It is generally conceded that a relatively low 

 market price for turpentine and rosin is essential to 

 the wider use and distribution of naval stores. One 

 solution of this problem lies in increasing the yield 

 of gum per acre, thereby decreasing the unit cost 

 of production. In order to do this, the growing 

 stock should be built up and the density of existing 

 stands increased. The accumulated worked-out 

 turpentine timber should be removed, open areas 

 assisted in restocking naturally or through planting, 

 and the forest protected from uncontrolled fire. 

 Better woods, producing, and marketing practices 

 should be followed. The naval stores industry as 

 a whole suffers from periods of overproduction, 

 during which returns from the sale of turpentine 

 and rosin drop below costs of production. It might 

 be well, therefore, to maintain naval stores produc- 

 tion at its present level for some years and to re- 

 serve the present surplus of round timber to build 

 up the growing stock for use when increased markets 

 or decreased supplies in other sections may justify 

 a production more in line with the sustained-yield 

 possibilities. 



Although the current local turpentining practices 

 are relatively conservative when compared with 

 those in other parts of the region, the naval stores 

 industry exacts an excessive toll from the forest, 

 even here. As a result of chipping small trees, 

 placing too many cups on some trees, deep chip- 

 ping, and carelessness with fire, turpentining has 

 caused an excessive reduction in rate of growth 

 and an increase in rate of mortality of turpentine 

 pines, as well as an actual reduction in saw-timber 

 volume due to the scars which result from the work. 

 During 1934 the longleaf-slash pine forests in north- 

 eastern Florida, if they had not been turpentined, 

 would have produced 210 million board feet (lum- 

 ber tally) more than they did. This is a part of the 

 price paid for the naval stores industry. The signi- 

 ficance of the loss in annual increment is shown by 

 the fact that it equals the drain from the combined 

 cut of pine for lumber, ties, poles, piles, and all 

 other wood products during that year. It seems 

 inevitable that the naval stores industry will con- 

 tinue to be an important user of the forests, and 

 that the outlook for other forest industries will be 

 limited accordingly in scope, character, and volume 

 of production. 



Wood Naval Stores Industry 

 and Resources 



The wood naval stores industry in northeastern 

 Florida is at present of minor importance and is 

 confined to two plants which use the destructive- 

 distillation process in the production of wood tur- 

 pentine, pine tar with its derivatives, and charcoal. 

 Old-growth longleaf and slash pine stumps along 

 with lightwood (dead pine heartwood) are used as 

 raw material. The 50,000 to 75,000 tons of stumps 

 used annually make up 85 to 95 percent of the total 

 consumption. The industry employs more than 1 50 

 men on a full-time basis in its plants and a large 

 number of men in the woods. In 1 934, the laborers 

 at the plants and in the woods worked more than 

 100,000 10-hour man-days. 



Suitable supplies of merchantable stumps are 

 found mainly in the longleaf, longleaf-slash, and 

 scrub oak types — the last-named occupying lands 

 formerly in old-growth longleaf. Generally speak- 

 ing, land that has been clear-cut and has not yet 

 reforested is considered the best source of stumps, 

 particularly if crawler-type stump-pulling machines 

 are used. The difficulty and the cost of extracting 

 stumps with stump pullers increase markedly as it 

 becomes necessary to avoid reproduction, standing 

 trees, and other obstacles, or to enter the rolling 

 uplands. Also, landowners are generally hesitant 

 about allowing the use of stump-pulling machines 

 on land that bears well established young growth, 

 since the damage to the stands often is greater than 

 any possible return from the sale of stumps. The 

 acreage from which stumps can be obtained readily 

 (table 9) constitutes 42 percent of the total forest 



Table 9. — Merchantable stump-land area, classified according to 

 abundance of stumps and topographic situation 



Stumps per acre 

 (number) 



Flat- 

 woods 



Rolling 

 uplands 



Swamps, 

 bays, 

 etc. 



All situations 



5 or loss 



6 to 13 



Acres 

 313,000 

 492, 000 

 533, 800 

 786, 800 



Acres 



197, 100 

 314, 600 

 223, 900 

 149, 000 



Acres 

 11,800 

 8,600 

 7,900 

 9,500 



Acres 

 521, 900 

 815, 200 

 765, 600 

 945, 300 



Percent 

 17.1 

 26.8 



14 to 25 . 



25.1 





31.0 







f 



2, 125, 600 



884, 600 



37, 800 



3, 048, 000 





Total stump-] 

 land area. ...1 



Percent 

 69.7 



Percent 

 29.0 



Percent 

 1.3 





100.0 



24 



