Turpentine

an oily, resinous substance contained in the bark and wood of coniferous trees. It is used in medicine, but chiefly in the preparation of paints and varnishes. French turpentine is obtained from the maritime pine of the dune district along the Bay of Biscay. Russia and Germany obtain it from the Scotch pine. It is produced also in Austria, Corsica, the East Indies, and Japan. The greatest part of the world's supply, however, is obtained in the South Atlantic States, chiefly from the Southern or long-leaf pine and the loblolly pine.

The methods of its production are practically the same the world over. The tree is tapped by cutting an incision in the bark and sap wood, from which turpentine oozes slowly. In some sections it is caught in a tin bucket. In the Carolinas it is usually collected in a cavity cut neatly in the body of the tree. These boxes hold about a quart. The turpentine sap flows very slowly. The boxes require to be emptied with flat ladles every two or three weeks. The sap is conveyed in barrels to a huge copper still, in which it is heated or distilled. One barrel of dipped turpentine yields about seven gallons of oil or spirits of turpentine, the turpentine of commerce.

To keep a standard still in continuous operation during the turpentine season requires a farm of about 4,000 acres of dense pine forest. Such a forest is divided usually into twenty lots of about 10,000 boxes each. The crude turpentine is collected from the lots in regular rotation. The resin left behind in the still is drawn off through a tap, and packed in barrels. It is the rosin of commerce. It is used in the manufacture of varnishes, with tallow in making common candles, by the violinist for rubbing on his bow, by the plumber and tinman in making joints, and in many other ways. A turpentine farm runs well for about four seasons, during which its total output should be about 120,000 gallons of turpentine, 52,000 barrels of resin of good quality, and about 6,400 barrels of inferior rosin.

In 1904 the turpentine production of the United States, that is to say, of the South Atlantic States, was 30,687,051 gallons; 3,508,347 barrels of resin were produced. Two-thirds of this amount is exported to Europe, chiefly to London, Hamburg, and Antwerp. Charleston, South Carolina, was formerly the chief port of export, but the destruction of the pine forests by wasteful methods of collecting the sap has driven the industry southward into the territory tributary to Savannah, Brunswick, and Pensacola.

The turpentine season lasts all summer. The making of turpentine and resin have many points in common with sap gathering and sugaring off. Life in the turpentine forests is not without its wild and weird side, but it can hardly be so attractive or associated with so many traditions as that of the maple orchard.