Demoine courier., 1855-06-28
The Turpentinc. Tree.

The Turpentinea Tree.
The State Of North Carolina contains
upwards Of two million acres Of wild
swampv land, which is covered princi
pally by a heavy growth of pitch pine
timber. The trees are generally Of very
great size, and extend in unbroken COR
ests for miles and miles. These forests
are more valuable to the State than all
its mines Of golden ore, for they pro-
duce immense quantities Of tar, pitch,
,urpen.ine and rosin. The writer of a
letter to the Hampshire Gazette gives
an interesting description of the manner
in which the rich juices of these trees
are procured and manufactured. The
srss process, he says - to eat IN the
trunk Of a tree, near the ground, a deep
hole or cavity, Of the capacity of about
three pints. Above this in various pla.
ces. missions are made in the tree, aud a
shallow groove is cut in the bark leading
from every i~ncision 10 the hole, so that
all the sap escaping from the wounds
will flow down to the reservoir designed
for its reception.
The process Of chipping is repeated
every week or two, 10 give a fresh sur
face from which the juice exudes, until
after a few years the trees are bazed on
every side TO a height Of ten or twelve
feet. Large forests Of dead trees are
constantly seen, standing tall and erect,
wi,hou, branch or bark, resembling a
large s~hip.yard filed with dismantled
mas!s. Into the boxes near the ground,
the juice, a csude ,urpentine. begins to
flow abou. the middle OF March, slowly
at fret, but more rapidly as the warm
season advances, and slowly again in au.
tumu, until il ceases altogether in winter.
The liquid, about the consistence of
honey. as il flows, Is removed from the
excavations as they are filled, and trans
ferred to barrels, where it becomes a
sofs solid. The average yield of these
trees, as | was informed, is ABOUT FIVE
gallons o year.
A barrel Gf this sap contains usually
seventeen per cent, of oil or spirits Of
turpen.iue, and this is distilled from j,
by mems Of a rude dis,illing apparatus,
consisting Of q large iron retor.. capable
of containing two or more barrels. The
iurpen,ine is placed in the retort. the oil
driveno of by the process Of distillaiion,
and stored away. and rosin is left as the
resijuum. But the uses OF the pine
tree DO not cease with its life.
In the tree Of the long lived pine, The
%rcsinous matter becomes concentrated in
the interior layers Of the wood, when its
vegetation ceases. This dead wood
known throughout the south as light
wooG, IL then selected for the manufac.
ture Of tar. The Tree is then cut into
billets of convenient size, which are
placed together in q pile and covered
with earth. in much the same manner
that wood is placed in a charcoal kiln, in
New England. This stack Of wood is
built however, upon a mound of earth
prepared for the purpose the summit Of
which declines from the circumference TO
the centre. where q cavity is formed,
connected by a little canal with a ditch
which surrounds the mound. After the
pile is ready to be ignised, FIRE is placed
IN the centre Of the top, and q slow
combustion maintained until all the res.
inous matter is melted, running into
the central cavity, and from that into
the outer ditch, where it is collected, The
tar of commerce, and placed in barrels
for ex2or,ion. These trees, when Gu.
green and sawed into boards become the
valuable lumber so much used at the
north for flooring and other purposes
Thus. these forests, yielding with little
comparative labor and expenditure OF
money 50 much that is valuable and nee
essary in the mechanical arts, becomes
sources Of great profit; and u~nattrac,ive.
dirty Wilmington, Norsh Carolina. is the
great exporting city Of these staples Of
that State.