Mr. Linh shared about Do Bau tree. Mr. Ho Tan Linh (resident in Bac 2 village, Tra Son commune, Tra Bong district) is known as a “veteran” in growing do Bau. Mr. Linh’s garden currently has about a hundred trees that are over 20 years old. Mr. Linh said: 20 years ago, he went all over the mountains and forests of Tra Bong to look for gourds. At that time, all had to walk, climb passes and wade streams, sacred forests and poisonous water could not stop his footsteps in order to earn money in the hope of changing his life. Then Mr. Linh also planted a few hundred trees. Care, medicine, how much effort he put into the trees. As the years went by, the hope kept dwindling when there was no tree that gave off the desired fragrance. Many trees planted in Tra Son commune have their roots cut down. “Three years ago, a trader asked to buy a tree for 1 million to pump chemicals to create oil, but I shook my head and refused. The money has already been spent, so keep it. I hired a mechanic to drill holes in the body of the gourd. If this hole is ant it gets in, it will create oil. However, up to now, these trees have not been able to produce agarwood, “Mr. Linh said. While many people still dream of changing their lives from agarwood, Mr. Ho Van Chan (residing in Bac 2 village, Tra Son commune) has lost all hope. Pointing to the planting ground that has been razed and leveled, there are only a few roots left, Mr. Chan said that he only sells trees here, but has never seen agarwood. “I can’t see the bass until the wind blows, so the tree falls down. So I cut it down, and the garden that I planted has just rented a flatbed car,” he shared. Mr. Linh shared some cores of Do Bau tree. According to Mr. Dinh Van Phong, Chairman of Tra Son Commune People’s Committee, the Do Bau tree whose special products are agarwood and sage has a very long history. Many people think that when they grow up to 7-8 years old, they can drill and then give acid or biological products and wait a few years to create agarwood, they will become a billionaire. A few decades ago, the movement of growing dó bau strongly developed and spread throughout the mountainous communes. The tree grows well but does not produce bass. Many Do Bau orchards were toppled by storms at the end of 2020. “In Tra Son, all hamlets grow do bau, but so far no one has made agarwood from do bau, people cut it down to switch to growing acacia. A few are sold cheaply to businesses,” said Mr. Phong.

The gourd garden of Mr. Ho Tan Linh. Dream several decades Mr. Ho Tan Linh (Bac 2 village, Tra Son commune, Tra Bong district) is known as a “veteran” in gourd plantations. Mr. Linh brought out a large plastic wrap, in which there were wooden pieces of many sizes. Selecting a small piece of wood, he lit a fire and said: “This is the stem of the gourd tree that has just produced oil, it is still” young “so it is soft and easy to rot, the smell is also mild. I tried hard to check, someone asked to buy but not to sell. Pieces of gourd wood with a slight fragrance were carefully stored by Mr. Linh. Mr. Linh’s garden has about hundred gourd trees over 20 years old. Almost all storms collapsed in 1999, causing it. A few years ago, a trader also asked to buy for 1 million VND / tree to pump chemicals to create oil, but he did not agree. “Planting this seed is planting the hope of a life change, selling them as much as possible, and then spending it all. If we leave it there, we still hope, if we only need 1 tree to create oil, we can get hundreds of millions of VND, many billions of dollars, ”he said. The holes drilled in the trunk of the gourd in Mr. Linh’s garden. Waiting forever without seeing the tree creating oil, giving off the scent, he hired himself to drill holes in the tree to lure the ants into the nest. “The same ant to live in, the tree will secrete oil, the depression is formed from there,” he shared. Like Mr. Linh, Mr. Ho Van Don (Bac 2 village, Tra Son commune) embraced the dream of a billionaire agarwood for more than 2 decades. When he was only twenty years old, Mr. Don roamed all over the mountains and forests of Tra Bong, climbed to the top of Ca Dam to “hunt” for gourds to plant in his garden. Mr. Ho Van Don has embraced the dream of a billionaire for over 20 years. “At that time, we all walked, but crossed the pass, crossed the stream, and searched the forest day and night to find natural gourds to plant. Each phase takes about 3 or 4 days, the lucky one can earn a few dozen trees, the few will only take a few trees. I can’t remember how many times I went to get about 100 trees in the garden ”, Mr. Don recalls. More than 20 years have passed, Mr. Don’s dream has yet to come true. In the garden, the amount of trees was gradually lost, part died from disease, partly due to wind storms. The sober, the one still dreaming Several decades ago, starting from the story of the forest goers changing their lives by winning incense, the gourd planting movement spread throughout the mountainous communes of Quang Ngai. Particularly in Tra Son commune, all the villages are growing gourd plants. Almost every house has planted, a few tens or even thousands of trees. But after a period of inefficiency, many people cut it down to switch to acacia, others still have hope. The movement of growing gourd had spread everywhere in Tra Son. Mr. Ho Thanh On (Dong hamlet, Tra Son commune, Tra Bong district) has been charming and pregnant since he was 30 years old. Deciding to play a “big gamble”, he bought the seedlings of 5,000 gourd trees, kept 1,000 trees for planting, and the rest sold them to neighbors. He calculated that with only about that many trees, 10 million after selling each tree, it would get 10 billion VND. However, after planting a few years, the trees will die massively, and the trees are dying and waiting for buyers. Three years ago, he sold 116 trees at the price of 55 million dong to a trader. They drilled holes for the drug to be transplanted, but now it is not able to create incense. Many trees have fallen due to a heavy storm. Storm No. 9 last year caused many trees to fall onto the roof, causing damage, but Mr. On has not bothered to fix it for months. As for Mr. Ho Van Chan (Bac 2 village, Tra Son commune), hoping to change his life through incense, he hired someone to flatten the garden to plant gourd plants. “There are only trees selling here, but never creating agarwood. I did not see the depression forever, the wind stormed again, so the trees fell all over, stopped cutting them down to plant acacia ”, he said. A gourd planting area has flattened. Meanwhile, after more than 20 years of waiting, Mr. Ho Tan Linh is still pursuing the dream of changing his life. “In this country, people always say: First ivory, second incense. If the tree is still there, I hope it remains. If we can’t eat it, our children will enjoy… ”Mr. Linh was sure. Mr. Ho Van Tien – Chairman of Tra Son Commune Farmers Association mused: “The fever of growing gourd has cooled down gradually over the years. Currently, people are still nurturing and cultivating, some people are cut off. Like me, I also cut down dozens of gourd trees because I don’t feel like I have to wait forever ”. According to the gourd growers, the process of creating frankincense from the gourd plant is the reaction of wood particles to external influences such as cracks, pathogenic fungi, … When an area is If it is damaged, the plant secretes its own resin as a way to dress the wound. The harmonious combination of resin oil and wood of the gourd tree has created frankincense. In nature, not all plants produce agarwood. Agarwood is usually found in trees from 10 years on. Agarwood has very high economic value and is classified into many types, of which type 1 usually ranges from a few hundred million to several billion dong.