The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1906-02-21
the PRODUCTION or
OIL OF WlNTERGREEN
BY HAROLD DAY FOSTER,
Forest Assistant, U. S. Forest Service

Q 3 the distillation of an ether
\ lal oil. 1t was formerly
wow obtained from the leaves
of the wintergreen or checkerberry
(Gualtheria procumbens. Linn. But
the production of the oil from this spe-
cles has been largely discontinued ow-
ing TO the great cost of gathering the
plant in sufficient amounts. Almost
all of the natural oir' now on the
market is obtained from the sweet
birch (Betula lenta, Lnn.).
This tree has a wide botanical dis
tribution in the Eastern United States,
but 1t is in the southern Appalachian
Mountains that 1t occurs at its best.
Here it is found as a timber tree Of
some Importance, and is numbered for
its wood, which is used in the manu-
facture of furniture. The bark alone
is utilized in dlstilling the oil, and in
some regions where the tree does not
attain to sufficient size to make good
saw stock, or for local reasons there is
not a satisfactory market for the lum-
Der, the bark is peeled from the felled
trees, which are then discarded. The
following notes on the distillation of
birch oil apply to the industry as 1t was
observed in Mcdowell County, North
Carolina:
In this region the hardwood forests
are being numbered and the merchant.
able trees of the many species which
occur here are being taken out. Some
birch lumber is sold to the furniture
trade, but as q rule birch is poor
seller, and only few trees in this sec
ton are large enough to make good
lumber. Distillation of the oil is car
ried on by local residents. The lum-
ber company charges the distillers
twenty cents for every tree cut, de.
Quoting this amount from the proceeds
of the sale of the crude oil.
After Telling the trees they are peeled
while green. 1t is essential that the
bark be green, for if it is allowed to
worthless for distilling purposes owing
to the rapid evaporation of the ETHEREAL
oil. The bark is stripped from the
trunk and stump and the larger limbs,
| but the twigs and the bark of the
smaller branches are not used. The
bark is brought to the distillery and
put on the floor around which there is
narrow strip of lumber forming a
shallow box. Here it is Clipped up fine
with axes. Everything about the dis
tillery and the methods of distilling are
simple to the point of crudeness.
| The distillery most commonly con-
sists of a floor on which the bark is
Clipped, and one or more watts or stills
with their condensers. and these are
rooted over with a rude framework of
poles covered with hemlock bark. This
shed serves to protect the birch bark
from the drying sun, and the fires
from rain, as well as shielding the
workers from the weather.
The stills are three feet wide by foul
feet long and three feet deep. They
are constructed of wood with cast-iron
bottoms and steam-tight tops or Gov
ers. The still is placed in position on
two parallel rows of fiat rocks one un
der each side of the box, leaving n
space underneath on which fire Is
placed The smoke escapes through O
vent or low chimney of fat rock at the
rear.
Inside the box and about four inches
above the iron bottom is a grating OF
wooden strips four inches wide anC
placed about one inch apart. Under
this grating water is boiled by fire
placed on the ground under the lroI
bottom, and the Clipped bark rests OF
the grating. The grating thus keeps
the bark out of the water and the
steam alone, as it rises through the
still filed with bark, extracts the oil.
After filling the still with finely
| Clipped bark the top is placed ON ant
held firmly in position by sticks ant
wedges. The steam rising through thu
grating and permeating the bark ex
tracts and vaporizes the oil and carries
it to the top and through an iron pip'
or worm. This worm" however, Il
not coiled as in the condensers o.
liquor stills, but is a simple straigh
iron water pipe. In some cases it il
bent TO form a connection with thu
side of the vat; in other cases a wood
en- plug is wedged into the opening o
the vat, through which an auger holt
is bored, taking a right angle turn il
the centre of the block of wood. In thu
other side of the plug, at right angles
to the side against the vat, the straigh
pipe is inserted, thus obviating the ne
cessity of bending the pipe and plug
ging the opening in the vat around the
pipe.
The iron pipe is laid in trough
through which the water from brool
is DETECTED. The steam and vaporizet
oil passing In mixture into the worn
Is condensed there, and the resulting
water and oil trickles by drops into O
glass jar placed over the end of tho
pipe. Over the mouth of the jar /:
| stretched a piece of cloth through
which the oil and water are strained.
The oil sinks to the bottom of the
jar as dark red aromatic oil and the
smoky water from the worm remains
on top, being lighter. AS the jar over
flows the water passes by trough te
the boiler in the bottom of the still
where 1t Is boiled over again. In this
way, besides keeping the boiler filled
automatically, there is the addltiona
advantage that any unseparated oil
which has failed to precipitate in the
Jar returns to the still to be again va
-.