Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-01-31


rOsin has, within a comparatively few |
years, Secome a very important factor III |
the commercial balance sheet of this coun-
try. and the question as to the future sup |
plv of these commodities for the export |
demands Of foreign countries Is an inter
esting one. and is attracting considerable
attention. To Georgia, particularly the
subject is important, because OF the fact
which has been developed in these latter
wears that the sources of supply of these
imDortant products have been very ma
teriallv changed. France formerly eX-
ported these productions in large quanti-
ties. but Of late years she has scarcely
produced enough for her own demands,
owing, doubtless, 10 the exhaustion of her
pine forests, which alone yield Them
The trade in naval stores in this country
is gaining in dimensions every year, and
dealers in this market, while they have
not realized fortunes from the trade, have
at least received satisfactory returns.
The largest market for our products In
this particular are Great Britain, Russia,
the Netherlands and Germany. The finest
grades Of rOsin which are in demand in
foreign countries can only be supplied
from American markets, and the United
States might we'll be called the only source
of supply relied upon by foreign nations.
Even here the source of production has
undergone most remarkable change in
the past few years. North Carolina, face
tiously called the Tar HeeF' State, used
to be the chief source of supply of these
important products. For many years her
virgin pine forests have been unskillfully
tapped, until the life of her producing
trees through the great pine belt have
fallen a victim to the drain upon them,
and refuse longer to yield to the demands of
trade and commerce. In the same way,
and for the same reason. the splendid pine
forests of lower South Carolina have suf-
fcred under unskillfuI treatment at ignOr-
ant hands, until thousands and thousands
Of acres of noble pine forests now present
the spectacle of giants shOrn of their life
and strength and usefulness.
Recently the eye and energies of the
rosin and turpentine producers have been
turned to the splendid virgin pine forest
of Southern and Southwest Georgia, and
with the developments of our railroads
through this region, opening up cheap and
perfect transportation, the turpentine
stills have become large part and parcel
Of a prominent industrial interest in
( which a vast amount of labor
and capital has been invested. Thou
| sands of those who heretofore engaged in
/ the business in the States above men-
/ toned have pitched their camps under the
magnificent shelter of the Georgia pines
/ and thousands of operatives are busily at
! work day and night in extracting from
| these giants of the forest two very import
| ant articles of commence.
| Georgia is now the leading State in the
/ production Ofthese staples, rs the figures
will certainly show, and has become so
| i'm the last decade. When it is remem-
/ bered that the precious sap constitutes
| the life of the tree, it is easy to calculate
/ how long it will take to convert the green
/ forests into a may wilderness of with
| cred branches, and as has been the case
| in North Carolina so will it be in Georgia
/ and Florida under the present system of
working the turpentine farms. About
seven years manipulation will suffice to
destroy the virgin pine for rest, and when
once accomplished the yield of rOSin and
turpentiGe is done for.
To show the changes which have been
made in the last few years in the prOduc-
! ton of these articles of commerce, we
present the following comparative state
ment of the production in 1873 in
/ the State of Georgia, and the production
/ during the nine months of the past COM
] mercial year, the season commencing on
the LIST of April, 1Ss2-five years. At that
/ time (Is7S) the business in Georgia had
barely began. In that year the prOduc-
ton amounted to 151, 907 barrels rosin and
| 24,37S barrels turpentine, and for the nine
months of the commercial year, COM
mencing April l, 1882, the number of bar
rels Of rOsin which have been produced
from the turpentine farms of Georgia and
the adjacent Florida fields have been in
I the neighbOrhOOd of $4,000 barrels rOsin
and ~, 200 barrels turpentine.
1t would be we'll for our naval stores
producers to give attention to the above
| figures. and for our scientists to inyesti-
/ gate the facts with a view to discover
some means whereby the consequent great
waste of our forests, the legitimate result
| Of the present method of extracting the
/ fir sap, might be avoided. 1t seems to us
that chemical and botanical science, COM
I bined with careful research and expert
\ mental methods, might fortunately
| hit upon a plan of dealing with the pine
| that would enable them to yield their
| precious juices in sufficient quantities to
/ satisfy the demands of trade and commerce
| in the industrial enterprises of the cOun-
/ try, and would at the same time protect
| the source of so much commercial wealth
I in its original yigOr and beauty.
A visit of the scientist or lover of nature
/ to a turpentine farm, and a sight at the
rude efforts in dealing with the noble sons
/ of the forest, would, we think, suggest
some other plan than that at present en-
ployed in the procurement Of turpentine
and rOsin for the wants of trade.
The present method must end in the
destruction of the sources of supply, and
is literally killing the goose that lays the
golden egg.