40 BULLETIN" 229, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
5. Only a slight increase in the commercial value of the turpentine and sometimes 
of the rosin. 1 
However, when fuel and crude resin are plentiful, steam stills have 
the following important advantages: 
1. Very pure turpentine, better than that obtained by direct heat. 
2. Rosin not superheated, and but slightly colored. 
3. Simple and easy control of the distillation. 
4. Decrease of fire risk. 
As a general rule, an experienced distiller will obtain as good results 
with the ordinary American still as with a steam still. 
THE SUPPLY OF LONGLEAF PINE FOR TURPENTINE OPERATIONS. 
Up to the middle nineties the large supply of yellow pine stump- 
age, the prejudice against lumber cut from turpentined trees, and 
the lack of adequate transportation facilities in many regions 
where turpentine operations were conducted, caused large bodies 
of turpentined timber to be abandoned and left to be destroyed by 
fire, wind, and decay. It is estimated that in each of the States of 
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and 
Mississippi the loss, in boxed timber has amounted to from three to ten 
billion board feet. 
At present the damage to standing timber due to turpentine opera- 
tions has been considerably reduced. The cup systems lessen the 
fire risk and the heavy demand for lumber, coupled with improved 
transportation facilities, has shortened the period between the end of 
turpentine operations and the beginning of lumbering. However, 
as the supply of timber available for turpentining has grown smaller, 
the practice of turpentining undersized trees "has become common, 
especially in second-growth stands that have come up after old lumber 
operations. When a tree under 6 inches in diameter is boxed it 
seldom makes further growth, and cupping has almost as bad an 
effect. Mot only is further growth prevented, but the tree becomes 
a menace to the rest of the stand through windfall, fire, or decay. 
The future production of naval stores in the Southeast is rendered 
uncertain by the practice of turpentining small trees, and the future 
supply of longleaf pine is endangered. Moreover, the returns derived 
from turpentining small timber are, as a rule, hardly sufficient to 
cover the expense of operation. 
The scarcity of longleaf pine suitable for turpentining has reached 
an acute stage in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, and is 
the natural result of the exhaustion of the virgin pine forests. While 
considerable " round" timber — that is, timber which has never been 
tapped — remains in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, it is 
1 On Apr. 5, 1911, the quotation at Savannah on "B" rosin, the lowest grade, was $8.15 per barrel, while 
"WW," or the highest grade, brought but $8.62 per barrel. The average price of "WW" rosin during 
the naval stores year 1913-14, was S6.38, and of "B" rosin, $3.96 per barrel. 
