Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-05-18
TURPF .NTINING,
The Naval Sore Industry in Southern
Georgia
H1rr.srfe WoeF-F,

HdrIsT's Weekly.
To the dweller IN the vast pinv woods of
tn South Atlantic States the yellow pine
bears much the same relation that the
bamboo does to the Chinaman, or the
palm to a 3ative of South America. From
lit he builds his house and fences, and con-
structs h,s rude furniture, carts, and
farming implements. Its light-WoOd
knots serve him in place Of gas, Kerosene,
or coal. furnishing both light and fuel
He hews it into squared timbers or rail-
road tics, saws it into lumber and, above
all. extracts from its sap spirits of tur-
pentlne, resin, pitch, and tar, which he
eXcher ges for all the necessarIes and
many OF the luXuries of life.
The manufacture of naval stores, under
which general head are classed all the
FesirOus products Of the yellow pine, was
formerly confined almost exclusively to
( North Carolina, where il was prosecuted
so extensively as to attach to the inhabit-
ants of that State the name of Tar
Heels" As the old territory became ex-
hausted, the industry gradually moved
sfuthward, through South Carolina into
Georgia, where it now centres. and from
whence is derived more than half of the
entire supply. 1t has also invaded north
ern Florida, where the State cOnvicts are
now employed il ''turpentining," much
to their own disgust. for they perfer the
been kept at work for some years past.
As the extraction Of turpentine does
not unit the trees for numbering, and as
the success of both saw-mills and turpen-
tine stills depends upon a ready trans
pOrtatiOn to market of their products,
they are often found in close proximity
and sometimes under the same manage
/ ment.
Outside of those located on the banks Of
nayigable rivers, the largest saW-mills
and turpentine stills in Georgia are found
along the lines OF the Central, the Say
vannah, Florida, and Western, and the
Z Brunswick and Albany Railroads. As
/ the new and fiOurishing city of WaycrOss,
at the junction of the two last-named
/ roads, is one of the important centres of
/ the industry, it was here that information
was sought concerning ''turpentining.'
With such courtesy were the writer's in
( quiries received that he soon found him
/ self seated on railroad tricycle., accom-
1 panied by guide similarly mounted, and
rafting along at a merry pace over the
rails, through the solemn pine forest
toward the Satilla River. Onits southern
bank, five miles from Waycross, is located
the great Reppard Mill, one of the finest
and largest in the South. That this mill
is turning out one hundred thousand feet
of lumber per day, and that within a
radius OF twenty miles around it there is
enough standing timber to supply it for
the next fifty years, argues well for the
prosperity of the Southern lumber trade
for some time to come.
Near this mill was found a turpentine
still IN full operation, rapidly converting
into naval stores the sap of thousands of
/ trees, which were afterward to be sawed
into lumber. While the mill was sur
rounded by village of small dwelling
. houses, shops, FORCES, and a large store
for ifC hundreds e arn uIOVoc fOrpoiDer fb,,o
a thriving settlement in the heart of what
two years ago was an unbroken wilder
ness, the still had also its own cluster of
cabins and stOre-houses, and It's own COM
missary department.
When capitalist decides to invest his
money in ''turpentining' he selects an
''Orchard,o leases the forest from the
owner Of the land at about ten cents a
tree, for five, ten, or fifteen years, locates
his ''plant," and is ready to begin opera
tons. While the still is being erected,
the trees are tapped, or ''bOxed." by skill
ful aXemen who are experts in this pecu-
liar branch of woOdcraft, and by the time
the still is ready for business quantity of
turpentine with which to supply it has
been collected. The ''bOX" is a recepta-
Gle cut from the trunk of the tree about
eighteen inches from its base, and will
contain quart of the gum which
eXudes into it. Most trees can be
''bOXed'' in two places, many in three,
and some very large ones in four; but be-
tween each two boxes a strip of bark
must be left to sustain the life of the tree.
The instrument with which the boxes are
cut is long, narrow, and very keen
edged AK especially adapted to the pur-
pose. just above the box are made two
cuts in the bark IN the shape of the letter
V, and from these the sap at first flows
freely. The boxer receives one and a
half or two cents per box, and if he IS
expert can cut from two hundred and fifty
to three hundred per day. Ten thousand
five hundred boxes form a ''crOp," and
sixteen crops are required to supply
still of ordinary capacity. A "crop" COW
ers from three hundred to five hundred
acres, according to the density of the
growth.
Following the ''boxers'' come clippers
and ''chippers," the former of whom col
lect the gum from the boxes, with round
iron ladies, into buckets When bucket
is full it is emptied into barrel, OF which
numbers are placed at regular intervals
through the woods. One dipper has
charge Of two crops, and emptles every
box in them once every four weeks.