St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-06-13
Turpentine ''BOXing. -

pert of the Bureau of Forestry
the importance Of which may b
realized by the enormous gam il
profits it secures to the turpentln
operator. BY new method oftap
ping trees, called the emp and gut
ter system. DIR. Herty has secured
an increase over the old method o.
% per cent of turpentlne, besides
uniformly higher grades of rosln
The demonstration of this IN
crease is based on careful and elab'
crate experiments conducted by
Dr.. Herty at Ocllla, Ga. One
half of a first, a second, a third,
and fourth-year crop was man
aged by the box system, the other
half by the new c"p-apd- gutter
system. Every effort was made
to have the conditions in the two
divisions exactly similar, and to
make the comparison a just one.
The increased output of ,23 per
cent secured by the cup and gutter
system during the season OF 1902
,s guaranteed by DR.. Herty as be-
mo absolutely reliable for the tut
pen,ine orchard a, Ocllla, Ga, and
he believes there is no reason tor
no, accepting it as representative
Of the increase that may be Sc
cured by this system throughout
the turpent'ne belt.
The experiments of 1902 showed
the following gains of the cup and
gutter over the box system on a
basis of one crop:
/
Second year. ..........-.. -. OIL ~
Third year. 'io 90
Fourth year. ..''.. olo 10
So striking and significant were
the results of the Ocil]a expert
ments that turpentine operators
have eagerly seized upon the dis
covery, and all over the South
the new method is supplanting
the old. Dr.. Herty has been con
stan,ly IN the field this spring III
slall,ng the equipment of the new
system under the direction OF the
Bureau of Forestry Up to the
present, $4,000 cups have been
installed.
The unbroken forest of longleat
pine that once extended from
Southern Virginia through the
South Atlantic and the Gulf States
to eastern Texas has been greatly
depleted. More than half the orgy
nal forest has been exhausted; and
conservative ,urpentine operators
estimate standing supply OF viz
gin timber sufficient only for fifteen
wears of box eating. The indiffer-
ence with which this destructive
method was everywhere once re-
garded has been succeeded by a
turpent1ne industry, that some
method must be found of extract
ing turpen,ine which will not pre-
vent similar continued operations
on the same trees. The present
method OF boxing is needlessly
wasteful of the products and need
lessly harmful to the forests. "A
"box" or cup like cavity is cut IN
the base of the tree to receive the
rosin which flows from the scarlficd
face above. The box itself does
not contribute any additional flow
of rosin; on the contrary the deep
cut, by weakening the vitality OF
the tree really lessons the flow. 1t
is an unnecessary wound. inflicted
in the most vital part of the tree,
reducing its vigor, lessening It's
power to stand against the wind,
exposing it TO the attacks of dis
ease, and furnishing al unneces-
sarily large amour, of exposed IN
tlammable material to feed the next
fire that burns over the forest.
The future of the forest that has
been heavily turpentined by the
box system is speedy decay and
death.
The cup-and-gutler system IS
fully described IN Bulletin 40. en-
titled IA New Method of Tur-
pentine Orcharding," just Issued
by the Bureau of Forestry, and by
Circular "a, which was sent out to
turpentine operators several weeks
ago. Briefly. the equipment con-
slsts Of an earthen cup attached
to the tree beneath its scarlfied
face and serving to catch the rosin