8 so THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Sometimes dealers are imposed upon by agents, who, by a skillful 

 handling of the brush, can change W. G. into W. "W., and H. into K., 

 and so pass the resin off for a higher grade than it really is. 



The stilling begins about April. One pleasant afternoon, a few 

 weeks since, one or two friends and myself strolled down to a still, 

 about a mile distant from the farm-house. The stiller and his wife 

 were most kind, and cheerfully answered my many questions. The 

 still, which cost about six hundred dollars, was a rude structure of two 

 stories, or rather a ground-floor with one story, roofed, but not closed 

 in. Ascending the rough stairway, we reached the top of the huge 

 caldron, into which are poured from eight to ten barrels of crude at a 

 charge. The opening, only sufficiently large to admit of the turning of 

 a barrel of crude over it when the boiler was being filled, was covered 

 by a copper cap that, being lengthened out, formed a short pipe which, 

 bending downward, united with the spiral pipe or " worm " that coiled 

 itself in the huge still-tub of water near by. The water was conducted 

 into this tub by a trough leading from a well, the buckets of which 

 were drawn several feet above the mouth of the well to a convenient 

 height. A pipe from a barrel of water led into the boiler, so that the 

 water could be turned in whenever, in the judgment of the stiller, it 

 w r as necessary. When the boiling began, the vapor, rising and enter- 

 ing the " worm," was condensed by the cold of the tub into water and 

 spirits of turpentine, which poured out into a barrel on the ground- 

 floor. From this barrel the turpentine only was conducted into another; 

 this was easily accomplished by having the connecting-tube placed near 

 the top of the barrel, higher than the water ever reached, the turpentine 

 always rising to the top : this was prettily shown by the stillers catch- 

 ing from time to time a tumblerful and holding it up, when it could 

 be seen that the separation was instantaneous. The stiller frequently 

 places his ear at the end of the " worm," as by the sound from the 

 boiler he can judge as to the expediency of adding water to the crude. 

 The proportion of spirits to water that flows out should be as two to 

 three ; the quantity of the former of course decreases as the time for 

 letting off the charge approaches, and it at last should stand only a 

 half-inch on a glass of w r ater. But when the demand for resin is 

 greater than that for turpentine, the tendency is not to carry the boil- 

 ing quite so far, as more turpentine may be left to the improvement 

 of the resin ; still, it should be taken out sufficiently to prevent the 

 softening of the one and a half inch sample-cube, which is placed in 

 the show-case of the merchant. 



"When, during the boiling, the necessary proportion of spirits to 

 water for discharging is reached, the stiller removes the cap, lessens 

 the heat — as there is great danger of scorching the resin — and, after 

 giving the contents of the boiler a vigorous stirring, lets it out at the 

 opening near the bottom, a boiling tide, into the three strainers placed 

 one above another upon the ground-floor, through which it passes to 



