woods and at the stills for approximately 25,000 

 people. 



The number of crops increased during the 1934- 

 35 season to 7,064, with an estimated production of 

 approximately 300,000 units having a total value of 

 more than $15,000,000. During the 1935-36 sea- 

 son, production dropped to approximately 285,000 

 units with a total value of less than $14,000,000. 

 Although production dropped still more to approxi- 

 mately 272,000 units in 1936-37, the more favorable 

 price per unit increased the value to approximately 

 $16,500,000. 



Seven factorage houses in south Georgia and 

 north Florida control a large portion of the pro- 

 duction in this region, advancing credit to turpen- 

 tine operators, furnishing commissary supplies and 

 equipment, and acting as commission merchants in 

 the disposal of turpentine and rosin. 



In 1934-35 there were 635 active still operations 

 in south Georgia — 54 percent of the total for the 

 naval stores region. (Fig. 17.) These were dis- 

 tributed according to production in that year as 

 follows: 



300 units or less 258 



301 to 600 units 241 



601 to 900 units 81 



901 or more units 55 



There were in addition approximately 10,000 

 gum producers without stills, making up 80 percent 

 of the producers in this class in the entire naval 

 stores region. As large and well-blocked areas of 

 available naval stores timber become increasingly 

 scarce and a ready cash market for gum is estab- 



lished by modern and efficient central stills and 

 gum-cleaning plants, the small operators who can 

 work more isolated and scattered trees are be- 

 coming more important. While the number of 

 large processors with stills increased slightly during 

 the 1934-35 season, there is reason to believe that 

 the number of small gum producers increased 

 by approximately 1,000 over the previous season. 



Gum Naval Stores Resources 



Approximately 8 million acres, or 79 percent of 

 the forest land, was classified as turpentine land 

 (table 7). The gross area includes some inter- 

 mingled clear-cut and reproduction lands as well 

 as some nonturpentine pine and hardwood. 



Of the total turpentine area, 43 percent (fig. 18) 

 was in well-developed turpentine stands in 1934. 

 These average 23 possible faces per acre on rest- 

 ing, working, or round trees at least 9 inches 

 d. b. h. (assuming 1 face for each round tree), and 

 have a minimum of 8 faces per acre. Eleven per- 

 cent of the area is in advanced sapling stands, 

 which have enough round trees, largely in the 

 8-inch diameter class, to indicate that the stands 

 will be well developed in the next 8 years; 15 per- 

 cent is in young sapling stands made up chiefly 

 of 2-, 4-, and 6-inch trees that will require about 

 15 years to reach the well-developed status; and 

 27 percent is in reproduction and clear-cut stands 

 that will require over 20 years to reach a stage 

 favorable for turpentine operation. Approximately 

 4 percent is in intermingled nonturpentine areas. 



Working area 



(3,919,800 acres) 



Resting and 

 worked -out area_. 

 I 2,520,200 acres) 



ALL CLASSES.. 

 (7,961,300 acres! 



• r^^H n 



ff 



r 



mr 



10 20 30 40 10 20 10 20 10 20 10 20 10 20 



PERCENT 



Figure 18. — Distribution of areas in each turpentining class, and in all classes, with respect to kind of timber, south Georgia, 1934. 



27 



