0.65 m. (26 inches) the third and 

 fourth marking. A total maximum height for the scar of 2.45 

 metres (8 feet) is allowed after 4 years; the depth may reach 

 i centimetre (0.4 inch). All trees must be at least 0.90 m. (36 

 inches) in circumference before being tapped. Experiments 

 prior to the initiation of the present working group had already 

 shown that aleppo pine only 0.80 m. (31 inches) in circumference 

 could not be safely tapped, and that 6 years of continuous 

 tapping was too long. 



This development of a turpentine industry in an arid country 

 with no means of forest communication has raised certain serious 

 problems, namely, the commercial success is more or less de- 

 pendent upon good prices for turpentine; the initial expense 

 for road development was considerable, and if the enterprise 

 were to fail the building of the road could hardly be justified 

 on any other grounds; no adequate provision can be made for 

 reproduction; even if regeneration does come in naturally, there 

 will be vast areas of young growth which will yield nothing, 

 and which will constitute a great fire menace; the necessary 

 periods of rest are incompatible with the maintenance of the 

 industry. 



These problems may be solved by fixing a rotation suitable 

 for tapping and for the production of wood; exploitation must 

 be arranged systematically and the young stands must be 

 thinned. 



Thus, if a o.9o-metre (35 inches) tree were tapped in 1910, 

 191 1, 1912, and 1913 it would be felled in 1914; the same cycle 

 would be carried out in 1914 to 1918, and 1919 to 1922, etc. The 

 effect is that the felling and the first year of the new tapping 



23 The Landes methods are described in a review by the writer published in 

 the Forestry Quarterly, Vol. XIV, No. 4, 1916. 



