TURPENTINE INDUSTRIES OF THE SOUTH. 137 



EESINOUS FOREST PRODUCTS. 



"We have given in connection with the statistics of naval stores,^ 

 some account of the early history of this class of forest products. Tbe 

 principal source of onr supply is the Pimis ausiralis of Michaux(thePm?/.9 

 palusfris of Linnseus), commonly called the yellow or Georgia pine, a tim- 

 ber highly valued on account of its strength, elasticity, and durability 

 in architecture and ship-building. It is found on a belt of country cx- 





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tending from a little south of the Eoanoke Eiver in North Carolina, 

 through that State, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, 

 and into Louisiana, generally at a distance of 50 to 150 miles from the 

 coast. In North Carolina, where it has hitherto been chiefly worked, it 

 does not occur near tbe coast, except near the southern point, and its 

 eastern limit would be in a line drawn nearly direct from the head of 

 Albemarle Sound, to a poiut some 20 miles west of Cape Fear. The 

 belt is about 50 miles wide at the north, and it widens as it extends 

 southwestward, until its western border crosses the State line about 10 

 miles west of the Great Pedee Kiver. Its area within tlie State is about 

 15,000 square miles, or about 30 per cent, of the State, and its elevation 

 above sea-level, for the most part, is less than 200 feet. The soil 

 of this region is generally light and sandy, and where there is a clay 

 subsoil the timber is of better quality. On the richer bottom-lauds 

 other species, of coarser grain, known as the short-leaf, rosemary, and 

 loblolly pines, are more common. This last-named pine (P. tahda) is 

 generally of poor quality for timber, its sap-wood being very thick. 



The best long-leaf pine has a thin sap, fine grain, and slow growth, 

 requiring about a hundred and fifty years on the average to square a 

 piece of timber 16 inches on a side. The tree appears under a great 

 number of varieties, as its growth is modified by climate, soil, and 

 exposure. 



The trees are generally boxed in winter, by cutting into the side a hole 

 about 3 inches wide, 6 inches deep, and 12 inches long, and tbe incision 

 is enlarged from time to time by chipping out above. The flow of tur- 

 pentine begins with warm weather in spring, is most in summer, and 

 gradually ceases with the return of cold weather. The crude turpen- 

 tine is dipped out of the boxes, the harder parts being scraped off with 

 an iron instrument. In North Carolina the turpentine is collected about 

 once a month, and 10,000 trees will in a good season yield 50 barrels of 



1 Reference is here made to the Statistics of ^Exportation and Importation of Forest 

 products, not aa yet ordered to be printed. 



