STANDARD GRADE SAMPLES. 23 



respectively. The dealers' samples contain a much higher percentage 

 of the adulterant than either of the other two classes, exceeding the 

 producers' goods by 3.5 and the primary buyers' goods by 4.2 per 

 cent. It will be observed also that adulterations occur more fre- 

 quently and are present in larger quantities outside the turpentine- 

 producing belt than within it. Eighteen per cent of all the samples col- 

 lected were adulterated, and the average percentage of adulterant in 

 these was 6.1 per cent, ranging from 1 to 71 per cent in the individual 

 samples. The average amount of mineral oil in a barrel of the adul- 

 terated samples was approximately 3 gallons, which, basing the calcu- 

 lation simply on the cost of the two materials, made these adulterated 

 turpentines worth fully $1.50 less per barrel than unadulterated stock. 

 These facts assume graver significance when it is remembered that 

 turpentine is an article so well known and so generally used that it is 

 carried in stock and sold by merchants generally, particularly by 

 country merchants, and when bought from any source is liable to be 

 employed indiscriminately, either medicinally or technically. _ 



These samples having been carefully taken from all sections of the 

 country, this statement regarding the percentage of adulterated tur- 

 pentine may be considered as f airly representative of the general con- 

 ditions in the turpentine trade. The consumption of turpentine in 

 the United States during 1908 was approximately 15,000,000 gallons. 

 If 18 per cent of this was adulterated, then approximately 3,000,000 

 gallons of adulterated turpentine, containing an average of at least 6 

 gallons per hundred of mineral oil, costing about one-fifth as much as 

 the turpentine, was sold at turpentine prices. The small percentage 

 of mineral oil found in some samples may have been occasioned by 

 mixing a barrel of heavily adulterated turpentine with a large quan- 

 tity of a pure product, or possibly by putting turpentine into improp- 

 erly prepared petroleum barrels or into tank cars previously used for 

 mineral oils. 



EXAMINATION OF STANDARD GRADE SAMPLES. 



The proper grading of turpentine is a matter of no small monetary 

 importance to the producer and primary buyer, and the boards of 

 trade of the turpentine markets have adopted rules and standards 

 for the purpose of correct and consistent grading. These standards 

 are selected by the naval stores inspectors and passed upon by the 

 naval stores committee of the boards of trade. The generally accepted 

 final authority is the New York naval stores committee, whose 

 inspector, as a matter of fact, selects practically all standard samples 

 of turpentine and rosin used by naval stores inspectors of this country. 



For the purpose of learning how closely the standard samples on 

 which turpentine is bought in the primary markets agree among them- 

 selves, sets of standards were secured from the Savannah, Ga., and 



