Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1869-04-21

How Turpentine is Made-Climate of
Pine Region.

where we should obtain our naval
| supplies assumed great Importance.
The occupation of North and South
Carolina by the Confederates COM
| pletely stopped the production Of tur-
pentine, tar and rosin, and deprived
the world of its main resource for
| these important articles of COM
merce, which rapidly rose in market
able value.
There are numerous forests of pine
IN Alabama, Georgia, and South
carolina, and the turpentine busi-
| ness Is carried on in all these States,
but North Carolina surpasses all the
| rest IL the production Of turpentine,
tar and pitch obtained from her vast
pine woods.
Turpentlne Is the crude sap of the
tree, varying in character and free
dom of flow according to the specie
of pine the longleafed pine Dinus
pdtustris, yielding it more freely
than any other. In commerce the
various kinds known Venice, Stras-
bourg, Canadian, Chan, Carpathian,
and hungarian turpentine differ on
~ In their proportions of oil and ros-
in.
The sec ton in which the true pine
grows Is from thirty to eighty miles
wide, extending north and south.
The soil is unfit for cotton growing
and only along the river banks are
any crops raised, the majority of ar
ticles for food being brought from the
Wester, States.
Leavi' g the City of Raleigh, a
pretty Gown of white mansions envi-
roned by beautiful evergreen that
filled the air with balsamic odor, the
sunbeams came quivering through
their swaying boughs, we entered
the old forests of yellow pine Nv a
road which was a mere opening
through the woods. On either side
large trees rose up straight as an ar
row, their lustrous, graceful leaves
forming dense canopy of foliage,
while the ground around their feet
was covered with pine cones. The
country was undulating, occasional
ly swamp land where the trees were
hung with the long waving drapery
OF the Spanish moss, around their
trunks thick network Of climbing
vines.
Reaching the depths of the forest,
| negroes were found engaged in max
| ing boxes TO collect the sap that
| commences to flow in March. These
boxes are not made of boards, nor
log troughs, but are cavities dug in
the trunk of the tree itself with a
| narrow axe, made especially for the
purpose, and requiring some skill to
use it properly. The boxes are made
| about a foot above the roots, and shap-
| ed like distended coat pocket the
lower lip is horizontal, the upper
| arched the bottom of the box is
| about eight inches below the upper
! lip and four below the Iower. On a
| medium sized tree the cavity should
| contain a quart. An expert hand
| VIII make one in less than ten min
| utes, and one hundred is considered
| good days work. The boxes being
| made, the bark and some of the wood
| of the tree are hacked off along the
| edge of the upper lip; from the ex-
coriation the sap flows and gradual
ly fills the boxes, from which it is
ladled by spoon of peculiar form
! into barrels. They are of the rudest
| make, the staves, split from pine
| logs are straight, forming a simple
cylinder thirty inches long.
| Workmen go through the woods
| every ten days, carrying a hatchet
with concave face to scarify again
| the bark of the tree above every box,
| removing in this way the CONCEALED
sap which clogs up the surface of the
| cellular tissues.
About one thousand trees usually
stand upon an acre and yield four
| teen barrels of sap each. They last
with ordinary treatment fifty years.
When the original long-leafed pine
hasIbeen destroyed bastard variety
spring up with rapidity, but it is OF
| no value for turPentine or lumber.
In many places are dead trees, kill
ed by the burning of the wire grass
III \ l. III. l.
set on ire In the Spring, the flames
| the feet of the trees, extending up to
| the turpentine in the boxes and into
the heart of the tree itself.
By the first week in April the sun
flows abundaptly and trees require
| scarifying weekly twenty-five hun
| dred trees give five days employ
ment to man hacking them, and
one day dipping. From one to four
boxes are cut into every tree, accord
ing to its size q few inches of bark
being left between. The turpentine
flows from the most recen' hack over
the old ones toward the box, por-
ton of it adhering by the way to the
wood. The oil evaporates from this
and leaves it in dry Jumps which are
yearly scraped off and barreled.
This is known in market as"scrape,n
while that dipped from the box is
more valuable and termed dip
The flow of the first year having less
distance to run, and so less exposed
to evaporation, is of higher value,
and called virgin Dip"
In former years turpentine Vas
shipped North for distillation, but
that process is now carried on near
by in copper stills which con tain ten
barrels apiece. The owners of large
orchards have theirprivate stills and
smaller proprietors sell to them or to
custom distiileries owned by men
who make distilling alone their busi-
ness. These works are erected in
some ravine where water can be con-
veyed in troughs to such an eleva-
ton as to flow into the condensing
tank The still is set in brick fur
mace and nearly filled with crude
turpentine mixed with chips, leaves,
and other impurities.
The presideng genius of this fiery
furnace is generally some favorite
hand whose age prevents him from
more active labor.
The spirit, as !. issues in small
transparent stream from the end of
the worm, is caught directly into the
barrel In which it comes to market.
When all the spirit is extracted from
a spout at the bottom of the still
flows out the residuun, thick dark
fluid like melasses. This Is the ros-
In of commerce, and to prepare il for
rnarkaf if ia eonv6vpsi into a VAT of