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 yields 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 large, 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. 
