70 OUR VANISHING FORESTS 



it is really this ease of cheap adulteration and the 

 facile gullability of the public, which limits the 

 amount of production. There is no shortage of 

 sugar-producing trees. Their value, like that of 

 fruit and nut trees, is too well appreciated. 



Maple syrup is far from being the only important 

 product of tree sap. As mentioned in the preceding 

 chapter, turpentine, rosin and wood-tar are some- 

 times obtained by distillation of pine wood, but our 

 chief supplies of these products come rather from 

 the sap of the living trees. This is an old and 

 important industry, dating back to the time when 

 wood-tar for caulking ships was the chief product 

 desired, and indeed all turpentine and tar products 

 are still known as naval stores. Several hundred 

 years ago a famous French minister, desiring to 

 protect a rich wine growing land from the storms 

 of dune sand blowing in from the seacoast, planted 

 a large area in southwestern France to maritime 

 pine. As a matter of fact he not only accomplished 

 his immediate object but laid the foundation of 

 Europe's turpentine industry. In this country a 

 number of our southern pines are equally produc- 

 tive, and today as one rides on the train through 

 sections of Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi 

 and Louisiana, nearly every pine tree appears to be 

 hung with small earthenware cups. 



