RESIN-TAPPING. 3 27 



per cord of 1 ton, as including the price of the wood and the 

 profit earned. But in practice the cord wood is sold to the 

 charcoal-burners at a price which often enables them, when 

 working in pairs, to earn about 35s. to 40s. per week each. 



Charcoal is now also largely obtained as a bye-product in the 

 fractional distillation of the substances contained in wood by 

 treatment in masonry furnaces or iron retorts at a high tem- 

 perature. At 300 to 550 Fahr. crude pyroligneous acid or 

 wood vinegar is given off, and wood-tar ("Archangel tar") at 

 625 to 800 Fahr., while the charcoal remains as the residuum. 



Resin-tapping for Turpentine and Rosin is not likely again 

 to be of importance in British forestry. 



(1) In France, resin-tapping of the Maritime Pine takes place 

 around Bordeaux on trees over 3J ft. in girth, when small 

 incisions are made in the bark and gradually heightened during 

 the following five years, when they are about 12 ft. high and 

 4 in. broad. 



(2) In Austria the Austrian Pine is tapped by making a 

 broad incision near the foot of the stem, and hollowing it out 

 into a deep cup -shape at the bottom, in which the resin 

 collects. Tapping is continued for about ten years, the wound 

 being gradually increased in height by about 15 in. a-year, 

 and the tapping-season continuing from April to middle of 

 October, i.e., during all the season of active growth. The trees 

 are only tapped in one place. 



(3) The German method of tapping Spruce is by making two 

 incisions into the sapwood in May or June on opposite sides of 

 the stem, for about 4 ft. high by 2 in. broad, and ending in a 

 point at the lower end, and the resin of the first year is scraped 

 off in the following July ; then the edges of the incision are 

 freshened, and so on for about 10 to 12 years. 



(4) The Alpine method of tapping Larch, the resin of which 

 is mainly obtained from the heartwood, consists in boring 

 a hole with an augur about 1J in. in diameter, and giving 



