Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1880-09-08
MANUFA GTURE or RESIN
IND TURPENTINE.

The turpentine and, resin industry
carried on at the South is much larger
than probably most persons are aware
From the Manufacturer and Builder
we CLEAN the following account of the
collecting of the gum and its conversion
into merchantable commodity:
From Wilmington, n c., southwark
and nearly all the way to Florida, the
pitch pine trees, with their blazed sides,
attract the attention of the traveller
The lands for long stretches are almost
worthless, and the only industry, be-
yond small patches for corn or cotton,
is the boxing" of the pitch pine trees
for the gum, as it is called, and the
manufacture of turpentine and resin.
There are several kinds of pine trees,
including the white, spruce, yellow,
Roumany, and pitch pine The latter
is the only valuable one for boxing,
and differs little from the yellow pine,
with which it is sometimes confounded
at the North The owners of these
pine lands generally lease the "privi-
lege" for the business, and receive
about Sl25 for crop, which consists
of 10, 900 boxes" The boxes are cav
tiles cut into the tree near the around,
in such way as to hold about quart,
and from one to four boxes are cut in
each tree, the number depending upon
its size. One man can attend to and
gather the crop of 10000 boxes during
the season, which last from March to
September About three quarts of
pitch gum is the average production of
each box; but to secure this amount,
the bark of the tree above the box must
be hacked away little every fortnight.
Doing this so often, and for successive
seasons, removes the bark as high as
can easily be reached, while the quality
of the gum constantly decreases, in
that it Yields less spirit, as the turpen-
tine is called, and then the trees are
abandoned. The gum is scraped out
of the boxes with sort of wooden
spoon, and at the close of the season,
after the pitch on the exposed surface
becomes hard it is removed by scrap
ing, and is only good for resin, produc-
ing no spirit. The gum sells for $l.50
barrel to the distillers. From Is
barrels of the crude gum, which is
about the average capacity of the stills,
80 gallons Of turpentine and 10 barrels
of resin are made The resin sells for
from 81 40 to So per barrel, according
to quality, and just about pays for cost
of gum and distilling, leaving the spir-
it, which sells for 40 cents gallon, as
the profit of the business. Immense
quantities of resin await shipment at
the stations along the line, and the
pleasant odor enters the car windows
as you are whirled along
After the trees are unfit for further
boxing, and are not suitable for lumber
they are sometimes used to manufac-
ture tar; but the business is not very
profitable, and is only done by large
companies, who can thus use their sur
plus labor. The trees are cut up into
wood, which is piled in hole in the
ground and covered with earth, and
then burned the same as charcoal is
! burned elsewhere. The heat sweats
out the gum, which, uniting with the
smoke, runs off through spout provid-
ed for the purpose A cord of wood
will make two barrels of tar, which
sells for $3.50 per barrel, and cots 37a
cents to make. The charcoal is then
sold for cooking purposes.