EDITORIAL. 



PHILIPPINE TURPENTINE. 



Considerable local interest has been aroused recently in the industrial 

 possibilities of turpentine products from the pine forests of Benguet 

 Province, Luzon. 



The Benguet pine, "Saleng," Pinus insularis Endl., is found distrib- 

 uted from Zamliales Province to the extreme north end of Luzon. The 

 Bureau of Science herbarium shows collections of this species from the 

 Provinces of Zambales, Benguet, Ilocos Sur, Abra, Lepanto, and Bontoc. 



The tree, in its leaf, fruit, and wood characters, shows a close resem- 

 blance to the western 3'elloA^■ pine, Pinus ponderosa Dough, of the United 

 States and to the Khasya pine, Pinus hhasya Eoyle, of British India. 

 Neither of the above-mentioned species to my Imowledge are tapped for 

 the commercial production of turpentine at the present time, although 

 the latter is reported to produce a good grade of resin. 



Some Benguet pine trees were boxed and the turpentine collected by 

 Mr. B. T. Brooks of the chemical staff of the Bureau of Science, who 

 reported in substance as follows: 



"On March 13, fourteen trees situated in the forest adjoining the claim of 

 the Headwaters Mining Company were boxed. The trees were selected at random 

 and included several trees of the variety known to lumbermen and turpentine 

 collectors as 'scrub pine.' Six hours later thirteen of the trees showed an 

 abundant flow of resin, while one was hard and did not flow. The collected resin 

 weighed 1,761.5 grams. 



"On March 14, thirty trees were boxed in another locality about 2 miles distant 

 from Baguio. They were selected with the idea of including both healthy and 

 unhealthy looking trees and some which had been damaged by ground fires. On 

 the following day these trees were again visited and all but three, which were 

 hard and did not flow, were still running slowly. The collected resin weighed 

 4,400 grams. 



"Method of boxing. — The boxes were cut about 30 to 40 centimeters wide, 12 

 to 18 centimeters deep, and 6 to 8 centimeters from front to back, varying with 

 the size of the trees. They were made by inexperienced laborers and were so 

 badly split and bruised that much of the fresh resin was lost, hence the yields 

 obtained do not accurately represent the total flow of resin. 



"One of the best flowing trees had a diameter of about 85 centimeters and 

 produced 857 grams of resin in thirty-two hours, although a portion was lost 

 by overflowing the box. 



"These samples being taken during the dry season probably represent a smaller 

 yield than would be oljtained during the rainy season when the trees have more 

 life and the loss by evaporation is less. 



"The cup and gutter system of collection would also give large yields by mini- 

 mizing the loss." 



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