72 OUR VANISHING FORESTS 



in this country, however, is to begin turpentining 

 several years before the tree is to be cut down for 

 lumber, keeping the production continually at its 

 maximum capacity. Turpentine operations are not 

 merely seasonal but require constant watching to 

 empty the receptacles, scrape off the gummy rosin 

 from the face of the scar, and repeatedly re-chip the 

 wood. 



Owing to the inflammability of the gum, very 

 thorough fire protection is necessary. In our 

 southern states, however, it is often satisfactory to 

 clear a space about each tree and then deliberately 

 burn the rest of the area, the brush and dried grass 

 which might cause an accidental and really danger- 

 ous conflagration being thus destroyed. 



The products obtained are similar to those of 

 soft-wood distillation, but it is generally considered 

 that spirits of turpentine distilled from resinous sap 

 are of higher grade, and they accordingly bring 

 better prices. The operation differs, however, in 

 that the wood itself is not distilled but only the 

 semi-liquid rosin, and copper and iron retorts ac- 

 cordingly take the place of air-tight charcoal ovens. 

 The distillate, which comes from a worm shaped 

 copper condenser, is collected in barrels and the 

 turpentine skimmed off. The remainder is more or 

 less pure rosin. 



