The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1911-02-02
MAKING EVERYTHING COUNT

Star reporter had an interesting
conversation with Mr.. Z. II. Mcneil a
few days ago, when that gentleman
was in the city, about his retort plant
at Lake Butler, for the distiIlation of
turpentine. He said il was doing good
work and proving profitable. His com
pany Is buying all the stumps and pine
wood IL can secure around Lake But
Ter. The price paid TO start with was
s2.75 per cord, but the company had so
much trouble in getting the standard
measure in wood. that it has since
adopted the weight system. At first
the wood men revOlted and declared If
they could not sell by cord measure,
they would cease 10 supply the retOrt
works. but second thought changed
their decision and now the wood n n
are more than Leased. a. LEY AVE
found that by seAi.7% their wood by
weight they get % cents d cord more
than by measure. He said wood
weighed from $500 10 1000 pounds a
cord. deepnding on the richness Of the
wood. That besides turpentine and
rosin. several grades of oil are secured
from the distillation process. which is
quite valuable and finds a ready sale.
The company is capitalized at 800, 900,
$50, 900 of which is paid in. Nc. Nc
Neil said that eventually his company
proposed to add machinery that would
make paper out of the pulp or residue
of the plant. That a man by the name
Of Sailor of Rome, Ga, claimed a pat
ent process for making paper Of the
pine pulp and was organizing a COM
pany with a capital of over half mil
lion dollars for the extraction of tur-
pentine and rosin from pine stCmps,
wood and sawdust and would connect
with the factory a pap,r making plant.
II will be located at Macon, Ga. Mr..
Mcneil was formerly a resident of Ma
rion county and among the pioneer
turpentine operators at Montague and
across the river around Grahamvil1e.
After operating his plant for num-
Der of years. he sold out and moved
. to Orlando, near which place he has a
splendid home and has been indulgin g
his spare time in growing truck with
the assistance of irrigation with sue
cess. He also owns some land at San
ford and this season is trying his luck
in a crop of lettuce and celery. He
has three acres in lettuce which he
has sold and realized over $4,000 for
the same, and has an acre in beets and
six acres in celery that is about ready
for market. He also touched on the
raising of hogs and said he had tried
his hand at it during the past eighteen
months and had done splendidly. He
said his mother presented him with a
sow and to keep her company he pur-
chased two others and from filters he
had raised 81 head and readily sold
the same at 9 cents a pound on the
hoof. or II cents a pound dressed. He
recently sold two pigs, seven months
old, that netted him $31 He thought
the farmers of Florida were neglecting
great opportunities in not giving more
attention to raising hogs, for he knew
no product that would give better re-
turns He also spoke interestingly of
systematic farming and referred to
some lands he owned at Clear Lake,
near BroOksvlle, and Of planting a
small field in corn last year as an eX-
pertinent, which was so gratifying that
this season he proposes to try 100 acres
and apply to it the intensive system
and he believes he can make easily 80
to 100 bushels to the acre. Mr.. Nc
Neil has great faith in the future of
Florida and believes we are entering
on an era of prosperity and progress
such as our people a decade ago dared
not dream of