| Show idest industry fights ig ts for life faval aval store stores trade finally heed eeds extermination danger due to prodigality A strung strong effort li Is bei plade to save one of the oldest m er i i an industries Indu it if you YO u should ever happen to delve to detailed account accounts of our colonial story you would find that in 1010 ahrn bux business iness in this country wa was do debit in ite its infancy instruction instructions were awn wn up in london regarding uch such ing ID BI as are to be sent from virinia these the instructions explained i picturesque spelling bow turpentine II 11 to be obtained from pyne and irre re trees trebe the tree trees were to be onn oun led within a yard of the ground ad d 0 so o the paper said that which abes oate wilbe tur worth IS 19 tonne when the tree begin neth i runne goft elye at ie is to be stopped I 1 cayne for preserve inge the tree the virginia colonist colonists and the ill 11 II 11 run father fathers dad jl d get pitch and tar and rude gum turpentine from the pine when they were not engaged in ther more urgent or alluring pursuits puru lt ira ra dually the business buol became etab isbell in this country used for wooden warships the wooden ships of commerce and sr dupre ere always in need of quantities fcc f tar and pitch in fact they used biot ost of the tar and pitch on the mar mat aft et so that the production of these materials ate rials was known as lie the naval ores industry and though ships use little of the pine tree products any longer the industry has his twined its old name the lon longlett gleat pine forests of our coast proved an especially prolific source of naval stores oper tors seeing DO no end to the miles of pine forest stretching away through the south toward the gulf of mexico worked trees of one section for a is very few years recklessly so as to get et the biggest yield of turpentine in a hurry when the trees were bled dry the workmen broke camp and traveled on to new territory the instructions of 1610 urging that the tree trees bo be preserved were never taken seriously Mrion sly the industry rose toward a peak in the last century as improved methods of distilling of turpentine were bit nien ted but since the beginning of 0 this century the end of he the endless pine forests has been in plain view rm botne of the original ISO acres of southern pine forest are yet to be worked and they are twine used up at the rate of about acres a year industry In duttry no now dying fit the united states still dominates the worlds trade in turpentine and ao rosin but the industry Is considered to be dying in this country As condl mn alons look now the country shall ahall soon tie be fortunate if it can make enough to t mix its own paints and to supply the H numerous industries that use imbor adl tant gum products of the pine a heretofore there has been little or in the industries which use the he southern pine forests the turpen 1 tine man has been interested only in setting getting the turpentine sometimes a lumberman salvaged the trees that a were left before they rotted sometimes not sometimes the deserted a land has been left idle covered with fu stumps and brush and again land has been taken over for agricultural pur poses turpentine operators have never thought seriously of investing money in the planting of new forests that would not be mature in twenty years yeam bile one man was altruistically plant lag ing trees for the next generation bis his competitors would have been hurrying 6 g through the virgin forests making IN money rif now hat that the nomadic days of the aft industry are obviously numbered it h beginning to be worth while for the operator to consider planting trees and conserving those that he has tab this spring the natal naval stores indus try held a get together conference and decided to send a committee to 1 france frante to study the industry there 0 because the french turpentine farms VA B are known to be thriftily managed I 1 q J and profitable these french farms tam are tire on OIL a small triangular stretch of land along the southern atlantic coast COUL A hundred year aeo ago this section of 2000 acres alie th lio size of a to row count countley coon tle led la in a state like Georgia consisted 0 of swamp pool DOON and dune dun es to sav save it from the ocean the french fro n ch government planted foret foresto of maritime to fiume pine pink one of the few forms of vegetation which seemed to thrive there the reclaimed forest tract now yield yields the french people an all annual income well up la in million millions of dollars approximately what the french are doing in their limited area the american etore stores industry will have halve to copy cop if the industry ie 11 to retain if its importance permanently the french tree are carefully chipped in way ways that do not injure them for timber purposes the slashes are IN hallow shallow and do not devitalize the tree trees the ground between the tree trees ie is kept cleared of broth brush and inflammable gum dripping drip pings so that fire dres are not apt to spread pines worn out ai as turpentine producer duc are ire disposed of ai as timber and become telegraph pole poles railroad tiei ties and fence posts and when the stumps of the forest forests have been sold tor for firewood the land li Is left clean and ready to be replanted even loose branches bran chea only an inch in diameter are bothered gathered and eold sold for firewood fl the different processes go on in rotation year after year ae e in this fits country have lately been working the young trees just springing up even chipping pines as young ai as eight and ten ears we exhaust a tree by working it at top speed and leae lealie it dry in a fraction of its possible working lifetime the french operators work mall small trees before thinning out the forests but promising specimens are left until they are twenty alve years old before they are worked and these strong pines yield turpentine until they are seventy avio aft years old different condition conditions in france the social conditions which accod pany the french system are entirely different from those in our turpentine camps no social progress can result when laor kers are wandering about on the edges of civilization one I 1 american turpentine operator said recently that our western pioneers did not find conditions more difficult than the modem turpentine producer who goes to new territory A typical camp Is a temporary affair pitched dear near the pine forest generally far nual from any school church store and out of touch with the life of any community most of the turpentine laborer laborers la in this country are negroes comitts haie halie often been employed for this work of scarring the trees and gathering the gum in lit france the industry Is settled in fn its limited area rail rall ways and good macadam roads run through the district the workmen live la in attractive little tona and villages almost all of the peo pie who reside in the turpentine see tion depend on the forests for their thou livelihood one observer says then arc are no very poor people there and that the laborers who work the trees art are often worth from to capt I 1 F lodrige Li drige a forest elpert who pent spent three year years studying condl tlona in 1 france cay that the american southland has better trees trem better soil better climate a longer season and equally good if it not better markets than france and that even with half our pine area ellmIna eliminated ted wa w could produce more turpentine and rosin and male make it cheaper make it practically forever and combine with it a lumber business and important woodworking activities work out nw now methods here hers the committee which toured fro france hai has reported if its recommendations for the industry Indu itry it does not believe that american operators need try to copy the details of slashing trees as practiced in france our out own investigators are working out methods which are best adapted to local conditions and suitable modem practices have been developed in certain florida tor for ests some other details of french practice are recommended after which thi tha committee returns to the main lesson learned from the french turpen turpentine tini forests the conservation of tha tb tree trees whether or not our past method methods were ju justified stifled by conditions as we w found them no longer matters sayi says the report today our In exhaust ible timber la Is almost gone ous forest production mast must therefore be given the place of first important Import anc anci in the future course of the industry the naval stores industry of thi th south must continue and it must look to second growth forests for its raw material |
