The Monmouth inquirer., 1925-01-22
sAvINe ruRpENTINg 10.
New Method Of Tapping Prolonss
Their Usefulness

Their Usefulness
The recent experiments Of the for
est service, designed TO conserve the
life of turpentine trees gives promise
Of remarkable success, says the
Gainesville (FIa) sun. 1t IS believed
that the Improvement tested in these
experiments WILL. in addition to pro-
longing the life Of the trees, greatly
i9crease their total yield Of turpenttne.
When the cup-and-gutter system oil
tlrpentfne was introduced BY the for
Jest service ne three years ago the
+ economy which it secured led to it's
adoption on a large scale by southern
turDentine producers. What lenCs this
system its great value is the fact that
il does away with the old actice OF
boxing" which consists in cutting
q deep cavity or 4box" al the base
Of the tree for the purpose Of CATCH
ing and holding the resin vhieh aows
from the clipped face q the tree
trunk above. In place Of q box On
sarthenware cup Of the same capacity
Is fastened to the tree TO this the
flowing resin is directed by means OF
metal cutters. The disuse Of the box.
effected two-fold gain--flrst, saw
ing Of the deep, fatal wound IN the
base of the tree consequently a con
servation OF its vitality, and, second,
much lezs waste in gathering Of the
product with a greater yield of tur-
pentine and better grades Of resin.
While this decided Improvement spar
ed the tree very considerably, the
method Of chipping faces to sttmu-
late resin flow remained unchanged.
This in itself necessities a deep
wound, which. it is Believed, ex-
hausts the vitality Of lhe tree more
tnan is necessary. Exhaustion is evl-
dent from the fact that after the first
year the yield quickly falls OFF, and
the total productive period is also
limited
A further step in advance to sup
plement the gains already secured by
the cup and gutter system vas there
fore sought in the new plan. This
aimed to reduce the size and number
Of '1aces" Clipped, and also the depth
of the chipping, without diminishing
the fey OF resin. In the experiments
carried out during the last season the
first object was to show that at cast
aa equal flow Of resin can BE Sc RED
from shallower and shor.er IS
The success of these ee.p9rinea,s has
tentatively established IT, paas .ca
bility of this plan. A gaeat wing
naturally results, for by reducing the
depth of the superficial e...ent q he
wound the drain ON the vitality Of
the tree is reduced and at least ali
equal yield IL seemed without
counting the product Of future ye-rs.
Under the old system the annual vic d
gradually falls Off, largely il ccnss-
duence of the formation Of dry faee.
which is kind of loeal death, ~
fecting the exposed wood OF the tree.
1t is highly probable that with this
diminution in the severity Of the OPP
Grafton the ordinary term of three
or four years during which forest is
now worked can be greatly increased.
This means not only larger total
return and consequently larger profits
but also that. the investment for tur-
pentining capital is heightened, a fact
which especially appeals to the inves-
tor The experiments are being con-
Quoted in cooperation with the Hill
man-Sutherland Land Co.. which last
year placed four crops of trees, OF
about 5000 trees each. at the disposal
of the forest service, and for the sea-
son of 1906 has consented to supply
still more timber to further the study.