68 



FORESTS, FOREST LANDS AND FOREST PRODUCTS. 



been ascertaiued that it will require from thirty-five to fifty years 

 for such a growth to reach sufficient size to furnish saw logs 20 feet 

 long and from 14 to 20 inches in diameter. The usefulness of 

 these trees will have begun, however, in less than half of that 

 time, since their increase in size is much more rapid during the 

 earlier years of growth than during the later years. After twenty- 

 five years they will be hirge enough to hold a turpentine box. 

 About this age, too, they begin to bear mast, and as the foliage 

 becomes more open the more tender grasses of the barrens appear 

 and afford pasturage. Besides this there is a great quantity of 

 litter which yearly accumulates under the trees and can be used, 

 as such litter now is, when it can be gotten, as a mulch for agri- 

 cultural lands. Moreover, the lands themselves .will have gained 

 a permanent improvement from the mould which will have accu- 

 mulated on the ground during the time that the trees were 

 growing. 



FUTURE value; of turpentine orchards. 



What may be the value of turpentine orchards twenty years hence 

 is of course a speculative question. AVith the great variety of 

 uses to which both rosin and turpentine are put it is hardly likely 

 that in that time any cheaper substitute will be found for them in 

 all their uses.* The area of long-leaf pine which will be under 

 orchard at that date is also largely a matter of coujecture. The 

 observations of the writer and of several specialists who have 

 examined all or parts of the territory covered by the long-leaf 

 pine, would lead to the conclusion that, without some radical 

 change in the manner of boxing, and the reservation by timber 

 owners of large tracts of pine for turpentine culture only, the 

 orchards of the United States, with the possible exception of 



*USES OF Resinous Products. — lu a report upon the maritime pines made in 187S by M. Des- 

 noyers at the Universal Exposition of Paris the following uses are given for the different resinous 

 products of that tree: 



Spirits of turpentine is used in the manufacture of oil colofs, varnishes and paints, in the prepa- 

 ration of rubber, is emploj^ed in medicine and veterinary arts, and for cleaning and illviminating 

 and making water-proof putties and cements. 



Rosin is used in sizing paper, in soap-making, in the manufacture of sealing-wax, for soldering 

 lead and in tinning, and from it is obtained by destructive distillation rosin oil which is used in 

 making lubricants, printing and lithographic inks, paints, etc.. and painting beer-kegs 

 Crude turpentine scrape and pitch are also used in many of these manufactures. 



