606 CONIFERiE. 



The turpentine which concretes upon the trunk is occasionallyscraped 

 off and barrelled by itself, and is known in the market as scyujje, or by 

 English druggists as Common Frankincense or Gum, thus. 



Although a large amount of turpentine is shipped to the northern 

 ports for distillation, a still larger is distilled in the neighbourhood of 

 the turpentine orchards. Copper stills are used, capable of containing 

 5 to 20 barrels of turpentine. The turpentine is distilled without water, 

 the volatile oil as it flows from the worm being received in the barrel in 

 which it is afterwards sent to market. When all the oil that can be 

 profitably drawn off has been obtained, a spigot is removed from an 

 opening in the bottom of the still, and the residual Rosin, appearing 

 as a viscid fluid-like molasses, is allowed to flow out. Only the first 

 qualities of rosin, as that obtained from Virgin dip, are generally 

 considered worth saving, the less pure sorts being simply allowed to run 

 to waste. When it is intended to save the rosin, the latter is drawn off 

 into a vat of water, which separates the chips and other rubbish, and 

 the rosin is then placed in barrels for the market. A North Carolina 

 turpentine orchard will remain productive under ordinary treatment 

 for fifty years. 



The collection of turpentine in the departments of the Landes and 

 Gironde in the south-west of France, is performed in a more rational 

 manner than in America, inasmuch as the plan of making deep cavities 

 in the tree for the purpose of receiving the resin, is avoided by the 

 simple expedient of placing a suitable vessel beneath the lowest incision.^ 

 The turpentine which concretes upon the stem is termed in France 

 Galipot or Barras. 



Description — Common turpentine is chiefly of two varieties, 

 namely, American and Bordeaux ; the first alone is commonly found 

 in the English market. 



American Turpentine — A viscid honey-like fluid, of yellowisli 

 colour, somewhat opaque, but becoming transparent by exposure to the 

 air ; it has an agreeable odour and warm bitterish taste. When long- 

 kept in a bottle, it is seen to separate into two layers, the upper clear 

 and faintly fluorescent, the lower somewhat turbid or granular. When 

 the latter portion is examined under the microscope, it is found to con- 

 sist mainly of minute crystals of peculiar curved or bluntly elliptic 

 form. These crystals are abietic acid ; when the turpentine is warmed, 

 the crystals are speedily dissolved. 



Bordeaux Tinyentine — in all essential particulars agrees with 

 American Turpentine ; it appears to separate rather more readily than 

 the latter into two layers, — a transparent and an opaque or crys- 

 talline. 



Chemical Composition — The turpentines are mixtures of resin 

 and essential oil. The latter, which amounts to from 15 to 80 per cent., 

 consists for the greater part of various hydrocarbons, corresponding 

 to the formula C^''ff ^ Many of the crude turpentine oils, and some of 

 them even after rectification, are energetically acted on by metallic 



* For further particulars, see Guibourt, 1874. 24 pages, 1 plate ; Matthieu, Flore 

 Hist, des drog. ii. (1869) 259, also Curie, forestUsre 1860, p. .35.3. 

 Produits risinettx du Pin maritime. Paris 



