GATHERING NAVAL STORES. 



473 



said to me after a visit to a still, " I feel braced up."' There is no 

 better sanitarium than the pineries of the South, and the turpen- 

 tine workers are as strong and healthy a set of fellows as you can 

 find anywhere. 



The manner in which naval stores are obtained may be briefly 

 described as follows : The dip, or crude turpentine, is emptied 

 into a big copper still and boiled. The steam is passed through 

 a " worm " a coil of pipe similar to that used in a liquor distillery 



Scraping and Dipping in a Turpentine Orchard. 

 Tree to the riu'lit shows scarified surface. 



and on reaching a certain point the condensation drops into a 

 tank, and is the spirits of turpentine of commerce. 



The residuum left after the spirit of turpentine has distilled 

 over is the rosin of trade. This is drawn off by a tap at the bot- 

 tom of the still, and strained first through a wire cloth and then 

 through a coarse cotton cloth, and run into a trough, from which 

 it is ladled into barrels. 



In the several turpentine States, so called, there are laws regu- 

 lating the inspection of turpentine, defining its grades, the size 

 and kind of barrel, and the manner of branding. The chief 

 points of these regulations, which are more or less the same in 

 the several Southern States, are : turpentine must be branded " S," 

 or " H," for soft or hard ; the soft turpentine barrels to weigh two 



