538  Future  of  the  Turpentine  Industry.  { 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
October.  189o. 
This  is  no  highly-colored  story,  but  a  plain  statement  of  what  has  been  going 
on  in  the  pine  belt  for  years.  Now  and  then  protests  have  been  raised  against 
the  reckless  manner  in  which  these  forests  are  being  destroyed,  and  yet  very 
little  has  been  done  either  by  private  or  by  public  action  to  protect  one  of  the 
greatest  resources  of  the  Southern  States. 
This  is  the  more  remarkable  when  we  consider  the  enormous  wealth  repre- 
sented by  the  long-leaf  pine  belt.  There  is  a  strip  of  pine  forest  about  one  hun- 
dred miles  wide  that  begins  in  North  Carolina  and  follows  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf 
Coast  plain  to  Texas,  crossing  six  States,  and  covering  an  area  of  about  130,000 
square  miles.  At  a  rough  estimate,  there  may  be  50,000,000,000  feet  standing  in 
this  area,  and  if  we  take  the  values  of  timber  and  turpentine,  the  annual  pro- 
duct of  the  forests  of  the  South  will  approach  in  value  the  product  of  her  cotton 
fields. 
The  pineries  of  the  South  now  yield  naval  stores  worth  nearly  $10,000,000  a 
year.  The  total  production  amounts  to  340,030  casks  of  spirits  of  turpentine, 
and  1,490,000  barrels  of  resin.  In  order  to  produce  this  enormous  yield,  some 
2,500,000  acres  of  pine  forest  are  being  worked,  and  nearly  1,000,000  acres  of 
virgin  forest  are  invaded  annually.  Now,  no  one  will  claim  that  these  pineries 
are  inexhaustible,  for  there  has  actually  been  a  decline  in  the  production  of 
naval  stores  within  the  past  eight  or  ten  years.  The  reckless  cutting  and 
tapping  of  trees  have  made  great  inroads  into  the  magnificent  stretch  of  pine. 
Railroads  have  opened  up  many  new  tracts  of  timber,  the  old  water-mills  have 
been  replaced  by  steam  saw-mills,  and,  when  the  supply  in  the  neighborhood 
was  exhausted,  tram-roads  have  been  built  or  the  steam  mills  taken  to  new 
territory.  Thus,  the  work  of  consumption  and  denudation  has  been  carried  on 
to  such  an  extent  that  fears  are  just  now  beginning  to  be  entertained  that  these 
valuable  forests  will  be  sacrificed  to  the  greed  for  immediate  and  temporary 
g-ain. 
The  truth  is,  the  long-leaf  pine  belt  is  the  backbone  of  the  South  Atlantic 
States.  For  150  years  it  has  been  the  chief  resource  of  the  people  who  dwell 
in  the  belt.  The  production  of  pitch  and  tar  was  begun  in  North  Carolina 
during  colonial  days,  and,  as  the  State  took  the  lead  in  the  industry,  its  people 
were  called  "tar  heels."  There  has  been  a  heavy  decline  in  the  production  of 
naval  stores  in  North  Carolina.  This  decline,  amounting  to  fully  40  per  cent., 
is  due  simply  to  the  exhaustion  of  the  pine  forests.  Of  course,  much  has  been 
written  on  the  destructive  agency  of  the  turpentine  industry,  and  many 
suggestions  have  been  made  regarding  changes  and  improvements  which  are 
necessary.  It  is  agreed  that  the  turpentine  industry,  as  carried  on  in  the  United 
States,  results  in  great  loss  and  damage,  directly  and  indirectly.  Compared 
with  the  way  in  which  the  French  gather  turpentine,  our  methods  seem  crude, 
wasteful  and  almost  irrational. 
The  American  turpentine  workers  still  continue  to  follow  the  old-time 
methods  of  tapping  the  trees  for  their  sap.  Thej*  have  made  few  changes,  and 
have  adopted  few  improvements.  They  cut  a  deep,  broad  "  box"  at  the  base 
of  the  tree,  and  then  the  surface  above  the  box  is  laid  bare.  The  trees  are 
worked  for  four  or  five  seasons,  when  they  become  practically  exhausted  of 
their  sap.  The  forest  is  then  abandoned  to  the  elements,  to  the  bark-beetles 
and  pine-borers,  and,  finally,  the  splendid  trees  are  blown,  burned  or  cut  down. 
The  French  turpentine  worker  cuts  no  deep  box  into  the  tree,  but  uses  a  pail, 
