NAVAL STORE INDUSTRY. 153 



foliage, and the size of the one sear, or the sum total of all the sears, if several, should stand in 

 a certain relation to the circumference or diameter of the tree. 



For the size of the scar three dimensions are to be determined — breadth, depth, and height. 

 Breadth and depth should be determined by the considerations just stated. As far as product is 

 concerned there is nothing gained — at least in our pine — by cutting deeper than the sapwood, since 

 the heart is inoperative. The breadth may be larger or smaller according to whether the tree is 

 expected to yield resm for a long time or is to be depleted as fast as possible. In the former case 

 the scar should not be ^vider than can conveniently callous over in a few years' rest, so as to permit 

 new scars to be opened after the rest without any diminution, so to say, of conducting cell tissue. 

 In the latter case, i. e., when the largest amount of resin is to be obtained in the quickest time, 

 without reference to the life of the tree, only enough cambium need be spared to sustain the tree 

 alive during the period which it takes to carry the chip advantageously to the greatest practical 

 height. In this case, to be sure, only the resin already formed in the sapwood is being drained, 

 no new additions coming from the growth during the years of tapping. The greater the breadth 

 of the chip the greater, no doubt, the momentary discharge. The height of the chip, in the pines 

 at least, should be determined by the following consideiations: The resin drains from the longi- 

 tudinal resin ducts which are cut through, by the law of gravity, until by the volatilization of the 

 solvent oil of turpentine the hardened resin stops the flow; hence regard to plentiful production 

 dictates as low a chip to begin with as is possible to collect from. A high chip at first and rapid 

 chipping afterwards is a useless waste of good material, without any benefit, since the flow depends 

 only upon the number of resin ducts cut through radially. 



In practice the French have come nearest a rational size of the scar, not allowing it to be 

 more than 4 to 5 inches wide and scarcely one-half an inch deep, beginning with a height of not 

 more than 4 inches and progressing afterwards with the greatest care very gradually. With such 

 chips it is possible to bleed the trees without detriment for their whole natural life. In Austria 

 the size is extravagant, namely, widening to two-thirds of the circumference, although the height 

 is at first started with only 2 inches. In the United States a waste of 10 inches is at once incurred 

 by "cornering" the box, and the chip is made 12 to 14 inches wide without much reference to the 

 life or size of the tree, and several chips are opened on larger trees. 



Method of collecting the resin. — The pocket interest of the orchardist makes it desirable to 

 have the largest amount of "dip" — that is, liquid resin — and the smallest amount of u scrape," or 

 hardened resin scraped from the surface of the scar, for the former contains larger amounts of the 

 more valuable oil which has been evaporated from the latter by exposure to the air, as the resin, 

 in a thin layer, runs to the receptacle. It is therefore advantageous to reduce as much as 

 possible the distance between the place at which the resin exudes and the receptacle and also to 

 concentrate as much as possible into one channel the flow of resin. 



The American practice, it will be seen, is entirely faulty in this respect, and the Austrian not 

 much better, the French alone being rational. 



Frequent collection from receptacles at the trees also reduces loss from evaporation. Clean- 

 liness — keeping impurities, sand, chips of bark, and wood out of the receptacles — is reflected in 

 the better grades of the product. Scraping should be done as rarely as possible, since it injures 

 the tree, and after the resin is once hardened the loss of oil by exposure is only insignificant. 



TURPENTINE ORCHARDING IN AMERICA. 



The American practice of boxing and chipping is thus described by Dr. Charles Mohr, agent 

 of the Division of Forestry : 



In the establishment of a turpentine oi chard and still two points must he considered, namely, (1) proper facili- 

 ties of transportation to shipping points for the product, and (2) a sufficient supply of water for the condenser con- 

 nected with the still. The copper stills generally in use have a capacity of about 800 gallons, or to carry a charge 

 of 20 to 25 barrels of crude turpentine. For such a still to be charged twice in twenty-four hours during the work- 

 ing season not less than 4,000 acres of pine land, with a good average stand of timber, are required. This area is 

 divided into twenty parcels, each of 10,000 " boxes/' as the cavities are called, which are cut into the tree to serve 

 as a receptacle of the exuding resin. Such a parcel is termed a '• crop," constituting the allotment to one laborer 

 for the task of chipping. The work in the turpentine orchard, as such a complex is called, is started in the earlier 

 part of the winter, with the cutting of the boxes. Until some years past no trees were boxed of a diameter of less 

 than 12 inches; of late, however, saplings scarcely over 8 inches in diameter are boxed. Trees of full growth 



