The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-01-11
Among the Pines.

Among the Pines
WHEN AND HOW TURPENTINE AND RosI-
+ ARE MADE MARKETABLE.--vISIT TO Al
ORCHARD-THR HUNDRED AND TEE
THOUSAND TREES AND EVERY ONE BEAR
ING FRUIT-BITTER, BUT BRINGS Br,
RETURNS. ss5
sHlls Especial correspondence vIRGINIAN. 4
s'Be you 'quainted round here ~ g1
a The question was as complete surprise a
"A it would have been had it shot out from be
tween the lips of bronze statue, for all da,
4 long the speaker had sat with wide-open
watchful eyes, but with lips that looked as
they had been Theoretically sealed before h
left home. Before | could recover myself t,
reply he continued
''Coz, if you be, / wish you'd tell me what
ever possessed folks to be such 'tarnal fools Al
ter Spite all them great towerin' pine trees
jest look at them great holes they've hewe(
into 'em, an furs can see, fur notbin' undel
heaven but mischief. l guess folks down here
don't have nothn' else to do but fool away
their time ruinin' trees. Why, it's wus'rr
lickin' niggus, swan if it amt; nggus gil
over it, but them trees won't, never" 1I7i
He halted to catch his breath and | seized
| the opportunity TO tell him those trees were
boxed" for turpentine; that the cars were
passing through an immense turpentine or
chard "You don't say well, l be blessed
if l hain't larned sunthin or recollected
sunthin' I'd Almost forgot. Turpentin e
does come out of trees, that's a fact
Pitch, tar and urpentine-that's what North
Car'lny used to be noted for when | was q
gettin' my book larnin'. But that was a great
while ago, and guess Alabamy's runnin' OBJ
position TO Car'liny now in the business"
just then the cars came within sight of the
distilery, and the man made another leap in
the dark:
as that moonshincr's distillery? Cos if it
is I'd lust like TO get right down an smash it
up myself. Pm a temperance teetotaller clear
down to my boots. am"
/ When told that it was turpentne distillery,
and that the numerous barrels were full, or to
be filled with rosin, he settled down with a
very emphatic "Well, | snum! Iaint agoing
| back till I've seen em make turpentine that's
one thing Til tell Sary Jane the first letter !
| write 10 the folks to home" Adding, after a
moments silence, in which he seemed to be de-
i Gliding whether it would be safe or not:
i Il come from way Jpn in Maine; had a
cough'n, want well nohow, so | came down
here to 'cuperate; hain't never been so fur
| way from home afore, an folks said they'd
| bet I'd get awfully took in but don't caculate
to be too friendly, fur | amt goin TO give 'em
no chance to tool me. oJ
There was little need of this Innocent
Abroad" telling where he came from his pc
culiarities OF speech gave him away as com
| pletely as did those of woman who, having
\ listened to him, said little later
| THAT thar man said he come from Maine.
| | don't know as brightly know just whar that
county are, but low eff all the folks as are
raised that are as mighty big fools as that thar
one is, thar more OF 'em to the acre than thar
be in any county knows of; an never hearn
tell of that crap bein' killed by frost nor dry
weather neither. He says he's got book
learnin, | reckon as how that that's what
alden of him now It's sorter done struck
in, like Why he's regular natural, he is l
never done saw the. inside of a school-house
but onct, an reckon I've knowed all how
| turpentine an rosin is done made since / war
| nigh bout as big as that thar four-yer-ole boy
| thar Laws, he'll get token in A critter
don't know a turpentine still from a moon
sinners had ought to get token in !"
| WHERE TURPENTINE COMES FROM
Perhaps there are others who would like TO
"recollect something they have almc st forgot
for fancy not all the readers OF the Vqys7aaQ71
are as we'll informed as to the details of the
| turpeEtine business as was my travelling COM
| panion who had never been inside school
house ''but onct"
! The business which was chiefly monopolized
| by North Carolina IN the days when our down
| Easter" was getting his ''book larnin" is now
carried on very extensively in Alabama, many
of the owners of turpentine orchards in this
State having spent their early lives among the
| pine trees OF the Carolinas, where they thor
oughly learned the business they now prose-
cute so successfully.
The "piney woods" section of Alabama en-
| hrao hat h1rJ
| the Gulf of Mexico, extending northward from
the Florida line, about twenty i've miles, and
from the Gulf, from seventy five to one hun
dred and twenty-five miles. Before the COM
pletion of the Louisville and Nashville Road
the forests accessible to water transportation
were about the only ones boxed !" these
however, were used To the limit of profit, and
abandoned, as the railroad made available the
extensive forests along its line One of the
most successful 'turpentine men" in the State
| is
WILLIAM B. CARNEY. ~
of Escambia County, genial, hearty, live
man. Travellers on the l. Il N. pass one ofhis
distilleTies a little above, and the other half
mile below Williams Station On both sides
the track, for miles, the tall straight long leaf
yellow pines are standing, Mr.. Carney owning
a nice little patch, extending nine miles from
north to south and eleven from east to west
OF course, not all of this large domain is
operated at one time. The custom is to divide
one section of the forest into crops" ten thou
sand "boxes" constituting crop" This will
| not include more than five thousand trees, as
they will average two 'boxes" to the tree.
10 "box" tree is to cut away the bark and
wood to depth the width of a mans hand
! about six inches-frOm strip extending
around the trunk distance oftwelve or four
teen inches, stopping it so as to form a ''box,"
into which the crude turpentine drops as it ex-
udes from the tree Above the "box" the bark
is cleaned away, and with it little of the
woody fiber, leaving the blazing much in the
form of broad letter with its bottom lost
out, thus making an incline, down which the
turpentine finds its way to the "box" below.
There are no holidays for the turpentine
workers save those which the severe rainy
days bring; the business has no special season
like sugar, cotton, rice and corn. 1t might
truthfuily be said Off, +
| 'sThou hast all seasons for thine own.g
For once the trees are boxed" they require
continuous care. Eternal vigilance" is the
price of profit in the business, but vigilance
reaps rich reward
The crops are distinctly separated from
each other by blazed trees, and one man de-
tailed to work each one. After the boxing is
completed the chipping" begins. This is
done with sharp iron implement something
like that used by mechanics for growing. 1t
cuts away strip of the wood and bark about
three-tourths fan inch in width. Both sides
OF the angle are "chlpped," and every tree is
subjected to this process once a week from the
time 1t Is boxed until it is abandoned, ranging
from two to four years. Ifthis were not done
the flow OF turpentine would cease, as it gums
up Its own pathway so completely not a drop
can escape-turnishes its own plaster for its
wounds, as it were One can readily see that
man who is not 'overly peart" has to get
around right smart" lively to go from tree to
tree and strike the twenty thousand blows re-
quired to chip the sides of ten thousand boxes,
to say nothing Of the mishits he will make,
Tequlr ng another strike to complete the job
Neither can there be any Sinking done, for
foremen who slperintend the choppers" are
constantly riding through the orchard. keep
ing an eye on every mans work and knowing
the condition Of every crop
In appearance crude turpentine resembles
white wax which, after melting, has only
partly solicited; it looks very tempting, but
one taste is as satisfactory as a whole meal
would be. There is no special need of sign
warning intruders to taste not, touch not and
handle not"
Only part of the tuTpentine finds its way
INTO the box, the rest adhering to the surface
OF the tree. That in the box is known as the
dip" that removed from the tree as the
| "ScraDen the first heinr tolxon ont with q