T. Kirk. — On the neglected Forest Products of New Zealand. 183 



pinaster. A small furnace, about four feet in length and two and a half feet 

 in width, is set in brickwork ; on each side of the furnace near the bot- 

 tom is an opening furnished with a close-fitting door. The chimney, which 

 is nearly horizontal, conducts the smoke into the centre of a small wooden 

 chamber about twelve feet square and ten feet in height, with a hole in 

 the roof about six feet square. The chamber is entered by a door working 

 in a groove, and fitted so as not to allow of the escape of smoke at its 

 joints. The walls and roof are lined with boards on the inside. The open- 

 ing in the roof is covered by a double thickness of coarse flannel sewn into 

 a conical or pyramidal shape, and supported on a light wooden framework. 



The straw and waste material used in the manufacture of the tar and 

 resin is placed in the furnace in small quantities, merely sufficient to keep 

 the fire alight, the supply being constantly maintained. The smoke passes 

 into the boarded chamber, and the soot is deposited on the boards and on 

 the flannel cone, while the lighter portion of the smoke filters through the 

 latter, which also allows the heated air to escape. The lampblack is 

 detached by striking the boards and flannel with a stick, when it falls to the 

 ground and is collected into small casks for shipments. 



In some parts of Germany the furnace and chamber are constructed in 

 a large shed ; but in Bordeaux the whole is exposed, the chamber being 

 covered with a tiled roof. It is obvious that a chamber of this kind might 

 readily be constructed of corrugated iron. 



Eesin. 



Eesin, or rosin of commerce, is obtained from various pines in Europe 

 and America. The kaiiri-r esin, popularly called kaiiri-giim., is one of the 

 most valuable known, and it may be partly due to the fact of its value and 

 its abundance in the northern districts of the colony, that no attention has 

 been paid to that produced by the rimu, the kahikatea, and other trees. 

 The greater part of the kauri-gViUi sent into the market is found in a fossil 

 condition, a very small portion being the produce of livmg trees, although 

 occasionally it occurs in recent masses or " tears" of several pounds weight, 

 at the junction of a large branch with the stem. 



Although a "shake," or fissure of any kind in the trunk of the red 

 pine (rimu), or white pine (kahikatea), is always found to be compactly 

 filled with resin, no attempt has been made to collect it for commercial pur- 

 poses. It may, therefore be worth while to describe the mode of extraction 

 practised in Southern Europe. 



In the Landes of Bordeaux the pinaster has been largely planted to fix 

 the blown sand ; the plantations thus formed not only yield a supply of 

 useful timber and firewood, but afford support to a large portion of the 

 population engaged in the collection of resin. In May, a piece of the outer 



