72 TIMBER PINES OF THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES. 



^ from the dippings under his system are taken into account. On the first point he says that fully 



"^ one-eighth of the crude turpentine brought to the still from the boxes consists of chips, sand, and 



other foreign matter, contaminations from which the product of the cups is entirely free. On the 



second point he refers to the high grades of rosiu resulting from the distillation of the crude 



turpentine from the cups, which almost entirely classes with the highest and higher grades. 



EFFECTS OF THE PRODUCTION OF NAVAL STORES UPON THE TIMlSKIt, THE LIFE OF THE TliEE, AND THE CONDITIONS 



OK THE FOREST. 



In the present management of the turpentine orchards in the Southern pine forests a great 

 deal of crude turpentine is wasted, much of the valuable spirits of turpentine is lost by volatilization 

 in passing over the long chip face on its way to the box, and much of the resin is lowered in its 

 grade and value by oxidation consequent to exposure and by admixture" of foreign substances — 

 bark, coal, dust, etc. 



Concerning the effect of the tapping of the trees upon the timber, there exists no reason on 

 l^hysiological or anatomical grounds for .considering it injurious, and the opinion held by many, 

 that the qualities of timber are impaired by bleeding, finds no support when it is considered that 

 the heartwood remains unatfected. The resinous contents of the heartwood being solidified and 

 the formation of the resin taking place only in the newly formed wood, the heartwood can not 

 participate in the tiow of the resin, the discharge being necessarily confined to the sapwood. 

 This fact has been fully substantiated by the work of the Division of Forestry, by which it has not 

 only been shown that the strength of the heartwood, the most important if not the only jiart of the 

 tree used for lumber, has in no wise been diminished, but also that the durability of the timber, as 

 far as it depends upon its resinous contents, can not be impaired by bleeding. It is only in that part 

 of the butt log around the chip that the quality of the timber becomes somewhat impaired — the 

 wood becoming highly charged with resin is rendered more brittle and harder to work, with a 

 tendency to gum up the tools. Indirectly, howevei', a considerable proportion of the boxed timber 

 becomes damaged if not utilized shortly after having been bled. It is often left standing for a 

 number of years, exposed to various destructive agencies, such as insects and fire, followed by 

 parasitic fungoid growth. Large Capricorn beetles bore their way through the callus surrounding 

 the chip and through and beyond the sapwood. Through the innumerable fissures which are 

 caused by fires, air and water charged with the spores of parasitic fungi find entrance to the body 

 of the tree, causing disease and decay. The damage from these causes increases every year, so that 

 from them alone the timber from a turpentine orchard abandoned for a dozen years was found 

 damaged to the extent of fully 20 i^er cent. Although the loss of its resin by bleeding results 

 physiologically in no direct injury to the tree, the wound infiicted by tapping, like any other wound, 

 interferes with its healthy growth and, particularly in the case of trees of smaller size, causes their 

 early decay. While the exuded resin covering the excoriated surface of the tree acts as an eflicient 

 antiseptic, aflbrding a firm protection against the access of the spores of fungi, it endangers the 

 life of the tree, if exposed to fire, by its greater inflammability, the heat produced by its flame 

 being capable of killing the trees outright. Under the crude and inconsiderate manner of cutting 

 the boxes, all of the trees of smaller size and many of the larger trees are blown down, and a 

 considerable number of those remaining with their excoriated surfaces out of proportion to the 

 recuperative power of the trees are doomed to perish sooner or later in consequence of such 

 treatment. 



These injuries inflicted upon the individual trees, in connection with the fires started with the 

 opening of the season one year after another, cause such damage to the forests as to effect tiually 

 their total destruction. Fire being allowed to sweep over lai-ge areas, its force increased in the 

 turpentine orchards by the exposed resinous surfaces of the trees, and by trees blown down and 

 the debris covering the ground, an immense amount of timber is destroyed. Trees which have not 

 been killed outright by the fire, or have altogether escaped the danger, are doomed to speedy 

 destruction by bark beetles and pine borers, which find a breeding place in the living trees 

 prostrated by the winds during the summer, the broods of which rapidly infest the standing trees, 

 which invariably succumb to the pest the same season. In consequence, the forests invaded by 

 turpentine orcharding present, in five or six years after they have been abandoned, a picture of 

 ruin and desolation painful to behold, and in view of the destruction of the seedlings and, the 

 younger growth all hope of the restoration of these magnificent forests is excluded. 



