Incense must not be strange for the most of people who always go to the pagoda or visit some sacred places of worship. In human life, incense is used to religious rituals, medicinial purpose followed the ancient experiences or decorative art simply. Incense is made from the natural substances of plants which smell beautiful and contain the amount of attar.
My village in general and my garden in particular always grow Litesea Glutinosa in the middle of other trees to create the shadow and make the boundary. Normally, it takes over 5 years for Litsea Glutinosa in a large area to harvest the bark and trunk to make the incense stick after growing on the land at an attitude of over 600m above the sea level.
Today, I mention about this topic because we are on the season of harvesting the bark, and take the bark out then drying it under the sun till it can be sold for business owners.
Because the bark of L. Glutinosa has a sebum layer, it is so easy to separate the bark from the trunk. Due to the adhesive and viscidity properties, the incense stick made from this plant could burn for a while. Besides, Litsea glutinosa wood is used to make fire, agricultural tools or some stuffs for house. Leaves have the equal effective in curing flatulence, eructation. The fruits of this tree also are used to oil-press then make soap or candle.[Source]
To harvest it easy, first of all, we use a power saw or chopper, we will cut the mature trees down then cut all the braches as well and use a farm vehicle to contain and carry all to go home.
Normally, the trunk with a girth ranging from 25-65cm will be collected to take bark. In average a trunk of Litsea Glutinosa has a yeild of 5kg of bark.
We spread an awning on the ground, put the trunk on it, then we start spliting the bark with a knife or a block of wood fitted in the hand.
Keep flaying the bark till there is no one on the log, we will put the log in the one side, dry it under the sun directly to presever it for a long-term use.
When the seperated barks are full in the awning, we move it to the ground and also dry it by a strong sunlight. This process needs few days to complete.
Afterward, we collect all the dried barks in the bags, call the business owner and sell it for them. From that, they will start crushing and grinding the dried bark till it turns out smooth then store it in a dry place, and must to get rid of moisture. After all, these owners will sell or export it to the companies which they are involved in producing commercial use of bark such as incense sticks. The price of dried bark is not quite high. They buy it from us with the cost of 7000 vnd (0.25$) for per kg.
Because of the long-term harvesting and the very cheap price, growing Litsea Glutinosa cannot be a main field in our village. If the market is good in consuming this material, surely the farmers will have more motive power to grow and take care of it.
I will keep these trees on my garden till next year. I think beyond being the material to make incense, this tree also brings the shade for other trees in my garden. Keeping them alive means I love them so much ^^.