50 BULLETIN 1003, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The wood selected from that classed as the less resinous stumps 

 was richer than that from the 3 rich stumps. Weight for weight 

 of material in the selected samples this is true. However, of the 

 wood running 18 gallons of turpentine a 3,000-pound cord, only 

 about 1,500 pounds, or one-half cord, in the entire lot of 9 stumps 

 contained an estimated volume of 3 or 4 cords of w r ood. To run all 

 of this wood would eliminate the cost of splitting out the resinous 

 wood from the sapwood. It would, however, quadruple the cost 

 of rail and wagon haul and the time and cost of distilling, and, at 

 the same time, would cut down the yield to about 5 gallons a cord 

 of very inferior turpentine, with a proportional reduction in other 

 products. 



The half cord of resinous wood from the 9 stumps, combined with 

 that from the 3 more resinous stumps, gave about 2 cords of wood, 

 running 17 gallons of turpentine a cord. Had all the wood on the 

 acre plot been used, there would have been 6 cords, yielding not 

 more than 6 or 7 gallons of turpentine a cord, with the other prod- 

 ucts in like proportions. Neither the results of these experiments 

 nor the wood-distillation practices in the South warrant the belief 

 that wood of this quality can be profitably distilled. It is better to 

 split out and reject the low-grade wood. 



While a large proportion of the yellow-pine stumps in Idaho con- 

 tain a certain amount of resinous wood which is as rich as the truly 

 pitchy stump, such wood forms so small a proportion of the entire 

 stump that its removal from the nonresinous wood is prohibitively 

 expensive. The case is similar to that of many ore-bearing forma- 

 tions in which the valuable mineral is disseminated through so large 

 a proportion of worthless material as to make its concentration in a 

 form rich enough for treatment commercially impracticable. 



At the 1915 prices for raw material and for products, wood from 

 60 to 80 per cent of which must be split off and rejected, or wood 

 which will yield but 6 gallons of turpentine or a total of 30 gallons 

 of resinous products a cord, could not be profitably distilled. When 

 the nonresinous portion of the stumps has rotted away, leaving only 

 the resinous heart, this material, which then would be similar to the 

 rich stumps, could, of course, be profitably used, provided the ratio 

 of cost to selling value remained essentially the same. 



Future careful studies of the uses to which the heavy crude oil 

 may be put probably will result in a revision of the price here as- 

 signed to it. That of 15 cents a gallon is based on its probable value 

 for uses to which certain of the creosote oils are being put. Undoubt- 

 edly its value can bo enhanced by suitable refining methods, or by 

 working it up into special products. These would necessitate addi- 

 tional equipment and labor, thus increasing the manufacturing cost, 

 the probable expediency of which can not be foretold. The same con- 



