ipoy] Herty — The Pine and its Products. 
41 
limited. Indeed at one time the price dropped so low that 
it was frequently the custom in North Carolina to distill the 
oil from the crude turpentine and turn the rosin into the 
creeks and swamps. In these latter days of higher prices the 
rosin from these dumping grounds has been dug up, melted, 
strained and shipped to market. The cause of this increase 
in price is not difficult to discover. It is the manufacture of 
rosin oil. Of the total amount of rosin produced about 10 
per cent, is used for sizing, varnishes and other minor matters, 
35 per cent., approximately, for soap making, while not less 
than 55 per cent, is subjected to destructive distillation 
whereby rosin spirits, various rosin oils, brewers pitch, etc., 
are obtained. As a substitute for or adulterant in linseed oil, 
as lubricants, in printer’s ink and in many other ways rosin 
oils are finding wider and wider application. This industry 
thrives chiefly in Germany, to quite a large extent in England 
and Scotland, and a much more limited extent in France, 
where a high tariff prevents the importation of American 
rosin. In this country there are about three rosin oil distil- 
leries, operated somewhat in the same manner as the 
European plants. Why should not this industry thrive in 
our Southern States? It would seem that the same logic 
which led to the recent movement to erect cotton mills near 
the fields of cotton would apply in this case also. We have 
a great advantage over the foreign manufacturer if we will 
only make use of it. When the German or English rosin oil 
manufacturer gets the rosin thoroughly melted in his still he 
is just at the point where we were at the moment the molten 
rosin was turned out of our turpentine still into the vat. 
Meanwhile what has happened? The heat stored up in the 
molten rosin has gone to waste, there has been added the 
labor of dipping it from the vat into the barrels, the cost of 
inspection, broker’s commissions, transportation costs, labor 
in getting the rosin from the barrels and breaking it into 
lumps of suitable size for the still, and finally the cost of fuel 
for again melting the rosin, and why? All in order to get it 
