The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-08-24
WOOD DISTILLATI0N
BUREAU OF CENSUS ISSUES 4
 STATEMENT. Y
Statistics Show The vhIue Of The Various Forest Products of The
 Country-Turpentfne In The ,.

Washington. Aug. 23-( (SpecialJ--- The Bureau of the Census. with the assistancesof the Forest Service Of the Department of Agriculture, has for some years collected statistics concern ing. the annual. production of various forest pfoducts. and the prelfninsry figures -on wood .distHiafion for the year ending December ss :, 1907, have just been made public, sSsk =. ....s.
 Tn'g the K sdistilIatldng of .hardwoods, charcoal. {. gray y. acetate, and alcohol con statute the, leading products. Ditriflg 1907 thei industryls passed through it's first years experience under stii work ihR Of the so: called free, or derafured alcohol law. While Athis lawf exerted mo disturbing influence on the market value of such products az charcoal. acetate gof lime. 'pyroligneous actds etc. It's. effect on wood alcohol was ina- nlediate and striking. resulting in a decline of more than fiftye live per cent in the market value of this sccHanacdity from an ayerager value per gallon Of thirty-fours cents in. 1s0e to fifteen cents in 1907. Otherwise. however, little or no evidence of the laws opera ton is djscernable ig the statistics ot the industry for the country as a { whole. In. fact, the demand for char coal has been sufficient tos cause a slight advance1in the average value of this commodity along with a gubstan- tial increase in production, and this fin measure compensated for the fall in the price of alcohol.
 There were 100 active plants report ed for 1907. an increase of fourteen over 1906. The total consumption of wood---chiefly birchs beech and maple in 1907 was l,2l9,771& cords, as against lI,14AS96 cords in 1906. an increasessof 74.S75 cords. The production of char coal Increased from 45.e57;731 bushels valued at $2,s65,s4o to 50,772.2s3 gray acetate from 9s,STs.4s7s pounds valued at $2Q17,331, to 33,374s41 pounds, valued at $2.565. .s3s :. and that of brown acetate from 6,s60, ,g33 pounds
 valued at sss.T77 tot s,1s2.S4s pounds valued at s94 446 The reported yield Of crude alcohol. on the other hand, de- creased from 7,s71,4s4 gallons, with a with .a value of $1,15s.3Q7, a loss of l2s.s4e gallons. or Is per cent, in quantity. and of $1,522,se4, or 5e.s per cent in value. = The leading states in hardwood dis tillation on the basissof wood consumed were Michigan. Pennsylvania. and New York, tn the order named these States consuming in isO7is9.2 per cent of the total amount of wood utilized in this branch of the industry. Of. these states, Mfchigan and New York show substan- tial gains over 1908, both in the quan- tity of wood consumed and in products, while. sltght decrease appears in the total for Pennsylvania. As is the case with softwood distillation. the location of this bfanch of the industry is de- termined largely by the distribution of the woods which constitute its raw ma teriaI
 In the distillation of pine and soft woods generally turpentine Is the lead ing product. with charcoal. oils. and tar as products of secondary importance. LongIeaH pine supplies the bulk Of the raw material, though other species of pine as we'll as other conifers are used On the whole. the showing for 1907 In this branch. Of the iudustfy was satis- factory. While the inquiry disclosed against thirty-two in 1906. the duan- tityi of wood consumed increased rom 50s2s4 cords to Ae1. I4s cords. or 2lsT per cent This increase was accompanied by ,an advance instte average cost per cord from $2.5s to ss3.44 The total yield in 1907, of .turpentine, the lead- jag product. was S54.71t gallons, as against 505. 427 galolns in. l996. an iu- crease in quantity Of 151,2S4 gallons, or 30.1 per cent. while the average value per gallon remained substantially the safiae--about forty steven c cents The production of tar and oils increased from ITS 12s gallons. valued at ySl.- Fs7, to 1, 152. 752 gallons! valued at 27.- sal The production of charcoal also showed. marked increase, from Ts1.sS7 bushels with a value ofSs+HsS1. to r. l5s.Ss4 bushels, with a vallle Of sl02.- 411.y .'ees at 1.ee; ;s5As F
 The leading states in this branch of the Industry are North Carolina, Florida. and Georgia, in. the order named. Georgia and Florida having ex
 changed places since 1906.