The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-21
~1,I STORES SHORT CROP.
INN wINTER DID WHAT THE
~ ,ToRs HAVE TRIED TO DO.

.-,bte supply of Turpentfne
~ u, casks Less and the ROsIn
.4s ,,.nd 10000 Barrels Less Than
same Time Last Hear-The
STORES supply of the Future
M. South-savannah VIII Al
Get the Product.
..-r-rauy severe frosts of last win
...,-,9l. he'd what repeated efforts Of
are -.ntfne operators have failed to
-ssaction in the product Of naval
ne =. ,fsibie supply of turpentine is now
de- casks less than it was at the same
= year ago; Notwithstanding the
- char last winter the cutting of new
: MAS larger than ever known.
=. stock of turpentine in Savannah is
u. barrels less than it was at the cor
ending ,.ne last year and it is all
nv exporters. Last year it was un-
50 and held in FIRST hands. This year
.,-r.ntine is shipped as rapidly as t
d. Hs-i14d. while last year at t-ss TINA
factors urged the operators TO hold
err Ataxsu the turpentine they possibly could
5nis safe to say that al least $1,000
s. = ao0 barrels were held at the stills.
It. L.. al the end of the year it was evident
= 81 Sal there had been no overproduction.
n -5a prices rapidly rose from about p
.7ts to S5 cents per gallon.
The cold weather caused the pines to
come completely dormant, and all the
i 60, was driven to the roots. During nor
mi winters, as soon as a box is cut in
trse the sap commences to flow, and
I, he course Of the winter, at the latest
r March Is, the new boxes are all filed
r,hout any chipping. and each crop
Yields from 4j to 50 barrels of crude tur-
r,ntne at a dipping.
Last winter the new boxes remained
PERFECTLY clean and dry, so that an entire
srrng was lost 1t is estimated that
II ne 1000 turpentine distilleries cut, on an
n average six crops of new boxes each, or
go crops equal to 63,0O0.0OO boxes.
The loss was consequently 800, 200 barrels
O. crude gum equal to 10000 barrels of
rlsn and 10000 barrels of spirits of tur-
-4ptne 1t must, however, be borne in
mind that all Of the 100000 barrels of naval
II stores would have reached market be-
N fore April J. and as a new season COM
II uerces then, this loss of production has
10 be deducted from the season 1S94-95,
ana does not figure in the pres
mt season of 1886. Last
year nearly all branches of
commerce and industry We're inactive, and
yet with a yield equal to this seasons
tie demand exceeded the supply. With
The universal revival of all Industries and
with lesser visible supply it is more than
probable that much better prices Will rule
Ia the near future.
As the boxes were perfectly clean when
III tie sap commenced to flow late in April.
the quality of the crude turpentine was
A Of exceptional purity and was unusually
COpiOus. As a natural consequence the
production Of the finest grades of rosin
has been much larger than usual, and the
lower grades are scarcer.
The turpentine business, as far as Geor-
gia is concerned IS said to have reached
its maximum. and while there are hun
dreds of thousands, even millions of acres,
Of virgin tirAber lands, the bulk of these
lands are owned by parties who only in
tend TO box the timber as their individual
needs require 1t. Great many operators have
secured leases or timber rights sufficient
% last them a number of years. So it is
safe 10 say that the cut Of new boxes in
Georgia will not reach one-half the num-
Ter last fall. Many operators will be COM
PEELED to move to adjoining states, which
ell have a vast territory of virgin tim
Der
While the cut of boxes in Georgia will
Do less Savannah's receipts will not be
affected as Savannah has an abundance
OF capital invested in naval stores factor
age and its factors will keep on advan-
in Georgia, Florida or in Alabama, and, of
course, wherever the advances are made
the product is bound to come.
1t is estimated that the south has about
1000 turpentine distllelies. Each farm
has on average of twenty crops of
boxes or 210 900 boxes. This covers terri
tory of nearly 5000 acres, so that between
100000 and 100000 acres are now occu-
pied by terpentine farm. The life Of the
timber under the present method aver
ages three years, so that every season
l5o,000 acres of new territory Is required.
n i Georgia had 10 supply the whole de-
mand alone, another year would wind Up
the virgin timber supply of the state. In
order to obtain a fair idea of what the
supply of timber is in Florida a repre-
sentative of the Morning News saw Mr..
C. +. Rossiguol, who has just returned
pom an inspection trip in Western Flor
ida.
There are millions of acres of fine pine
forest in Florida accessible to railways"
Mr. Rossignol said. The timber is as a
rule of very fine quality. The few opera
tors in the sections I visited claim that
the yield of gum is much larger on
count of the almost total absence Of
irost and the long summers, while the
NE of the timber is shorter ,Eiis adj
utonal yield will alone more than coun-
ttrbalance the difference in freight
charges accruing from a greater distance
from a market. The ruling prices fer
tufpentine timber, not including the land,
range in Georgia from Sl.50 to 81 per acre,
winch is equal to So per crop for a three
years lease. The same timber can be had
III FLORIDA for IS cents or 81 per acre, or
rom 500 to $50 per crop for a three
year lease have right now over 100000
.ereS OF pine lands ranging from 30 cents
10 g per acre"