Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1895-01-24
MAKING TURPENTINE
AN EXTENSIVE INDUSTRY IN CERTAIN
SOUTHERN STATES.


Dialect writers find a fruitful field
among the Tar Heels" of the Carolinas,
Alabama and Georgia In the cool
depths Of the turpentine woods, with the
gashed trees yielding up their resinous
gum, the balmy air and the picturesque
''haokers, clippers" and "scrapers,
with the ever vigilant rider" watch
ing everything, is phase in southern
life which he's long been the delight of
authors and the pleasure of artists. The
crudity of the implements and the stills
used in making turpentine and rosin
lend additional interest to this old in
dustry, and the gypsylike habits of the
turpentine makers add to their ragged,
illiterate charms.
Turpentine is the distilled gum of the
pine trees of North and South Carolina,
Alabama, Georgia and part of Florida
The season begins when the first spring
sap rises and ends when cold weather
checks the flow of the trees blood. In
January or February the hacker"
with his keen bladed ak, begins the
round which ends with the season. He
is the expert of the woods and knows his
trees and just how much hacking they
will stand. His task is to cut the
boxes" in which the thick gum of the
wounded tree will collect. A box is
wide incision about six inches deep, a
wedge shaped cut in the tree, and he
hacks from 80 to 100 boxes day. The
| first boxes are cut near the roots of the
tree, and they are cut as close together
to the height of a mans head as can be
done without killing the pine. The
hacker leaves width of bark between
each box SO as to preserve the vitality of
| the tree. When the trees are leased to
the turpentine makers, the terms of the
lease limit the number Of boxes to each
| tree, but when it is desired to work the
pine to the fullest extent the gashes are
carried up to height of 20 feet or more.
After the hacker comes the man who
CORNERS" the boxes. This "corner" is
a cut in the top of the box to guide the
sap into the cavities left for the gum,
and the man who works" the "crop"
goes systematically from box to box,
starting the sap anew with fresh Incl
sions, working in this way 10, 900 boxes
during the season. The sap or gum fills
the boxes with clear, sticky, thick
fluid, and this is removed by the dip
per-. Scattered through the woods are
barrels in which the clipper" deposits
the gum, which is then hauled to the
still. About quart of sap is taken from
each box by means of the trowel shaped
scoop used by the dipper, and then the
hacker comes along and starts the flow
afresh by wounding the tree again. The
turpentine maker watches his men close
ly, for the Tar Heels are an easy going
people and require to be urged by the
rider, who goes through the woods on
horseback examining the crop, hurrying
the dippers and hackers and sending the
barreled gum to the still.
The first or virgin" sap which flows
in the spring makes the best rosin, and
the poorest is the product of the harden
ed gum which is left on the sides of the
boxes when the sap turns down" in
the fall. This is removed by the
''scraper, who moves through the
woods with his scraping tool, gathering
the leavings.
The still is large copper vat hooded
with close fitting cover in which is a
funnel which in turn is connected with
the worn" of the still This worm
runs down into another vat near at
hand, and in this vat the fumes or vapor
of the heated gum is distilled into tur-
pentine. Fire under the copper vat heats
the gum, and the volatile parts rise to
the funnel, pass into the still and are
condensed by the water in the second
vat into spirits of turpentine. The resid-
uum left in the vat is the rosin of
commerce, which is passed through a
series of strainers and sieves to the bar
rels, which are made on the spot. The
turpentine, however, cannot be barreled
SO easily, for it will work through an
ordinary barrel. Tt is placed in white
pine barrels which have been coated in
side with several coats Of strong, hot
glue until the barrel is impervious to
the subtle fluid.
The trees are worked for five or six
seasons, and then the turpentine maker
moves to another part of the woods. He
started in North Carolina, crossed over
to South Carolina and is still moving
toward the gulf. Forest fires destroy the
pines faster than the hacker does, Tor
the flames sweep over large areas before
they die out. Careful owners of turpen-
tine woods have the pine straw and
fallen underbrush raked away from their
trees before the season begins, and col
Letting this material in some safe spot
wait for quiet day when no wind will
cool the wet finger, and then they burn
the rakings.
Negroes are common laborers Of the
turpentine woods, but white men are
plentiful. They live in rough shanties
in the woods, with the stables for the
mules and horses near at hand. No
work is more healthful than turpentine
making, for it is all out of doors in the
depths of the balmy, health giving pines,
free from the malaria of the swamps
and from sudden changes Of weather --
Chicago Record.
Horsepower.