UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



i BULLETIN No. 229 



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Contribution from the Forest Service 

 HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester 



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Washington, D. C. 



July 28, 1915. 



THE NAVAL STORES INDUSTRY. 



By A. W. Schorger, Chemist in Forest Products, and H. S. Betts, Engineer in 

 Forest Products, Forest Products Laboratory. 1 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Need for improved methods 1 



History of the industry in the United States. 2 



Statistics of production 3 



Commercial utilization of products 8 



Formation and flow of resin in the living tree . 10 

 Principles underlying the distillation of crude 



gum 12 



Commercial methods of collecting crude gum . 14 



Relative yields secured from cups and boxes. 22 

 Relative amounts of scrape formed by the 



box and cup systems 23 



Relative yields from different depths and 



heights of chipping 24 



Effect of turpentine operations on timber. . . 25 

 Quality of gum from boxed and cupped 



timber 27 



Commercial distillation of crude gum 27 



Page. 



French methods of collecting gum 32 



French distillation methods 35 



Comparison between direct and steam-heated 



stills 39 



The supply of longlaaf pine for turpentine 



operations 40 



Possibilities of western pines as a source of 



naval stores 44 



Special problems investigated — Arizona and 



California western yellow pine 47 



Suggestions for specifications 49 



Packing naval stores 50 



Cost estimates on a 20-crop turpentine opera- 

 tion 51 



Publications relating to the naval stores 



industry 53 



Patents relating to the naval stores industry. 56 



NEED FOR IMPROVED METHODS. 



The business of producing naval stores is unique among American 

 industries in one particular. Until recently there has been practically 

 no change in methods since its first establishment. Those in vogue 

 before the War of the Revolution are mainly the ones in force to-day. 

 Very recently the cup method of turpentining the trees has been taken 

 up, but the wasteful box method is still largely used. Outside of 

 this the average operator has been content to follow the methods of 

 his predecessors, both in collecting the gum and in distilling it. 

 With conditions in the industry as they are at present, when the 

 supply of longleaf pine in North Carolina, South Carolina, and 

 Georgia suitable for turpentining is very nearly exhausted, and when 

 the cost of operation everywhere is high in proportion to the returns, 



1 Maintained by the Forest Service in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. 

 Note.— This bulletin is of interest to the producers and users of naval stores. 



88767°— Bull. 229—15 1 



