TUNG-OLD OIL FOR NEW NEEDS 



opposing opinions Edward C. Gray of the Gulfport 

 Seed Company, an old turpentine and lumberman, who 

 for ten years has been in closest contact with many 

 tung growers, big and little, believes the future rests 

 with the small producer. 



"Tung trees need cultivation and fertilizing, but," 

 Gray reasons, "a farm family can handle one hundred 

 tung acres efficiently and with little labor expense. The 

 most economic farm unit throughout the tung-growing 

 section is five hundred acres. The small farmer who 

 apes the big grower and tries to live by tung alone 

 takes unreasonable chances. Half of his land, anyway, 

 is unsuitable for groves, and if he uses this half intel- 

 ligently, he can sit snugly on a three-legged stool tung 

 oil, beef cattle, and legumes for cover crop and feed 

 grown between the terraced tree rows. To help initial 

 expenses he always has lumber, for the land must be 

 cleared. On such a farm, he sits pretty." 



Another question looms large before our youthful 

 industry: the future price of oil. As always nowadays, 

 future profit estimates are made hazardous by three 

 glaring uncertainties: the value of the dollar, the wage 

 scale, and the cut that taxes will take from income. 

 But here there is greater unanimity among tung men. 



The prewar average price was just under fifteen 

 cents a pound. Despite higher costs the postwar price 

 will have to be close to that figure. Though some grow- 

 ers are inclined to laugh off Chinese competition, the 



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