Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1908-05-08
BETTER UTILIZATION OF
YELLOW PINE WOOD
TREES WASTE PRODUCTS AND WISE
USAGE WILL FORESTALL
SHORTAGE,

SHORTAGE.
I'm fifteen or twenty years, at the
present rate of cutting, the supply oi
the longleaf yellow pine of the South,
one of Americas most useful forest
trees will be nearly exhausted, " say the
experts of the United States forest ser
vice. If these pine forests are wiped
out one of the South's important in
dustries will die-the production of the
sO-called naval stores.
The lumber of the Southern yellow
pine brings SIS to $35 per thousand feet,
its turpentine fifty-six cents per gallon,
its rosin from S4.35 to $685. per 2SC
pounds, and its pitch 1926 per 2SC
pounds. All of these prices are gradu-
ally becoming higher on account of the
increased demand and the scarcity OF
the products. Formerly, turpentine
could be purchased for thirty cents a
gallon. Now fifty-six cents must be
paid at wholesale, and the consumer OF
gallon lots will pay at times as high as
$1OO.
In the face of these fast increasing
prices, people are still found who say
that there is yet an inexhaustible sup
ply OF yellow pine in the South, and
that all talk about famine is unwar-
ranted. Such statements are not just
ified by conditions and the yellow pine
numbering industry will soon be in the
face of serious shortage unless decided
changes are made in the present meth
ods, and unless valuable products now
going to waste are utilized. The long
leaf pine is a slowgrowing tree and
does not make timber with anywhere
near the rapidity that it is being cut.
The situation calls for making the very
best use OF the present supply.
There are at present in the woods of
the South vast quantities of pine logs
and tall stumps left as result of care
less numbering in the past. This ma
terial is rich in turpentine and could
be made to yield from ten to fifteen
gallons of refined spirits per cord. Be
sides this, there is great waste at the
sawmills in the form of slabs, edgings,
and sawdust, all of which must have a
value, but at present is, for the most
part, simply burned to get it out of the
way. In fact, not more than so per
cent, of the tree as it stands in the for
est comes to the market in the form of
valuable materials.
In the year 1906 the reported out of
Southern yellow pine was some twelve
billion board feet. A conservative esti-
mate of the actual amount of turpen-
tine alone, to say nothing of wood fibre
and other materials, which could be
produced from the waste wood of this
one year, would place the amount at
not less than thirty million gallons.
This is surprising figure, when it is
remembered that it represents an
amount almost equal to the present an
nual production of gum spirits in this
country. II this product were extract
ed from the wood and sold at even the
current price of good wood turpentine,
this gross saving would be easily $14,-
100000.
Refined steam turpentine properly
prepared, should bring at least an equal
price in this country with the gum tur-
pentine. Abroad, this soften the case,
and instances are on record where the
refined steam turpentine has, by virtue
of its more uniform composition,
brought five cents gallon more than
the gum spirits, and is in much greater
demand. Further Investigations along
these lines will be pushed vigorously
by the forest service.