Research dealing with the 

 naval stores industry involv- 

 ing the tapping of longleaf 

 and slash pines for oleoresin 

 was launched at a relatively 

 early date. Work by Charles 

 F. Herty in 1903 resulted in 

 improved methods of tap- 

 ping trees using cups and 

 gutters rather than the 

 highly destructive system of 

 chopping a box in the base 

 of tapped trees. In the early 

 1920's, Lenthall Wayman, 

 workinn in Starke, FL, 

 developed more efficient 

 methods of chipping trees. 

 In the 1930's, a number of 

 other members of the 

 southern forest experiment 

 stations joined the Florida 

 project in naval stores, 

 including V.L Harper, T.A. 

 Liefeld, LE. House, and 

 C.H. Coulter. A series of 

 reports dealing with resin 

 production resulted from 

 this work, including a major 

 handbook (USDA Forest 

 Service 1935). 



After 1 940, work on chemical 

 stimulation of gum yields 

 included the discovery that 

 gum flows could be greatly 

 increased by treating the 

 faces of tapped trees with 



a sulphuric acid paste - 

 resulting in yields up to 150 

 percent greater than from 

 untreated trees (Stubbs 

 and others 1984). Develop- 

 ment of plastic cups and 

 gutters for gum collection 

 improved the quality of 

 gum. And new equipment 

 such as rossing tools helped 

 lower costs and improve 

 working conditions. It was 

 also determined in more 

 recent years that application 

 of the herbicide paraquat 

 to wounds on southern 

 pines causes wood to be 

 soaked with resin that can 

 be recovered during the 

 pulping process. Such 

 treatments yielded increas- 

 es of more than 1 50 percent 

 in extractives from slash 

 and longleaf pines (Drew 

 and Roberts 1978). Related 

 studies of insect attacks on 

 tapped trees revealed that 

 spraying with lindane would 

 limit mortality that often 

 followed chipping (Merkel 

 and Clark 1981). Coopera- 

 tive work on this significant 

 development was carried 

 out for a period through a 

 lightwood research coordi- 

 nating committee (Esser 

 1979). 



54 



