AN  ESSAY  ON  SASSAFRAS  OFFICINALE. 
485 
small,  the  other  parts  of  the  tree  never  being  used,  and,  in  fact, 
contain  too  little  oil  to  pay  for  the  labor  of  treatment.  Persons 
owning  lands  with  a  sassafras  wilderness  (as  it  is  called)  upon 
them  have  the  trees  removed  for  firewood  or  timber,  and  allow 
the  sassafras  oil  makers  to  have  the  stumps  and  roots  without 
charge,  as  their  removal  is  payment  enough.  The  contract  is 
cheerfully  accepted  by  the  distiller,  who,  for  the  mere  expense 
of  extracting  the  roots,  provides  his  material.  The  labor 
required  varies  with  the  kind  of  soil  and  the  lateness  of  the 
season,  greatly  increasing  when  frost  or  dry  weather  stiffens  the 
soil.  It  is  a  well-ascertained  fact  that  roots  from  the  richest 
soils  produce  the  most  oil  and  the  best  bark.  Mr.  Murray  says 
there  are  three  kinds  of  oil — colorless,  yellow  and  red — and  that 
the  red  oil  is  produced  from  a  different  sort  of  sassafras  from 
the  yellow  and  white  ;  further,  that  the  red  oil  is  always  yielded 
in  larger  quantity,  the  yellow  next,  and  the  white  least. 
Another  manufacturer  of  the  oil,  Peter  W.  Hart,  of  York 
Furnace,  York  County,  Pa.,  writes  as  follows  : — "  I  have  dis- 
tilled, this  summer,  nothing  but  white  and  yellow  roots,  making 
clear  oil,  using  an  iron  boiler  and  lead  worm ;  I  have  distilled 
the  red  root  with  copper  boiler  and  copper  worm,  and  the  oil  I 
made  was  red,  and  the  yield  no  better  than  from  the  white  and 
yellow  roots,  which  averages  about  four  pounds  to  ten  bushels  of 
chips.  I  distil  the  roots  with  the  bark  on,  but  dont  consider 
there  is  any  oil  in  the  bark;  it  is  only  in  the  wood;  [!]  the 
amount  of  time  required  to  distil  ten  bushels  of  chips  is  from 
12  to  14  hours.  I  cannot  say  how  much  water  is  distilled  in  the 
operation,  and  is  not  used  over  again.  As  to  the  color  of  the 
roots,  I  don't  think  there  is  any  difference.  I  consider  the  best 
is  one  that  is  brittle,  easily  cut  or  split ;  though  I  consider  the 
root  don't  yield  as  well  from  the  1st  of  May  to  the  1st  of 
October.  I  prefer  the  stump  [roots]  that  has  been  cut  from 
three  to  five  years  or  longer." 
In  a  subsequent  letter  Mr.  Hart  reiterates  that  brittle  roots 
yield  more  oil  than  tough,  fibrous  ones.  In  reference  to  the 
"  red  roots,"  he  says  there  is  a  variety  of  sassafras  which  has  a 
red  heart  similar  to  the  red  cedar,  which,  he  supposes,  will  yield 
