THE FKEXCH SYSTEM OF (iATHEKING TURPENTINE, 



99 



faces, in order that not enough of the inner hark and sap-wood will 

 he removed at one time to kill the tree or seriously injure its life. 



ADVANTAGES OF THE FRENCH SYSTEM. 



The advantages of the French over the American system fall 

 under two heads: (1). It tends more to protect the trees and pro- 

 long their activity. (2). It gives a larger yield, raises the grade of 

 the resinous products and lessens the cost of producing. 



RESULTS AS TO THE RELATIVE STRENGTH AND VITALITY OF THE TREES. 



Under the French system no "boxes" are cut to weaken the 

 trunk and make it liable to blow down, and in which, sooner or 

 later, rot begins and finally destroys the timber value of the stem. 

 It is in this American "box," too, always filled or covered with 

 inflammable resin while the face is being worked, that fires usually 

 get a start on the tree. There is no limit to the number of new^ sets 

 of narrow French faces which can be placed, while from the weak- 

 ening caused by the boxes only a limited number of sets of them 

 can be cut. There are trees in the canton of Cormeau (France) 

 which have been worked for more than 200 years and show over 

 fifty scars. The scars of the narrow faces, although they may be 

 over twice as numerous, are more quickly covered over by the 

 growth of new wood on both sides, since the cambium or genera- 

 tive tissue just under the bark will have twice as many surfaces 

 from which to develop. This enables a tree to more quickly 

 regain its lost vitality, upon which the yield of resin largely 

 depends. The shallow depth which the faces in the French prac- 

 tice are cut, only one-third of an inch, does not injure the life 

 process so much as the deeper cutting practiced in Amei'ica, which 

 injures the growth of the tree about two-thirds, as is shown b}- a 

 comparison of the thickness of individual rings of growth before 

 and after boxing. 



The purpose the French management has in view is to both pre- 

 serve and work the forests intended for the production of turpen- 

 tine as long a time as possible without serious injury to tb.c trees, 



