The Dienst van het Boschwezen — the Forestry Service of the Nederlandsch-Indië government — was the colonial forestry service charged with the management and exploitation of the government forests of the Netherlands Indies. The Dienst van het Boschwezen is named in the Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet of 1930 as the colonial service on whose behalf the Baleq exploitation trial was undertaken from 14 September 1924, and as the service that supplied the standing Pinus Merkusii forests that formed the raw material of the Baleq enterprise.
The 1924 exploitation trial
The Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet records that, by the Besluit of 27 June 1924, the Regeering placed funds at the disposal of ‘s Lands Caoutchouchedrijf for an exploitatie-proef (exploitation trial) uit te voeren door ‘s Lands Caoutchouchedrijf voor rekening van den Dienst van het Boschwezen — to be carried out by ‘s Lands Caoutchouchedrijf on behalf of the Dienst van het Boschwezen. The trial was begun on 14 September 1924 in the Semnenboschcomplexen of Paja Djorok and Blangtekoer — both near the road from Takengon to Bireuen in Atjeh. The Semnenboschcomplexen were thus forests of the Dienst van het Boschwezen, and the trial was undertaken on the Dienst’s behalf.
The explorations
The Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet records that the Semnenboschcomplexen of Paja Djorok and Blangtekoer had been identified by the Dienst van het Boschwezen in the course of its exploratie van de dennenbosschen — its exploration of the pine forests. The exploration was undertaken by the Dienst’s foresters, who hier en daar balsem ingezameld (here and there collected balsam) — that is, collected the raw resinous exudate of the tapped pines — which was then in het laboratorium van de Afdeeling Nijverheid te Buitenzorg (in the laboratory of the Industry Department at Buitenzorg) gesplitst werd in hars en terpentijn (split into resin and turpentine). The product of the trial was thus not factory-scale turpentine but roept-monster — a “shouted sample” — that is, a trial sample rather than a regular product.
The Proefstation voor het Boschwezen
The Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet records that the Mededeeling no. 19 van het Proefstation voor het Boschwezen — the publication of the Proefstation voor het Boschwezen — was the source of the observation that the odour of the first Atjeh-turpentine samples of 1924 had been afwijkend van die van de goede Amerikaansche en Fransche soorten (different from that of the good American and French sorts). The Proefstation voor het Boschwezen was the research station associated with the Dienst van het Boschwezen, and its Mededeeling no. 19 was the principal published source on the silviculture of Pinus Merkusii in the Gajo-Landen — including the Brandts Buys monograph on the quarre tapping method.
Significance
The Dienst van het Boschwezen’s significance in the historiography of colonial Aceh is as the colonial forestry service that identified and managed the Pinus Merkusii forests of the Gajo-Landen-Atjeh border region, and as the service on whose behalf the Baleq exploitation trial was undertaken from 14 September 1924. The Dienst’s explorations of the dennenbosschen — the pine forests — of Atjeh were the principal source of the standing timber that supplied the Baleq enterprise, and its research station — the Proefstation voor het Boschwezen — was the principal source of the silvicultural knowledge that underpinned the quarre tapping method.
See Also
- Baleq
- Pinus Merkusii
- ‘s Lands Caoutchouchedrijf
- Proefstation voor het Boschwezen
- Atjeh-terpentijn (Spoor, 1930)
- Besluit van 27 June 1924 on Atjeh-turpentine exploitation
- C. Brandts Buys
- Quarre
- Paja Djorok
- Blangtekoer
- Takengon
- Bireuen
- Gajo-landen
- 1924
Source
Atjeh-terpentijn: tegenwoordige kwaliteit en nieuwe beoordeelingen, by Ir. W. Spoon, Berichten van de Afdeeling Handelsmuseum van de Koninklijke Vereeniging Koloniaal Instituut No. 57, Amsterdam: J. H. de Bussy, 1930, pp. 5–7 (Winning van de terpentijn).