New-York tribune., 1903-06-21
GIFT OF MILLIONS.
Highly Valuable InUention GiOen
Free to Man.

The Bureau of Forestry of the Department OF
xrric,,rt,rre has Just issued bulletin which
ysaIs with a matter OF the greatest Importance
so forest owners Of the South and 70 the lumber
snd naval stores industries In this country A
few method OF gathering crude turpentlne has
been found and put in operation. under conol-
tions and on scale to demonstrate Its entlre
commercial feasibility, which Will be nothing
short of revolutionary in its effect on the South
err nine forests. How important this is to the
,ndustriaI prosperity Of the region affected may
11artly be seen from the fact that the turpentlne
Industry alone is estimated TO give employment
10 three hundred and fifty thousand persons.
Crude tl1rpentine has always been collected In
.bA limited States by chopping kind Of pocket.
r t,oz" in the base of the tree itself. into which
the rosin fell as it oozed from the scarifed face
of the trunk above. The only use of the box
was TO hold the turpentine; it did not increase,
hut on the contrary, diminished the flow OF tur-
r,en+irse for TIE incision near the roots lowered
the vitality of the tree and made 1t less pro-
ducti,e- 1t also opened wide entrance for de-
cav and disease weakened the power of the tree
10 withstand wind and-most dangerous Of all
nrovided magazine of inf1amnable material
within easy reach of the ground fires common in
all Southern forests Boxing tree for tur-
rentine is almost sure to result in its early
death. and something like two million acres of
virgin forest are now boxed" annually
The method which has proved to be a prac-
fical substitute for the old time box is the in
xention of Southerner, who, foreseeing the
eventual ruin OF a great resource Of his natlVe
region set to work, at first in the face Of great
discouragenents, TO discover and introduce in
III. interest of the public welfare less waste
full system. The apparatus which his perfected
method employs is simplicity itself 1t consists
merely of an earthenware cup, with a nailhole
near the top, a sixpenny wire nail and two gal
vanized iron shallow troughs. Yet the system.
simple as It is. rather because of its sim
plici.y. represents triumph over difficulties
which previous inventors have found insur-
rnoun4able. Turpentine gathering depends en-
,trely upon the employment Of cheap negro Ia
for This labor combines high degree Of skill
in the use of familiar methods and tools with an
uninteIligent hostility TO change. The old sys-
TEN was both efficient and somewhat compli-
Gated. 1t involved considerable division Of
labor and the use of special tools. It was abb
solutely necessary that any new apparatus
should be cheap. durable. incapable of getting
tout Of order. not likely TO be interfered with by
hogs and grazing cattle, and, above ALL adjusted
TO a nicely TO the methods already in
All this after long and patient experiment,
DR. Charles II. Herty has attained by the in
vention of his cup and gutter system. The work
IS done by gangs, almost as before. slight
change in the manner of laying bare the wood
from which the rosin flows, the addition Of a
pair Of axemen with broadaxes. who with two
single strokes open. at precisely the right posi-
.ions the cuts 10 hold the cutters, and laborers
with cutters of assorted sizes for different sized
trees who put in place both cutters and cup,
the latter distributed to each tree by a boy
that briefly is the new system in operation. But
the ingenuity with which the simple seeming
outft and system have been calculated to fit
every demand can be appreciated only by those
familiar with the details of the work in the
field.
Dr. Herty had been preceded by number OF
Others in the search for invention Of this
kind and patents have at different times been
issued for various devices. But had sue
oeeded In superseding the box" II is worth
while to call attention. in what is sometimes
called an age of commercialsm, TO the fact that
DR. Herty has not attempted, by the monopoly
of a patentable device. to secure his en-
-ichuent He has invented and proved the en-
tire practicability of a method. which
owing 10 its saving of waste and the larger
quantity of high grade products obtained, adds
over 30 per cent TO the value of the yield. with
the South by the free gift of what would have
brought to the naval stores industry alone dur
ing last year than Sl3.0o0.O00 worth of
additional output-consideraby more, in other
words. than the interest which Mr.. Carnegie
drew during the same time from the 5000 000.0o0
OF United States Steel Corporation bonds which
he received as the price of the Carnegie works.