THE NAVAL STORES INDUSTRY. 19 
in use exceeds the number of boxes. During the past two or three 
years, however, it is estimated that cups have been hung on 75 per 
cent of the trees tapped. 
The need of replacing the box with a cup hung against the tree was 
felt many years ago. 
Mr. A. Pudigon patented a substitute for the box in 1868, and the 
device received a commercial test at Monks Corner, S. C, but was 
soon abandoned for some unknown reason. From that time on 
numerous substitutes have been invented, but none patented prior 
to 1903 proved a commercial success. 
The first systematic attempt to improve the method of collecting 
gum was made at Bladenboro, N. C, by W. W. Ashe in 1894. A 
comparison on a limited scale was made between the French cup and 
gutter system and the box system, and the results showed a gain for 
the former of over 20 per cent in the value of the products collected. 
The preliminary experiments begun in 1901 by Dr. Charles H. 
Herty, of the Forest Service, and continued in 1902, mark the turning 
point in the method of collecting crude gum. Cups were first used on 
an extensive scale in 1904, and since that time their use has become 
more or less general. 
Classes of cup systems in use at present. — The cup systems may be 
divided into four classes. 
Class 1. (Plates III and IV.) The gum flowing down the face is 
guided into the cup by means of two galvanized-iron gutters inserted 
in cuts in the tree. These gutters are 2 inches wide and from 6 to 12 
inches long, depending on the size of the tree, and are bent into an 
obtuse angle. Sufficient bark and sapwood are removed from the 
tree to form a central vertical ridge with two flat faces on either side 
of it. The gutters are inserted in inclined gashes made by a broadax 
in the flat surfaces. It is necessary that these surfaces be flat, in 
order that the straight edge of the gutter may enter the face along its 
entire length, so that gum can not flow between the gutter and the 
tree. The lower gutter is placed so as to project at least two inches 
beyond the other at the center of the ridge, in order to guide the gum 
into the cup, which is hung just below the lower gutter on a nail. 
The cups are of galvanized iron or of clay, and vary in shape. Those 
resembling an ordinary flowerpot are the most common. Their ca- 
pacity is 1, 14-, or 2 quarts. The blazes made for inserting the gutters 
extend below the latter and produce a flow of resin which is not only 
wasted but serves to coat the base of the tree, and thus makes the face 
more susceptible to fire. The workman frequently makes the blaze 
too large, as is shown in Plate III, figure 1, and there is a tendency 
in placing the gutters to spread them too far apart, losing in many 
cases as much as 20 inches of chipping surface. It is entirely possible 
to place the cups and gutters on a normal tree so that the first streak 
