44 
BULLETIN 229, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
POSSIBILITIES OF WESTERN PINES AS A SOURCE OF NAVAL STORES. 
During 1911 and 1912 the Forest Service conducted experiments 
on western yellow pine in Arizona, on western yellow pine, Jeffrey 
pine, digger pine, singleleaf pinon, and lodgepole and sugar pine in 
California and northeastern Oregon, and western yellow pine and 
pinon pine in Colorado, to determine the quantity of crude gum 
which could be secured from these pines by the methods ordinarily 
employed in the turpentining of longleaf yellow pine in the South- 
east. 1 The field work was supplemented by laboratory analyses to 
determine the quality of the gum. 
Table 18 compares the yields obtained in Arizona with those ob- 
tained in experiments conducted on a commercial scale in Florida. 
The Arizona experiments show a yield from western yellow pine 
about four-fifths as great as that obtained from southern yellow pines 
on average operations in Florida in the same period of time. Weather 
conditions in Arizona, however, will allow only a 24, or possibly a 
26-week season, as against 30 or 35 weeks in the Southeast, so that 
when the yields for the entire season are compared western yellow 
pine shows a production about two-thirds as great as that from 
southern yellow pine. The average proportions of rosin and turpen- 
tine in the gum were about the same in both regions, as was the 
composition of the turpentine. 
Table 18. — Comparison of yields, in pounds, of crude gum and scrape from western 
yellow pine in Arizona and longleaf pine in Florida. 
Locality. 
Crop 
desig- 
nation. 
Total weight ob- 
tained during 
season. 
Average per cup 
per week. 
Dip. 
Scrape. 
Dip. 
Scrape. 
A 
B 
c 
2,862.50 
2, 524. 25 
2, 421. 75 
523. 75 
314. 75 
288.25 
0.239 
.210 
.203 
0. 0436 
Do , 
.0262 
Do 
.0240 
Average 
2, 606. 16 
375. 58 
.217 
.0313 
A 
B 
c 
D 
Florida 2 
63, 615. 5 
61,161.5 
62, 587 
73, 703. 5 
9,570 
7,650 
7,245 
8,880 
.256 
.246 
.252 
.297 
.0386 
Do 
.0308 
Do 
Do 
.0292 
.0358 
Average 
65, 266. 9 
8,336 
.263 
.0336 
1 Each crop of 500 cups chipped 24 times. 2 Each crop of 8,000 cups chipped 31 times. 
The California experiments on western yellow pine were carried 
on from July 7 to November 1, 1911, and from May 10 to August 3, 
1912. The yields obtained in 1911 and 1912 are combined in Table 
19, to show the flow for an entire but not a continuous season. 
1 The California and Oregon experiments were made under the direction of Mr. C Stowell Smith and 
Mr. J. B. Knapp, assistant district foresters, districts 5 and 6. A complete report of this work is on file 
at the Forest Service, Washington, D. C, and at the Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wis. For a 
detailed description of the Arizona and Colorado experiments see Forest Service Bulletin 116, "Possibilities 
of Western Pines As a Source of Naval Stores," by H. S. Betts. 
