The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1913-03-13
CUT-OVER TRACTS OFFER
SPLENDID OPPORTUNITIES

With the growing perfection of me
chanical processes of all kinds many
by-products which had hitherto been
regarded as useless have been utilized
and made 70 yield up large profits to
those who have had the ability and
foresight to make the undertaking
along intelligent and practical lines.
An instance is to be noted in the great
packing houses of Chicago, where, it
is said, every part of a hog is turned
to good account except the grunt, and
probably that will be utilized also
some day. Speaking in a more serious
vein, however, 1t may be said that the
entire dyeing industry of the world
was revolutionized by the epoch-mak-
ing discovery of the secret of obtain
ing aniline dyes from coal tar, and
this has brought the brightest and
most delicately colored fabrics with
in the reach of masses. Other in.
stances by the score may be noted in
industrial history of wealth-creating
discoveries which have been made in
the utilization of hitherto worthless
products and the latest of these is
the conversion of pine stumps into
rosin, pine oil and turpentire.
There are millions of acres Of cut
over lands in the South which con-
tain hidden millions in heretofore I'M
obtainable wealth. We have pointed
out in previous letters from this city,
Jacksonville, Savannah and other
Southern cities of the Importance OF
the Gulf states as naval stores pro-
ducers. We have also referred to the
large areas Of pine forests which are
available for turpentine farming. The
transformation OF the forest to highly
orchard or farm land re-
quires several steps, and two of them
at least are profitable. First comes
the turpentine distiller who taps the
trees and boils the sap, yielding tur.
pentine after condensation Of the va
por with the residue, rosin, remaining
In the body Of the retort. After a GER
tain period the trees are cut down for
lumber and then the land is cleared
OF the stumps and made available for
farming. This is an expensive and ar
duous undertaking, but the plans Of
the Pine Products Company Of New
Orleans now render It unnecessary for
the owner Of the land to spend one
cent Of his money nor one minute of
his time in getting rid of those incum-
brances.
Cut-over land is indeed a sorry spec
tacle. 1t bears mute testimony to the
former glory of the deposed monarcbs
OF the forest and from more practical
they are distinctly nui-
sance. Why some way to utilize the
latent wealth which they possess in
ample measure has not been discov-
cred long ago does not appear. nor
Ices 1t need to concern us here. The
'tumps Of trees, including the tribu-
AIRY important roots, contain more
esinous substance than does the trunk
tself. 1t is easy to extract sap from
he latter, nick with an ak will do,
ut after the tree is cut down the sap
aturally ceases to flow. 1t is there.
evertheless. According to the proc
So followed by the Pine Products
ompany the stumps will be removed
nd macerated by machinery. They
re then placed in a retort, steam is t
pplied at the bottom and passes out
the top, carrying the tIrpentine and l
ne oil with 1t in the form Of vapor. b
he water in the steam is condensed
I'd the OIL is liberated. which upon be- r
g distilled is resolved into the spirit
10 turpentine and the heavier pine E
l. so useful in the arts and sciences,
he original wood within the retore is
en- treated chemically, which dis
Ives the rosin and passes out, the II
sin being separated and the solvent d
Ing used over and over again. II is o.