THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 29 



cord of bark ; of this now probably the larger part 

 is saved. 



Lately, too, it has been found that the wood itself 

 of some species yields paying quantities of tannin, 

 which can be and are being extracted by special 

 processes, thus again widening the field of useful- 

 ness of the wood article itself; while the metallic 

 substitutes for tannins have so far not been able to 

 displace the same to any great extent. 



The naval store industry, concerned in extract- 

 ing from the living trees of certain kinds of pine,- 

 especially the Southern long leaf pine, and from 

 other species, the resinous contents, and by distilla- 

 tion obtaining turpentine, rosin of various kinds, 

 and tar, is indebted to the forest to the extent of 

 about $8,000,000 per year in our country.^ This 

 industry could be carried on without any direct 

 injury to the wood product, provided the utilization 

 of the trees followed at once the operations of the 

 turpentine gatherer ; but under the neglectful 

 methods pursued, with fires sweeping through the 

 woods, the scarred trees are to a large extent either 

 burnt beyond usefulness, or injured by fungus and 

 insects and laid low by wind storms, so that here 

 again is an enormous and largely unnecessary loss to 

 the forest resources, entailed in this industry. Here 

 too, of late, improvement is observed, the sawmiller 

 following more closely the turpentine gatherer. 



1 In 1899 the value reported by the census was over ^20,000,000, 

 as against the above figure for 1889. 



