DISTILLATION OF STUMPWOOD. 58 
will be seen that the farmer would just about break even if he could 
sell the rich wood for $11 an acre. 
A wood-distilling plant of any size can not operate profitably with- 
out an ample and steady supply of rich wood extending over a num- 
ber of years. For this reason a wood-distilling plant should be built 
and conducted as an independent business rather than primarily as 
a means of meeting the cost of land clearing. Naturally, it would 
be located with reference to available material; that is, where there 
was land ready to be cleared. Such wood as the settlers could supply 
would be simply an addition to the stock, though in some instances 
the bulk of the wood might be obtained from this source. 
In the Winchester and Craig Mountain country, where the condi- 
tions are quite different: from “hos: observed in the other sections, 
there is a close almost pure stand of yellow pine. As there are no 
heavy underbrush or slashings, clearing such cut-over lands consists 
practically entirely in burning the tops of the cut trees and removing 
about 20 large yellow-pine stumps. 
The comparative absence of younger growth aioe the trees, 
fairly even surface of the country, and uniform stands, of which per- 
haps 40 per cent of the stumps are quite rich or resinous, make such 
sections possible localities in which the cost of land clearing may be 
- met, in a large part at least, if not entirely, by distilling the stumps. 
SMALL, SEMIPORTABLE WOOD-DISTILLING PLANTS. 
Wood-distilling plants as usually constructed where the daily 
capacity varies from 10 to 100 cords of wood, are permanent, 
especially when a number of products are made and refined for mar- 
ket. Furthermore, such plants require capital for financing and 
technical skill and experience for profitable operation. Therefore, 
wood-distilling plants would be comparatively few, and small plants 
of about 1-cord capacity that can be set: up, torn down, and re- 
located at will would be useful, particularly in sections removed from 
railroads and where transportation is difficult. Especially would 
this be true 1f the mixed crude oil and tar obtained could be profitably 
disposed of to refiners or directly to users. 
Since the work described in this publication was completed, private 
companies have built and operated such small plants. Plants of 
this kind, of 1-cord capacity, can be built for from $3,500 to $4,500. 
They might be bought and operated by a community, the crude oi] 
being sold direct to the zinc, lead, and copper miners, who use it 
for the concentration of ores by: the flotation process. The cheap, 
semiportable 1-cord_retort is probably better adapted to Northwest 
condittons than are the large, more permanent, and more expensive 
plants making and refining a number of products. 
