cleaning processes, and the new and improved 

 central stills make it possible for the small land- 

 owner to work his few scattered trees as part-time 

 employment (fig. 22). Thus these changes in the 

 industry are opening up an additional source of 

 supply that heretofore was given small consider- 

 ation. On the other hand, it is possible that be- 

 cause of the increasing production of, and rapid 

 expansion of markets for, wood naval stores, and 

 also because sulfate turpentine and "'liquid rosin" 

 (tall oil) are being developed as byproducts of the 





jgfii 



Figure 22. — A farmer and son chipping virgin faces on second- 

 growth slash pine in his woodlot as part-time farm labor. Modern 

 transportation facilities and a growing cash market for raw gum 

 are making possible the utilization of hitherto unmerchantable 

 stands and creating an additional, much needed source of farm 

 income. 



pulp industry, the demand for gum naval stores 

 timber may be reduced. 



Taking all of these circumstances into account? 

 it would appear that for the first two 8-year periods 

 (1935 to 1950), the gum naval stores industry in 

 south Georgia will find it difficult to maintain its 

 annual average production of 282,000 units with- 

 out drawing heavily on the reserve necessary for 

 future sustained yield. Continued improvement in 

 turpentining practices, with a subsequent increase 

 in average yield of gum per crop, and better pro- 

 tection from fire, may improve this situation. 



With the growing competition of the wood-using 

 industries for timber, the naval stores industry 

 inevitably must own or control a much larger pro- 

 portion of forest land than it has in the past, if it 

 wishes to protect and assure its supply. The survey 

 found that in the 1934-35 season less than 30 per- 

 cent of the crops in operation by turpentine proc- 

 essors were owned by them, while the remaining 70 

 percent were leased. Under such conditions, the 



industry is in a vulnerable position. Operators 

 who own their timberland not only can control the 

 use of the timber but also can practice good forestry 

 measures that will increase materially the number 

 of trees per acre and the value of the timber stand; 

 they can thus assure themselves of a continuous 

 supply for their turpentine operations. Further- 

 more, by combining a woods-products business 

 with their naval stores production they should be 

 able to reduce materially the overhead and carry- 

 ing costs charged against rosin and turpentine. 

 Among the good forestry measures recommended 

 are fire protection, conservative cupping and 

 chipping, thinning dense stands, improvement 

 cuttings, and integrated utilization designed to 

 produce lumber, poles, piles, ties, and pulpwood, 

 in addition to naval stores. 



Wood Naval Stores Industry and Resources 



The wood naval-stores industry of Georgia, 

 which gives full-time employment to approximately 

 1,000 people, began about 1920. when a large 

 company purchased and enlarged a steam-solvent 

 distillation plant at Brunswick. Using principally 

 well-seasoned old-growth longleaf pine stumps as 

 raw material, this company, with efficient research 

 and an active sales department, has in the past few 

 years developed its original products, consisting 

 of one grade of rosin (FF), wood turpentine, and 

 pine oil, into a large series of chemical products. 

 Steam-solvent plants in the South yield as basic 

 products an average of 6}(J gallons of turpentine, 

 6}{ gallons of pine oil, and 350 pounds of rosin per 

 ton of stump wood. 



Two destructive-distillation plants, operating on 

 both stump and top wood, produce an average of 

 35 gallons of crude pine tars and oils and 345 

 pounds of charcoal per ton. The three plants used 

 approximately 230,000 tons of wood in 1936. All 

 together, wood naval stores in 1934 accounted for 

 approximately 17 percent of the total rosin pro- 

 duced in south Georgia and 8 percent of the 

 turpentine. 



The steam-solvent wood-distillation industry has 

 been experimenting for some time with the raw 

 gum from living trees, and several plants through- 

 out the naval stores region are at present purchas- 

 ing and processing raw gum. This phase of the 

 industry will undoubtedly be improved and 

 expanded. 



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