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



the West and western dealers' profits, which were not included for 

 the reason that they vary greatly, and also because local freight 

 rates to interior points would, in many instances, be nearly as great 

 from western points to consuming points as the through rates from 

 the South to the same consuming points. Since, in any event, such 

 competitive freight charges would vary greatly with the locality, 

 they are not included in the estimation of values here given, but 

 they must receive very careful consideration before the erection 

 of a plant for the recovery of products from wood. 



On the basis of the foregoing carefully considered and conserva- 

 tive estimates of cost of production and of the value of products, it 

 must be concluded that stumps of medium quality, giving the aver- 

 age yields stated, can not be profitably utilized generally by the 

 destructive distillation methods. Needless to state, if, because of 

 exceptionally favorable local conditions, the cost of wood at the 

 plant can be materially reduced, wood of medium richness could be 

 profitably distilled. Such localities should be given very thoughtful 

 and systematic consideration by experienced and practical distilla- 

 tion experts before undertaking their exploitation. 



Since poor stumps and dead, down wood contain even less resin- 

 ous matter than the medium stumps, they could not be profitably 

 distilled. 



On the other hand, the rich or pitchy stumps contain enough 

 resins to make their distillation profitable in those localities where 

 they are sufficiently numerous. With wood containing enough resin- 

 ous matter to average the }delds given for rich stumpwood, obtain- 

 able at even $10 a cord, a wide margin of profit is possible by the 

 process outlined, provided all the products can be marketed at prices 

 not materially lower than those used in the foregoing estimate. To 

 maintain an adequate wood supply of this quality, sufficient for a 

 plant to operate a number of years, it will be necessary to resort to 

 a long-distance railroad haul and long-distance wagon transporta- 

 tion to railroad sidings. For this reason, a cost of something like 

 $10 a cord should be allowed in estimates for such wood, the cost of 

 getting out the stumps alone exceeding $6. The possibility of ob- 

 taining at reasonable prices sufficient quantities of rich stumps which 

 are thinly distributed over the land, entailing a high cost of collect- 

 ing, is the vital point in considering the practicability of wood dis- 

 tillation in the Pacific Northwest. 



The impression that more material than that obtained from the 

 rich stumps might be drawn on, because, the margin of profit for 

 this material appearing quite largo, an appreciable proportion of 

 wood intermediate in quality between that from rich and that from 

 medium-grade stumps combined with the rich grade would give a 

 material worth working up, would in general be misleading. 



