The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-07-15
TURpERTIAE MAY Be
HAD FROM PINE KNOTS.
A New industry That Might be
Launched With Great Profit
in Sumter County

ssThe new method of obtaining tur-
pentine by distillasion from pine knots
and pine wood is destined to add more
to the wealth of the south from its
pine trees than the utilization of cot
ton seed has added to the south's
wealth by the discovery of the many
uses to which cotton seed could be
| put. I"
That is what Thomas Dixon, Jr.,
lecturer and author Of Leopard S
Spots said yesterday morning. He
is in Raleigh with Mr.. Robert Mack
ey, of Warren, Pa, head Of the Stroth-
ers Wells company, of Warren, Pa, en-
route to Aberdeen to examine the Bill
finger plant recently erected at that
place, for obtaining turpentine from
pine knots. Mr.. Dixon and Mr..
Mackey are both greatly interested in
the new process of obtaining turpen-
tine and the by-products OF the pine
by distillation, and they are studying
the different methods with view Of
ascertaining which is best. [ was talk
ing with them yesterday morning and
Mr.. Robt. N. Page of Briscoe, an epexrt
in all lumber and timber methods, and
was quite surprised to see that Mr..
Dixon knew quite as much about dis
tillation and turpentine and pine trees
as Mr.. Page and Mr.. Mackey.
cit is rather strange thing, isn't
IT. I asked Mr.. Dixon, that a man
who gives most of his time to writing
novels should be interested in so prac-
tical and every day and material a
subject as getting turpentine out of
pine knots9 How do you manage to
make such rapid transit from ro-
nance to money making?'
Mr.. Dixon answered 'What wilder
romance could you find than to take
an old dead pine forest and make it
richer than the live forest-to get
more money ont of the stumps and
ightwood knots and waste parts of
the pine by the process Of distillation
than by the sale of the best heart
pine9 / got the material for my novel
here in North Carolina. To what bet
ter use could I put the money obtain
ed from this North Carolina product
than to come back here and invest the
profits in the romance Of converting
pine knots into turpentine?''
The process of utilizing the waste,
such as pine knots, stumps of the pine,
by distillation is destined to reyolu-
tionize the pine sections Of the south.
There are three distinct and separate
companies now experimenting. One is
headed by DR.. Bilfnger, whose plan
is being tried at Aberdeen and Briscoe
by a company in which the Pages are
interested. Another is in operation
in New Orleans and is owned by New
York capitalists. Another is plan
invented or put in operation by an ex-
pert chemist in Washington city, in
which Mr.. John W. Thompson and
Gen. j. S. Carr and other North
Carolina capitalists are interested with
Philadelphia capitalists. Wherever
tried all these plans are making money
and making good money. Men like
MI. Dixon and Mr.. Mackey and other
capitalists are stduying all three of
these processes to see which is the
best, ready to invest largely in the
one that will pay the largest return.
In sense they are all still in the
experimental stage. The turpentine
made from them has not yet been
classed as pure trupentine, but owners
of distilling plants find ready sale
for all they make, but there is an oil
in some of them that when skinned
from the product leaves it pure tur-
pentine.
From one cord of wood by the dis
tillation process the managers of the
plant at Aberdeen and Briscoe and also
at other points make Is to 1S gallons
of spirits of turpentine, which is worth
at present price $40 or sl2. They also
make quantity of tar, wood alcohol,
lubricating oil, pyroligenous acid and
seven barrels of charcoal. The cost
Of cord of wood used is from sl.5o
to 81. The turpentine and other
products will be worth about SIS. The
charcoal sells for enough to pay for
the wood. 'sYou will be surprised"
said Mr.. Page, to know that the
Briscoe and Aberdeen plants sell their
charcoal to parties in Michigan.
In the North Carolina plants
mainly pine knots are used. They
have not tried distilling ordinary
green pine. In the New Orleans plant
the plan is to take the whole tree and
distill it into turpentine, tar, etc.
They find that they make about Sc
worth OF turpentine, about ST worth
of tar and other by-products. Mr..
Page said that be had understood that
one very large saw mill in the far
south had ordered a 50-cord plant
which they proposed to use for dis
tillation of the slabs from the mills,
which have heretofore been valueless
except for frewood. Indeed, so much
is expected from this new proces, that
it is not too much to predict that
before long saw mills will quit max
ing lumber and go into this business
of distiling the whole pine tree for
turpentine tar, etc.
The lumber mills have been ex-
hausting the pine lands at the rate of
2,GOo, 900 acres per year. There is only
now left in the south enough virgin
forests to last for 10 years at the same
rate of consumption that has pre-
vailed during the last 10 years. In or
der to preserve the forests longer, the
owners are using the earth cups in
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