The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1906-06-09
GATHERING RESIN FROM THE
PINE

An Important Industry in the Forests
Of North Carolina
In an interesting report on the tur-
pentine industry in the United States
Mr.. Bell, British commercial agent
says the gathering of resin in the unit
Jed States dates back to the time Of the
early settlers Of that port Of the eoun-
try which is now North Carolina, From
there the industry has extended, and is
now carried on in all regions where the
long leaf pine is found in sufficient
abundance, and more especially in the
south Atlantic and eastern Gulf states.
In addition to the resin and turpentine,
the industry includes the manufacture
of tar and pitch the distilation of
spirits of turpentine and other by-pro-
ducts. The process, in brief, is as fol-
lows: The trees are tapped and the sap
allowed to flow into respectacles pre-
pared for the purpose. This resin is
distilled, and spirits of turpentine and
resin are obtained Tar is obtained by
the destructive distillation of the wood
itself, and OIL of resin, oil of tar, COM
mon pitch, brewers pitch, etc., are OBJ
tanned by a Redistribution or combina-
ton of the allowed named products,
Resin is obtained chiefly from the
longlief pine, of which there was form
erly an unbroken forest extending
from Southern Virginia through the
south Atlantic and Gulf states to Eas-
tern Texas. More than one-half of the
original forest, however has been ex-
hausted, and there has been little or no
renewal. For a number Of years the
seat of the naval stores industry con-
tinued near the forests of North Caro-
lima at a later period and within re-
cent years, owing to the increased de-
mand for spirits of turpentine and res
in having a large growth of the indus
try, the districts have been very much
extended and now the centre is in Flor
ida, and reaches into Alabama, Missis-
sippi and Louisiana. The Southern
States abound in sandy soils suitable
for the growing of pines. These tracts
We're at one time covered with what
were supposed to be boundless forests.
Though there are still large areas
which have been untoched, the greater
portion of the primeval forests have
had their best timber removed Forest
fires and the operations of the turpen-
tine gathers have greatly damaged the
remainder Under the present methods
of cutting the trees it is merely ques-
ton Of a comparatively short time be-
fore the supply will pc exhausted. If
has been at last realized that the TIM
Der supplies are not unlimited, and it is
absolutely necessary that there should
be some modification of the present
treatment if continued reproduction is
to be insured instead of the complete
exhaustion, which threatens to pespoil
the magnificent forest resources.
AS bleeding" pine tress for the pur-
pose of extracting turpentine and res
in has been regarded as injurious to the
timber the Agricultural Department
undertook a special investigation in
volving mechanical tests; physical and
chemical analyses were made of the
wood of bled AMI unbled trees from the
same locality. The result proved con-
elusively % that bled timber is as
strong as unbled if of the same weight;
(2) that the weight and shrinkage of
the wood is not affected by, the bleed
ing; 60 that bled trees contain practi-
cally neither more nor less resin than
unbled trees, the loss of resin referring
only to the sapwood, and therefor the
durability is not affected by the bleed
ing process. This result was entirely
satisfactory, as previously many archi-
tects and large consumers, such as rail-
way companies, refused to employ