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FORESTRY INVESTIGATIONS U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



was largely in excess of the demand, leading to a great depreciation of this article. The conse- 

 quent reduction of the profits of the business caused the transfer of the still from the place of 

 shipment to the source of the raw material the forest. From that time (1844) dates the great 

 progress made in the expansion of this industry to the virgin forests farther south, and the 

 turpentine stills increased rapidly in number in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and the eastern 

 Gulf States. 



During the war of secession, when the production in the South was stopped, the turpentine 

 industry of France received an impetus, and that country supplied as best she could the deficiency. 

 Prices went up to five or six times their former range, namely, $25 to 30 per 100 pounds for spirits, 

 and $9 to $10 for pale yellow grades of rosin, $4 to $5 for inferior grades. These prices instigated 

 improvement of methods, such as the Hugues system, described further on, and more careful 

 treatment of the crop. 



With the close of the war the industry revived in the United States, though the demand for 

 turpentine was not as great as formerly, petroleum products of various kinds having been found 

 to take the place of the product of the pine for many purposes. With the general extension of 

 arts and manufactures, however, both in this country and abroad, and new application of the 

 products, there has been an increasing demand both for spirits of turpentine and resin, the 

 exports of these alone in the year 1891 being f 8,135,339 in value. 



The following table of exports of naval stores has been compiled with great care by Charles 

 Mohr from the reports of the boards of trade, the press reports published in the several ports of 

 export, and partly from private information. The amounts given are not claimed to comprise the 

 total annual production, but will fairly represent the bulk of production in each year for the ten 

 or twelve years included. 



Table of exports of naval stores from the markets of principal centers of production during the period 1SSO to 1890. 



Exports of tar and crude turpentine from Wilmington, N. C. 



Adding to the above records the production reported from Mississippi and Louisiana, which 

 is said to have averaged, for the last two years, 75,000 barrels of resin and 15,000 casks of spirits, 

 being marketed in New Orleans, we may estimate the total production at present (1892) as round: 



340,000 casks spirits of turpentine, or 17,000,000 gallons, at 35 cents . . $6, 000. 000 



1,490,000 barrels (240 pounds net) 1 resin of grades W W to C, or 357,600,000 pounds, at * 1.80 average price 



per barrel or per 280 pounds gross 2,682,000 



8, 682, 000 



1 Lately the weight per barrel has been greatly increased, so that it now varies from 350 to 450 pounds net. 



