30 



THE LUMBER TRADE JOURNAL 



[New Orleans, La., May 1, 1912. 



often shows the grain of the wood quarter-sawed 

 if the wood permits it. Sliced veneer is cut from 

 the side of the log, like that which is sawed, but a 

 knife is used in place of a saw, and the machine by 

 which the slicing is done is very strong and rigid. 

 One of the advantages of slicing over sawing is that 

 the slice wastes no sawdust. 



Annual Lumber Cut. 



The cut of lumber in Alabama, by species, in 1910, 

 was as follows: 



Yellow pines '...1,322,950,000 



Oaks 67,485,000 



Yellow poplar 26,701,000 



Red cedar v 13,693,000 



Red gum 10,541,000 



Tupelo 6,227,000 



Hickory 5,079,000 



Cypress 3,340,000 



Maple 2,231,000 



Ash 2,146,000 



Cottonwood 1,683,000 



Chestnut 637,000 



Elm 561,000 



Beech 497,000 



Basswood 461,000 



Black walnut 332,000 



Sycamore 207,000 



Birch 7,000 



All others 870,000 



Softwood Distillation. 



One-third of all the softwood distillation in the 

 United States in 1910 was in Alabama. Pour large 

 plants consumed 64,963 cords of wood. This does 

 not include a little charcoal burning in old-style 

 pits in various parts of the state. Pits of that kind 

 make charcoal only and other products are wasted. 

 The modern distillation plant saves a number of 

 products. Two processes are in use, known as 

 "steam distillation" and "destructive distillation." 

 In the former, the turpentine and heavy oils of pine 

 are forced from the wood by subjecting it to the 

 action of hot steam. The wood is not converted into 

 charcoal by that process. "Destructive distillation" 

 is so called because it destroys the wood, and con- 

 verts it into turpentine, tar and charcoal. Dry heat 

 is the agent of destruction. In Alabama the long- 

 leaf pine is most used in distillation, tout shortleaf 

 and Cuban pines are profitable in this industry. 

 There is much difference in the yield of different 

 woods. Only one-half of the material employed in 

 the distillation processes is "body wood" logs. The 

 rest is what otherwise would be wasted, such mate- 

 rial as sawdust and edgings. 



The collection of resin from standing trees is not 

 included in the statistics of wood distillation. The 

 resin is drawn from the trees iby wounding the bark 

 and outer layers of wood while the tree stands. The 

 old way still largely in use was to cut a . deep 

 notch in the tree (often two or more notches) called 

 a box; the >bark and some of the wood was then cut 

 away above, and the resin exuded fro mthe wounded 



wood and ran down into the box, from which it was 

 collected from time to time. A new method is com- 

 ing into use, by which the tree is less severely in- 

 jured. No box is cut in the trunk, but the bark is 

 removed over a small space, and a tin "gutter" or 

 "apron" is applied to collect the resin and lead it 

 to a tin or other receptacle. At the present time 

 in Alabama about five trees are worked by the old 

 process to one by the new. In 1909 the state pro- 

 duced 2,840,000 gallons of spirits of turpentine, and 

 310,000 ibarrels of rosin. The rosin is what is left 

 over, when the spirits of turpentine have been sep- 

 arated by distillation. The substance as it exudes 

 from the tree is resin. The stills ordinarily used are 

 simple apparatus, and no special scientific knowledge 

 is needed to operate them. In the whole United 

 States the output in 1909 of spirits of turpentine was 

 28,989,000 gallons, and of rosin 3,264,000 barrels. 

 Most of it is produced in the southern states. Ala- 

 bama's output both of spirits of turpentine and of 

 rosin is declining. Other states are declining also, 

 owing to the depletion of large areas of longleaf 

 pine forests. 



Cooperage. 



Alabama in 1909 produced 12,978,000 tight cooper- 

 age staves; that is, staves for barrels and kegs which 

 are meant to contain liquids. Its output of staves 

 for slack cooperage ('barrels and kegs not meant to 

 contain liquids) was 14,977,000, all of which were 

 pine. Four million sets of pine heading were pro- 

 duced, and an equal number of hoops. 



