ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 19 



Products of the Pine.* 

 No. I. 



TURPENTINE AND ROSIN. 



W. B. PHILLIPS, Ph. D. 



Gentlemen of the Society: — It is designed in this paper to call 

 the attention of the Society very briefly to some of the more 

 salient features of the industry which, in the minds of most 

 people, is associated with the name of North Carolina. In 

 almost every text-book on the Geography and Resources of the 

 United States the chief products of North Carolina are said to 

 be Tar, Pitch and Turpentine, and, of late, Rosin, in spite of our 

 40,000,000 pounds of tobacco and 250,000 bales of cotton. 



North Carolina is known as the great naval store State. Has 

 not our chief city been built up mainly through its trade in the 

 products of the pine tree? Is not the Cape Fear the most tur- 

 pentiny stream that flows? Are we not ourselves true Tar 

 Heels? But if we were called upon to give a definition of Tar, 

 or Pitch, or Turpentine, or Rosin, I fear that many of us would 

 return rather misty replies. It is very generally true that our 

 knowledge of some of the most common articles of every-day 

 life is extremely superficial. This arises not so much from 

 objective as from subjective difficulties. The obstacles are eso- 

 teric. Familiarity, if it does not breed the usual contempt, does 

 breed what is worse, a profound indifference 



It is with the hope that this indifference may be somewhat 

 disturbed, if not entirely removed for the time being, that I 

 desire to speak to you this evening on Turpentine and Rosin, 

 twin products of the Long-leaf Pine. 



On the Atlantic coast, throughout a tract of land 600 miles 

 long by 100 miles wide, beginning at Norfolk, Va., and ending 



*A series of articles will follow on this subject. 



