52 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1904. 



Here and there through these trees we came upon a few 

 deciduous trees, such as button wood (Platanus occidentalis) , 

 red maple {Acer rubrum), and the blackjack (Quercus Mari- 

 landica), and the willow oak (Q. laurifolia). There are also 

 occasional patches of low, swampy ground where grow Magnolia 

 glauca and Leucothoe. Specimens of this last have been planted 

 at the foot of Hemlock Hill in the Arnold Arboretum. 



One of the important mdustries of the state is known as 

 the Naval Stores Industry, probably because its products have 

 been so extensively used for vessels and in ship yards. It 

 consists in gathering the resinous substance from the trees and 

 converting it into resin and spirits of turpentine. Tar is pro- 

 duced from dead wood and thoroughly seasoned stumps. 

 These are gathered, put in a clay-lhied pit, set on fire and 

 loosely covered with earth. After nine days of slow burning 

 tar begins to flow into a hole some three feet away, with which 

 the crude oven is connected by an underground channel. The 

 flow continues for several weeks. Pitch is obtained as a result 

 of boiling down the tar. 



The turpentine is obtained by removing the bark of a tree 

 and cutting into the wood, when a liquid exudes in large quan- 

 tities. 



The trade in turpentine and the manufacture of tar and 

 pitch were started in North Carolina by the first settlers; and 

 in colonial times these products furnished the chief exports 

 of the colony. In 1770 their value amounted to $215,000. 

 In 1890 it had increased to more than eight million dollars 

 (-18,135,339). This country has for many years supplied a 

 large part of the world's demand for these substances, but 

 the industry is doomed to destruction unless a different method 

 is substituted. 



A lumber company has established itself in Ray's Forest, 

 with the intention of cutting down the trees as soon as the 

 turpentine company has finished with them, having paid for 

 the privilege at the rate of ten dollars an acre. Such land 

 without the trees is of little value, often being sold for fifty 

 cents an acre. 



