The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-03-07
SOUTHERN PROGRESS
SUMMARY FROM THE MANU-
 LECTURERS RECORD.
Increasing Interest in the Plans for the Economic Utilization or the Waste in Lum-
 Der Trade.

Baltimore March 6-Correspondence Of The Manufacturers Record reveals an ev- er-increasing interest in plans TOT the economic utilization of what mas ions been regarded as the waste Of the Jumper trade. Some advance has already been made in the treatment Of sawdust, slaos rough ends, etc, for the prooucloh ol commercial articles, and several pants are now in successful operation ,and oth- CTS are contemplated for handling fat lightwood found in limbs, the upper part of the trunk and the stumps and roots of Southern pines, by process known as destructive distillation, which produces from a cord of fat lightwood between twenty and thirty gallons of spirits or turpentane. besides tar and a number oI oils containing valuable medicinal ana wood-preserving qualities This industry of saving is in its infancy, and In the meantime another saving Is likely to be effected through the encouragement by the United States government of turpen- tine operations designed to obviate the present wasteful and destructive system of boxing the trees, the method being that devised under government auspices by Dr. Charles H. Herty of Georgia The need for such a reform movement in tur- pentine operations is shown by official fig ures. In the season of 1909 the produc- tion of spirits of turpentine by the old system of boxing amounted to DOOOO bar rels, valued at $13, 200 900 and the produc- ton of rosin was 2.1Oo.0O0 barrels, valued at &. 200, ,000 making the total value Of the crop $17. 100000. Had the new method been applied to the same area of timber, 1t Is estimated that the production of spirits of turpentine would have been 1,060,OO0 bar rels, valued at $23,10O.00O. and of rosin A. 676000 barrels valued at 1850, 900, the total product being valued at $30, ,4500OO0 Here Is shown a loss to the Southern naval stores industry of $13,OOO,OOO in one year. to say nothing of the damage wrought by the old method to the forests.
 writer in The Manufacturers' Record points out that the price at which the long leaf pine forests of the South are | now held makes 1t difficult for a man of small means to secure a location for the manufacture of turpentine and rosin. The usual method of extracting the gum by boxing the tree Is considered by mill men damaging to the forests, for the reason that the box weakens the tree so | that the wind can blow 1t down easily, and that if fire should unfortunately get | into the woods the tree will burn at the | box on account of the turpentine to such | an extent as to cause the tree to die. |
 impetus by the National Bureau of Forestry will serve in some degree, the | correspondents notes, to diminish the | possibility of such injuries to the forests l Considerable capital Is being invested in | pottery work to make cups for turpen- | tine producers to use to catch the gum
 instead of boxing the trees. and if the | operators who work on a large scale find | that the system is all that Is claimed for l 1t there Is no doubt that millions of dol I lars will be added to the income from | the turpentine industry in the long leaf
 pine forests of the South and will pro- | long the life of those forests.
 In the meantime activity is maintained l in the lumber industry in the South, and
 New Orleans, rapidly becoming the cen.
 ter of the yellow pine industry, reflects
 the activity at all the mill points adJa- | cent to 1t. At Gulfport, Miss, and other
 gulf ports. shipments of lumber arc | greater than at any time last year. large
 cargoes going to the United Kingdom and
 the continent to Mexico, to Cuba ant
 other ports. At Savannah shippers fol
 the coastwise business have all the trade
 that they can take care of, and at Jack l sonville there Is a most pronounced de
 mand from Northern and Eastern sources
 and from West India ports. and the lum O6rmen tnere lOoh lOE"dIu Io al O>S0SN
 ingly active trade during the next fev l years, based upon the unusual develop | ment of valuable tributary timber proper
 ties. Hundreds of carloads of lumbe
 are in the yards at Memphis alread!
 booked for Europe. but because of tn
 congestion of the railroads the handler
 of export lumber have decided to sent 1t down the river by barges to New Or
 leans. It is claimed that although l
 will take a longer time to send the lum
 Der by water than by rail. 1t will ge
 started so much the sooner and wll
 reach its destination much earlier than 1
 1t waits for the railroad congestion to b | overcome.