162 FORESTRY INVESTIGATIONS U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



While tlie exudation of the resin covering the excoriated surface and the accumulation of 

 resin in the wood near the surface act as an efficient antiseptic aad firm protection against 

 atmospheric influences, access of fungi and of insects to the interior of the tree— superior to any 

 callous— it also endangers the life of the tree if exposed to fire, since the lesin is highly inflammable, 

 and the heat produced by its flame is capable of killing the trees outright. It is, therefore, again, 

 this indirect effect which exposes the trees of the turpentine orchard to extra risk, even though 

 the operation was carried on with due care and consideration for the vitality of the tree. 



Effect upon the forest — What has been said regarding the effects upon timber and trees 

 applies naturally to the forest as a whole. With proper methods and proper care the turpentine 

 industry need not be detrimental to the full and profitable utilization or the successful regeneration 

 of the forest. In France the turpentine orchard is generally as well managed— with exceptions, 

 of course— as any other forest property. Unfortunately, the ignorance and carelessness of our 

 turpentine gatherers, as well as of the entire community regarding forestry matters, lead to most 

 disastrous results. 



The coarse, irrational manner of cutting boxes into the tree for gathering the dip, while 

 reducing the yield of the valuable oil, weakens the foot of the tree, and those receiving more than 

 one box or being of small size are generally sooner or later blown down; the broad chips, out of 

 proportion to the size and vitality of the tree, cause many to die before they have yielded what 

 they could; the same charge of wastefulness may be made against the methods of chipping and 

 of collecting the resin, both of which reduce the yield considerably. But the greatest loss is that 

 occasioned by the fires, carelessly handled by the orchardist himself in trying to protect himself 

 against it, and still more carelessly allowed by the community to rage over large areas one season 

 after another. In the orchard their destructiveness is increased by the broad resinous surfaces at 

 the butt of the trees by the blown down trees and the debris of the dead trees standing or lying 

 on the ground. Dr. Mohr observes — 



The trees which h.ive not been killed outiight l>y the fire, 01 have altogether escaped this danger, are doomed 

 to speedy destruction by baik beetles and pmeborers, which find a breeding place in the living trees blown down 

 during the summer months, the bloods of which rapidly infest the standing trees, which mvaiiably succumb to the 

 pest m the same season. Hence, the forests invaded by the turpentine men present, m five or six years after they are 

 abandoned, a picture oi luin and desolation painful to behold; and in view of the destruction of the seedlings and 

 younger growth, and oi the vegetable mold, season after season, all hope for the lestoiation of forest life is excluded. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT. 



£To radical improvement on existing practice can, of course, be expected until the turpentine 

 orchardists themselves can see that present conditions and methods are detrimental to their 

 business, and can persuade the community that it is to the mutual interest of both community 

 and orchardist to allay the fire nuisance. 



Forestry — that is, rational use and management for perpetuity of our forest resources — will 

 never succeed m our country until our communities discountenance the habits of the savages in 

 the use of fire and learn that civilization consists in making nature do more than she voluntarily 

 gives ; in fact, that it consists in management, not in. destruction, of natural resources. 



It is the duty as well as the self-interest of the community to do all in its power to make 

 rational management for continuity practicable, and the first step is to insure protection of indi- 

 vidual property against loss, be it by depredation or by other preventable causes. Hence, protec- 

 tion against fire is a conditio sine qua non, if we would have rational and systematic management 

 of our forest resources ; for so long as forest property is made extra hazardous by lack of proper 

 protection against fire the inducement to rob it of its best parts in the shortest time and then 

 abandon it to its fate is too great. 



I would refer here to another part of this report, in which the general legislation for fire 

 protection has been outlined (pp. 183-188). In the States or portions of States in which turpentine 

 orcharding is practiced additional provisions would be necessary. 



Regarding the practice in the technical operation of tapping, legislative regulations are prob- 

 ably out of the question, the spirit of our institutions being against interference in the use of 

 private property except where such use is directly injurious to other persons. Otherwise it 

 would be desirable, for the indirect benefit of the community, and especially its future, to pre- 

 scribe lowest size of trees to be tapped and broadest chip permissible. 



