-Pinewoods Treasure
“Above the cup a woodsman would use a hack to cut a face into the pine tree. That means he scored the bark, causing the resin to flow. Every time they made a new cut, more gum flowed into the cup.”
“Look! Here’s an old pine tree with a series of cuts, each one higher than the last. That pattern is called a cat face.”
Tiffany: “Like cat whiskers! Why were they collecting the gum?”
Wanda: “Did people make syrup from it?”
Bill: “No, they made syrup from sugar cane juice. At a turpentine still they distilled the gum to make turpentine.”
final images, 12-11-07
illustrator: Bill Otersen
writer: Sarah Wagoner