[PW] Turpentine clearing

[Edith Bailes]

On Thu 3/20/2008 3:56 PM I wrote:

A turpentine clearing, then is an area in a forest of pines which produce
naval stores.
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There seem to be some doubting Wombats, but a Resource Forester with the
Maine Forest Service confirmed my statement.

In order to produce naval stores, the trees must be situated far enough
apart to enable them to develop full crowns. Some pines are purposely
planted at the correct distance for the development of full crowns; in some
areas the trees are naturally clustered together in a large enough area to
make tapping them economical, but they are growing too close to each other
and need to be thinned to the proper distance. In either case, the
underbrush is kept cut back so workers can move easily from tree to tree.
The result of these practices is called a turpentine clearing.

Edie in Maine