THE FRENCH SYSTEM OF GATHERING TURPENTINE, 



97 



of the details of the method are more clearly shown in the figures 

 1 and 2 of Plate IV. 



Figure 1 of Plate IV "exhibits the method of gathering tur- 

 pentine by the Hugues system, and the use of the till and pot. 

 While formerly the resin was allowed to run into a hole in the 

 sand at the foot of the tree, since 1860, when the production was 

 stimulated by the closing of the American sources of supply, an 

 improvement on the crude method of collecting came into use. 

 It consists in fixing a bent zinc collar or gutter cut from sheet zinc 

 eight inches long and two inches wide, with teeth (see figure) across 

 the chip, which acts as a lip, and conducts the liquid resin into a 

 glazed earthen pot or a zinc vessel of conical shape suspended 

 below the lip. The pots are six inches high, four and a half inches 

 at the opening, and three inches at the bottom, and hold about one 

 quart. At first placed on the ground they are fastened each season 

 above tlie old chip by means of a nail through a hole or otherwise 

 (see figure). In this way, b}^ shortening the distance over which 

 the resin has to flow, the evaporation of the oil is reduced and 

 there is less liability of impurities to fall into the receiver. A 

 cover over the pot is also sometimes used. The pots are emptied 

 every fifteen or twenty days with the aid of a spatula. The scrape 

 is collected only twice in the season, in June and November.""^ 



Figure 2 of Plate IV shows a cross section of a pine tree treated 

 according to the French method, bled at different places at different 

 times. Some of the scars are nearly covered over with new wood 

 (as at II), and two of the scars (as at III) have been recently made 

 in new wood between older scars. 



"Another improvement which reduces the amount of evapora- 

 tion and assures cleaner resin consists in covering the chip with a 

 board. This improvement (Hugues system) is said to yield more 

 and purer resin, the yield is claimed to be about one-third larger, 

 and the difierence in price, on account of purity, 80 to 90 cents 

 a barrel, while the cost per tree per year is figured at about one 

 cent, besides the proportion of scrape is considerably reduced. 

 This (called' gallipot) is collected by hand, except the hardest impure 

 parts (called barras,), of which there is hardly any i-n tliis system of 



*An. Rep. Secretary Agr., Washington, D. C, 1892, p. 350. 



