New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1857-03-17
sOUTHERN DEVELOPMENT.

+ sOuTHERN DEVELOPMENT. III
4l 800
II According toan article which appeared a few day
ago id the Bulletin upon the subject of oils particn
ary Of that class produced from resin the South ha
another great natural resource which is destined
rival those 81 cotton and sugar.
We learn from an article in recent number Of De
Bows Review that the manufacture Of spirits of ur
/ pentine in the State Of Alabama was commenced
within the last eight years, and although upon very
limited scale at first, the annual product has now
reached upwards Of LOGO 900 gallons, and that OF
rosin to above 10000 barrels. In North Carolina
where the business has been carried on for much
longer time it is estimated that the annual product Of
spirits amounts to 100000 barrels and this would
give residue Of about 100000 barrels rosin. Upon
this estimate the value Of the spirits of turpentne
annually produced in the State of North Carolina is
upwards Of sl4 GOO 000-neary equal to the value of
the annual agricultural product of the State of Mary
land Add to this the value of rosin when converted
into OIL which at the present market value would be
4 $4,000 600, and we find resource in this natural
4 product of over S33 100000 in the State OF North
Carolina alone and this estimate does not include the
tar, pitch and naptha, which necessary and mer-
charitable articles, and would largely increase the
amount. 5 gss i-. SIN
This business is one Of vast magnitude in the State
of North Carolina but we are satisfied from the
rapidty with which it has increased in other pine
timbered States in the South in which its commence
ment is of recent date that in some Of them it
will be carried on to far greater extent, and that in
a comparatively short time we may confidently anti
cipate product from the pine tree, in the Southern
country, that will form very important staple,
reaching value of not less than 100000 900. te
This estimate cannot be considered extravagant,
taking in view the great and increasing demand in
this country and in Europe The pine forests of Euro
pean countries have been in great measure ex-
hausted, and henceforth they must look to the New
World for their ship timber, and for large portion
of the oils they consume. Of so much importance to
the people both of France and England has become
the importation of turpentine rosn and oil into those
countries, that their governments have removed the
duties in order to give every encouragement to the
trade. This circumstance, in connection with the
fact that rapidly opening pine forests, and
rendering them accessible by constructing railroads,
which will furnish increased facilities for bringing the
raw material and the manufactured article into mar
ket and will also stimulate the production by vast
addition of labor which will enter the field as fast as
adequate means Of transportation are provided, war
rants the conviction that the estimate above is not
unreasonably large.
BY referring to the article in the Bulletin which
has led into this subject it appears that oil manu-
featured from resin to the value of from four to five
millions is now annually consumed, and from its ex-
reme cheapness compared with other oils is going
rapidly into general use. This fact is of the very
highest Importance It's simple statement should be suf
cient to attract the attention and awaken the interest
OF every man in the South who desires to see her re-
sources developed her wealth increased and her pros
perity promoted and insured in stability.
Among the countless inventions and improvements
in the various branches of science art and industry
for which this country is remarkable, not one in
thousand proves of any general practical benefit to
the Southern States. When one is presented, there
fore, which promises to benefit them almost incalcu
aby by developing their great natural resources no
effort should be spared to render it available and use
full The value of an invention or improvement which
converts spontaneous production, without value in
its natural condition, into article of universal use
can hardly be calculated 1t adds substantial wealth
to individuals and to the country where others but
increase manufacturing facilities by dispensing with
operative labor. ~ sA
Among the inventions which have proved of the
greatest utility to the South, is the Cotton Gin. We
have only to count our millions Of cotton bales esti-
mate their annual value, and reflect upon the mighty
influence which their production yields over the
commerce and the destnes of the greatest nations of
the earth, to recognize at once the inestmabe value
to the planter and to the South generally of any in
yention or improvement which materially facilitates
or increases the production of the great Southern
staple, Beyond all question the Cotton Gin was an
invention SURPRISING all others in the benefits it con-
ferred upon the South and beyond all question: also,
no discovery has been made since that invention
which is destined to produce greater development
of Southern resources and wealth, and exert wider
influence over the commerce and business of the
South, than that of producing oil from rosin. The
simplicity Of the process Of manufacture, the small
means required in the first outlay and the amount of
raw material already produced bring the business d.
rectly within the reach and ability of all classes of
producers who would most naturally engage in its
pursuit and We look confidently to not very distant
period when this production will be a prominent
staple in many Of the Southern States, aud form an
important branch Of Southern commerce.