HISTORY of the NAVAL STORES INDUSTRY in AMERICA. PART I J. MERRIAM PETERSON Experiment Station, Hercules Powder Company, Wilmington, Delaware
T
BIRTH OF THE INDUSTRY IN AMERICA HE DAUNTLESS courage of the first settlers The importance with which early explorers and setwho came to the shores of North America is a familiar story. Whether driven by the hope of tlers regarded naval stores is emphasized by frequent greater religious and personal freedom or only by ad- references made concerning these materials in the fist venturous inclinations, the odds against the sea and pages of history of this continent. One of the earliest savages could be met only by a dominant will to do or records, three hundred fifty-five years old, is found in die. Many of the groups set forth poorly equipped to a report submitted to Sir Walter Raleigh by Philip meet the hardships they were to face, and often old, Amadas and Arthur Barlow, who stressed the value of leaky ships were all that the meager resources of the expedition could command. During the seemingly endless, westward voyage across the Atlantic, constant attention to the caulking of the seams between the planks in the ship was required to seal out the lapping of the hungry waves. All that stood between life and death was this caulked seam of pitch and tar. These materials also were depended upon to preserve the extensive rigging common to all wooden sailing vessels of that period. It is little wonder, then, that the early settlers busied themselves in searching for these valuable products soon after they were able to establish shelters and food supplies. The resinous secretion of the pine tree was the source of supply IN THE HEART OF THB VIRGIN LONGLEAF PINEFOREST for both tar and pitch. The tree Because rrroducts derived from these v i r ~ noine forests were used chieflv for builditself often furnished masts for ing and repainn,: wuudcn ships durtn~c&ly h w o r y , the induriry becarni known nr ships, and not infrequently it was the ' Naval Stores Industry." Thc nwnc i i retltned tadnr, alrhough pine-tree produvts arc employed 3 1 1 1 1 ~ ~ewlusiwly 1 for oihcr purpnsci used for the keei and plank. Tar and pitch were stocked in every port to which ships sailed and invariably they the great forests of pines which they found in the new were carried as part of the regular ship supplies. Be- world during a visit to the shores of North Carolina in cause of the close association of the pine tree and its 1584. Specific mention of trees which would yield products to shipbuilding and repair, i t was only natural pitch, tar, rosin, and turpentine was made by Thomas that the pine-tree industry became known as the "naval Heriot two years later in his "Brief and True Report" stores industry." It retains this name today, in spite which he sent to Raleigh. Later explorers likewise of the fact that the substitution of steel for wood in recognized the abundant wealth to he derived from shipbuilding and the development of more widely di- these vast, virgin pine forest resources found from t h e versified uses for pine-tree products have crowded the Spanish settlements basking in Florida sunshine to the former principal use in connection with ships into a French colonies struggling to survive the frigid blasts position of minor importance. in Canada.
203
The birth of the industry in America is traced first to the French in Nova Scotia who, in 1606, crudely extracted turpentine from the sluggish veins of the Nova Scotia pine tree, twenty-two years after Raleigh's first expedition came to the islands off the coast of Carolina. What use those Frenchmen in that lonely settlement made of the turpentine no one can say, but the most plausible explanation is that it was needed for medicinal purposes. In all probability they converted the wood into pitch and tar. but there is no record to show that
coiri-its?
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PETITION UNDER WHLCH M ~ s s ~ c ~ u sESTABLISHED ~rrs A MONOPOLY, I N 1671, aoR PRODUCING TURPENTINE. P~TCH, MASTICKE (ROSEN) AND TAR
COPYO F
THE O R ~ G ~ N A L
any of these products ever were exported. From this small and humble beginning, the industry expanded, slowly a t first and then with greater rapidity, to grow into one of America's leading industries. EARLY HISTCRY I N VIRGINIA
The followingyear (1607) Jamestown was settled and, according to the "Economic History of Virginia," by Philip A. Bruce, the third important motive for the colonization of Virginia was the expectation that the new country would supply a large number of articles
which the English people a t that time were compelled to buy from foreign nations. The importation to England of tar, pitch, rosin, flax, cordage, masts, yards, timber, and other naval stores from the magnificent forests of Russia and Poland had been the chief source of profits of the Muscovy Company organized in 1554. However, this company was operating under rather serious difficulties. I t could send out an expedition to Russia only a t one season in the year because a t other times the ice of the northern waters offered impassable obstacles to navigation. The expanding trade of the Dutch with Russia gave keen competition and lowered the margin of profits. There was the constant threat that the King of Denmark would impose a higher tax upon foreign cargoes traversing the Baltic, and the Hanse communities south of Denmark were attempting continually to deprive the Muscovy Company of the right of way in the northern seas. As a result of this situation, eight Dutchmen and Poles were dispatched to Virginia in 1608 to be employed in the manufacture of pitch, tar, glass, soap, and so forth. When Captain Newport returned to England in the same year, his cargo included the colonies' accumulation of the pine-tree products. In spite of the great value of the delivery of these commodities to England, to many they appeared to be a poor substitute for the discovery of the members of the lost Roanoke Colony and lumps of gold of fabulous value, or the proof of the nearness of Virginia to the South Sea, missions which had been included in Newport's orders as he left England. This naval stores shipment is the first known to be made from what is now the United States to England, and thus the industry in this country is a t least three hundred thirty-one years old this year (1939). In this connection, i t is interesting to note that, aside from hunting, fishing, and agriculture, which were activities essential in sustaining life itself, the naval stores industry has the distinction of being the oldest major industry in America. It undoubtedly was a leader in first furnishing products for exportation. In 1610, there was drafted for the Virginia Colony: "Instructions for Suche Thinzs " as are to be Sent from Virginia." "Hard pitche, Tare, Turpentyne, and Rozens" are among the items mentioned. These directions state: "Pyne trees, or ffirre trees, are to be wounded within a yarde of the grounde, or boare a hod with an agar the third pte into the tree, and lett yt runne into anye thinge that may receyve the same, and that wch yssues owte wilbe Turpentyne worthe 185 Tonne. When the tree beginneth to runne softelye yt is to be stopped vp agayne for preserveinge the tree.
However, several factors prevented the industry's prospering in Virginia. The first adventurous settlers under the leadership of Captain John Smith were too busy seeking gold in nearby streams to be interested in extracting "turpentyne" for eighteen pounds per ton. Furthermore, the pine trees in this territory were not numerous except near the coast, along the shores of the Bay, and a t the mouths of large streams. This limitation is noted in a communication, written in 1622
by the authorities in Virginia to the Company in London, to the effect that the industry never could become profitable in that locality because of the scattered supply of pine trees. Another important factor was that tobacco and slaves soon became a more attractive source of revenue. Repeated attempts to direct interest back to naval stores were quite unsuccessful. For example, as a means of encouraging production, an order was issued in 1664 to admit tar and pitch from the colonies to England for a period of five years without the regular duties imposed upon such materials. While turpentine production in Jamestown never became profitable, tar making finally did expand to an infant industry that flourished for many years. An interesting sidelight worthy of mention may he gleaned from the records of the period during which England was importing naval stores from foreign countries. As England camed little merchandise into these countries, i t was necessary to purchase such indispensable commodities principally with coin, thus establishing an adverse balance of trade. The condition was considered a t that time to he fruitful of many evils, including the impoverishment of the people by the withdrawal of money from the country, and the certain interruptions of these supplies in the event of war. By modifying slightly a part of the phraseology and a few terms, this fear may he transcribed into a modem one, which more than three hundred years later, still is a major international problem and continues to keep the world in a state of turmoil. ACTMTY I N NEW ENGLAND
"Mr. Richard Wharton and Mr. John Saffyn,merchants & company, hauing by their petition t o this Court, proposed for the advantage of trade in generall, & raysing of vsefullcomoditjes, perticularly declaring they haue procured artists for raysing & producing great quantitjes of pitch, rozin, turpentine, ojle of turpentine, & masticke, for effectingwhereof, as their is sufficjent matter (as they conceive) in the pyne &cedar trees of the country to oroduce the same. so it will he (as thev a l l e a -d d. a matter of grclt charge to the mdcrrakrrs to effect it; therefore desire they may. vpon tcmcs, haue the sole liberty for a cuniiderable time lo produce & make the same. & all others to be prohil,itcd of tlvat liberty within this jurisdiction. "It is therefore ordered by this Court & t h e authority thereof, that no person or persons inhahitting within this jurisdiction, excepting the abaue sajd Richard Wharton. John Saffyn, & company, & their assigns, shall make or produce (any otherwise then hath hinn practiced in former tjmes in this country) any pitch, r a i n , turpentine, oyle of turpentine, or masticke of the pine or cedar trees in this jurisdiction, for the space & terme of tenn yeares next following the date hereof (excepting what particular persons shall make for their oune vse, & not for sale), and that no person or persons whatsoeuer, excepting the sajd Wharton. Saffyn, & company, shall import into this jurisdiction any of the ahoue sajd commoditjes from any parts of America for the aforessjd, and these vpon the forfeiture &confiscation of the sajd goads or commoditjes so produced or imported, the one halfe to the informer that shall prosecute the same, & the other halfe t o the country; and further, for incouragement to the said vndertakers, this Court daeth hereby grant them the vse of the pyne and cedar trees within the compasse of fiue thousand acres of land for that vse, in seuerall places, where they shall iinde it most convenient for them, for the said terme of ten yeares, which is not appropriated or granted; prouided allways, that what of t h e sajd comoditjes the said Wharton &company shall make &produce shall be sold for the vse of the country a t reasonable rates, the Ditch & rozin not exceedine fiueteene shillins D each hundred weight, to bc dtliurrcd a t Roston; and also pay slxe pence p cent of each of the iajd comoditys, pitch & rozin, of what they make out of common timher, or els this present act & order to he voyd & of none effect as t o any or so many onely of the sajd camoditjes they shall faile to make & supply the country wtb all as aforesaid." ~
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Meanwhile the industry had fared somewhat better farther to the north in bleak New England and one need only refer to the prominence in this locality of The creation of such monopolies is of particular in"pine-tree flags," "pine-tree shillings," "pine-tree inns" to appreciate the rble that pine trees played in terest since it was an uncommon practice in early Amerithe early economic and industrial history of this sec- can history. However, i t was in accord with a statute tion of the country. The sturdy and industrious set- created in 1623 during the reign of James I, which tlers of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies abolished the greatly abused system of monopolies with were engaged in the industry soon after they became certain exceptions as the manufacture of war supplies established. One of the earliest requests of the "Pi- and materials such as naval stores. The industry spread to neighboring colonies and exgrim Fathers" to England was made in 1628 for "men skylful in making pitch." The thrifty pioneers were nanded raoidlv: ,, in fact it flourished to the extent that quick to realize that they could promote effectively before long its destruction was brought about by the extheir own financial welfare from themoney derivedfrom haustion of the trees which were comparatively limited the pine tree and a t the same time serve the interests in number. What few pines were allowed to replenish the land grew slowly in the northern climate. of their Mother Country. Meanwhile various protective measures were atA monopoly for the purchase of naval stores was enacted, in 1670, by the General Court in the Plymouth tempted, but either they were not sufficiently effective Colony which provided "that all the tan made in the or time had already collected its toll. As early as 1650, goument shalbe sold to some psons within the collonie settlements along the banks of the Connecticut River . . . . . . . " The following year the General Court of prohibited the use of wood within six miles of the river eathered Massachusetts Bay Colony established a monopoly for the manufacture of tar. although " it could be " of production rather than of purchase. Reproduction of for fuel and illumination. Later, the wholesale removal the original petition of Mr. Richard Wharton and Mr. of trees on Cape Cod gave full sweep to the wind which John Saffyn who desired this monopoly is given here- lifted the sand and carried it into the harbor. The new with. This peitition was granted on June 8, 1671, in difficulty, that of filling in the harbor, combined with the ruthless waste of the pine demanded action and, the following order of the General Court:
in 1715; Massachusetts passed a conservation act to protect the owners of pines. This, perhaps, was the first legislation of its kind in America. The act provided that:
PROGRESS IN THE SOUTH
While the infant naval stores industry grew from the cradle to a sturdy child in New England, it remained for the South to develop it through its youth to robust manhood. Soon after the first permanent settlement
"Whereas, there has been waste and stroy made of pine trees. and other timber within this province: For protection whereof "Be it enacted by his excellency, the governor, council, and representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same: "That from and after the publication of this act no person or persons may presume to cut or carry off any tree, or trees, or timber, bark or box any pine tree or trees for the drawing of turpentine standing upon any of the lands belonging to this province, proprietors, townships or particular persons, without leave or license first had and obtained from the owner or owners thereof; on pain of forfeiture and payment . . . . . . . . . .
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In spite of these measures, the New England pine tree was the first to tell the now familiar story that
LEAP,COKE,A K D TRUNK01 THE LONGLEAP PINE The longleaf pine once was the principal source of naval stores wealth; now an appreciable quantity of slash pine is being used for this purnoiose
repeatedly has marked our history of what can happen under the system of greedy and indiscriminate slaughter of natural resources.
in North Carolina in 1665, the supremacy in tar, pitch, and turpentine manufacture gradually was swept southward where the longleaf pine gave so much more abundantly of its resinous contents than did the pitch pine of New England. Almost the entire coastal plane along the Atlantic Ocean, more than 100 miles broad and extending 600 miles southward from near Norfolk, Va., to Florida, and the Gulf plane reaching from Florida around to Texas, abounded with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of trees. These stately monarchs of the virgin forest stretching upward to sunny skies, filling all the air with a fragrance of penetrating freshness, and giving rise to the soft characteristic sigh of the breeze as it brushed past their graceful branches, completed the picture of tranquillity in its entirety which greeted the first settlers in this region. Such an inspiration, with climatic conditions so favorable for its perpetuation, was deserving of a better fate than that which was immediately in store for it. As soon as the bare necessities of life were satisfied reasonably well, the attention of the Carolina pioneers was directed, as had been the case with early settlers in New England, toward money crops suitable as trading commodities with which commercial relations might he established with other colonies and other lands. Where else could a better and more abundant storehouse for such materials be found than the unbroken pine forests a t their very door? The industry grew steadily and, with its mowth, little ~ o r t ss ~ r a n zinto existence in this section of the out; as connecting links with mar-
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kets beyond. Of first prominence came Boston and New Bern, and later Wilmington, N. C., which was destined to become the undisputed leading port for naval stores. A high freight rate to England was one of the chief, early difficulties which hampered the industry. Corrective measures were undertaken, in 1704, in the form of a petition which asked for government assistance, and shortly afterward a bounty of 10 shillings a barrel on tar and pitch was established. Various other legislative measures were enacted which favored the expansion of the industry. In the early part of the eighteenth century, the records of the General Court show that debts frequently were settled by an exchange of "Merchantable P i t c h or tar or turpentine. In 1719, the Assembly of South Carolina fixed values for naval stores in the payment of rents for lands, and similar acts also were passed in 1723 and 1728. The latter act established by law the values per barrel for such "rated commodities as follows: pitch, 1pound; tar, 12 shillings 6 pence; turpentine, 1pound 5 shillings." In the absence of much coin, these materials became important items of legal tender. On the other hand, pitch, tar, turpentine, masts, and yards all were made "enumerated articles" in 1728, which required that they be landed in England before they could be carried to any foreign port. This law caused serious inconvenience and expense, and resulted in considerable complaint. Gov. Johnston issued a proclamation in 1736 offering a reward of 20 pounds currency to any person discovering a person burning lightwood for pitch and tar without ever taking out "Pattents" or paying quit rents for the lands. The first law regulating the quality and package became effective in 1715 and stated that pitch and tar barrels must hold thirty-one and a half gallons each. It provided further that: "All barrels which shall be exposed to sale shall he made of timber seasoned at least six months after the riving of the staves not less than half an inch when wrought; the heading not less than three-quarters of an inch and well dowelled; twelve good substantial hoops on each cask and the whole to be tight and workmanlike. And every cooper making barrels or any other persons making the same before they deliver or expose the same tosale shall set his or their proper Brand Mark upon every Barrel, which Mark he or they shall cause to be recorded in the office of the Precinct where he or they shall reside or dwell."
It was further provided that penalties of "double damages to the party injured" be assessed against violators. Several inspection regulations, passed in the period about 1750, required certificates of inspection ;or all exports. In 1758, an act was passed which provided that: "Inasmuch as it is difficult in warm and rainy weather to separate tar from water it is declared that water shall not be accounted a fradulent mixture in tar but that in such cases the barrels shall not be branded by the inspector until the same is as free from water as it can be made."
At this time, rosin was sold in wooden casks containing about twenty stone-weight, an English unit equiva-
lent to about fourteen pounds. This weight was so firmly fixed in those days of international trade that, although the stone-weight is no longer used in the United States, the two hundred eighty pound rosin barrel price basis still persists almost universally. Today, rosin usually is shipped in the commercial or round barrel which weighs approximately 500 pounds gross or 420 pounds net and this unit customarily is used now for production statistics. Exports from North Carolina had increased by 1753 to 61,500 barrels of tar, 12,100 barrels of pitch, and 10,400 barrels of turpentine. By 1770, the exports had grown to 88,000 barrels of tar, 21,000 barrels of pitch, and 88,000 barrels of turpentine. A sharp decline naturally came with the advent of the Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress, recognizing the importance of naval stores, provided, on February 3, 1776, for the exportation of these materials from one state to another when wanted. On May 21, 1777, it ordered that the large stock of tar a t Wilmington, N. C., and all other naval stores should be removed to places of security or destroyed rather than be possessed by the enemy. Following the Revolutionary War, naval stores production again swung upwards and, by 1800,Wilmington, N. C., enjoyed a position among the leading ports of the world for shipment of turpentine and tar. During the first half of the nineteenth century the Carolinas were almost the sole source of supply of naval stores in America. The 1850 census given in Table 1 shows how the Carolinas dominated the industry. TABLE 1 D1STRIB"ImN
NAVAL STORBS PRODUCTION
BY
STILTBS IN 1850
No. State
Planlr
Value O u t W
P" cen1. of T o l d OulPul
N. Carolina S. Carolina Georgia Florida Misirnippi Alabama Louiriann Total
The Carolinas continued to lead the field until many years after the Civil War. North Carolina reached the maximum production in naval stores in the decade of 1870 to 1880. In 1872, Wilmington handled 112,000 casks of spirits turpentine, 568,000 barrels of rosin, 38,000 barrels of tar, and 18,000barrels of crude turpentine, the crude material having been displaced largely with the home distillation of spirits turpentine from the gum. Meanwhile, the industry had expanded to other southern stales and soon ports, such as Savannah, Jacksonville, and Brunswick, were to almost totally eclipse Wilmington's prestige as a naval stores port. The Carolinas gradually faced the fact that their forests were rapidly becoming exhausted and that their exclusive leadership for nearly two centuries was about to pass away forever. The rapid decline of their posi-
tion is shown readily in Table 2. Application of reforestation methods and intelligent forest management has been responsible for the small improvement in the Carolinas' position in recent years.
United States are tabulated in Table 4. Dnring this period, the 190849 season was the greatest, with 2,500,000 five-hundred-pound barrels of rosin and 750,000 TABLE 3
TABLE 2 DBCLINB 0.
C*ROLIN*~' PRODD~ON On
Ycov
PHRCBNTAGBSOB PRODUETLON S V P ~ ~BYBVALIOUS D STATBS
N*V*L
STORBS I N UNITBD
SI*~S
P o ccnl. rupgliad by Carolinor
StaU
Alabama Florida Georgia Louisiana Mirrisrippi North and South Carolina Texan
1901 10.1 41.9 31.2 .8' 10.3
I910 8.5 53.7 25.0 2.9 6.3
1914 10.1 45.8 23.1 8.4 8.8
5.7
3.1
1.4
1918-19 12.2 36.0 19.3 15.5 9.4 5
1929-39 1937-38 6.3 9.7 31.5 26.4 50.8 57.0 3.5. .4 4.1 3.1 3.8
3.0
.5 2.4 6.2 .4 -100 100 100 100 100 100 D
'T e r a included with Louisiana.
At the turn of the present century, Florida held the lead as the naval stores producing state, with Georgia not far behind. Dnring the next twenty years, the Southwestern territory became increasingly important in this production. From 11 per cent. of the crop in
fifty-gallon barrels of turpentine. The minimum production was reached in the 1918-19 season with 1,242,000 barrels of rosin and 359,000 barrels of tnrpentine.
189-5 1895-1900 190W5 1905-10 1910-15 1915-20 1920-25 192630 1930-35 1935-36 season 1936-87rearao 1937-38season Gmsr weight. The net weight i. approximately 420 pounds.
In 1935, it was reported* that the entire industry employed 27,200 wage earners and 1100 salaried emGEOGRAPHIC LOCATION OF &W MATERIALFOR NAVAL ployees in 875 establishments. Wages and salaries comSTORES PRODUCTS bined amounted to 7,500,000 dollars. Actually, the inDark portions show national distribution of the longleaf pine. Msp prepared by the United States Forest Service. dustry is much larger than is indicated by these statistics, because the census upon which they are based does not completely cover the industry, especially in the 1905, the three states of Mississippi, Louisiana, and case of many of the smaller operators. Texas advanced in relative importance until they furFinancially, the naval stores producer in the South nished over 30 per cent. of the total a t the close of the bas had his ups and downs as in other industries. The World War. However, the gain was soon lost as Georgia annual average net cash returnt to the producer has forged ahead rapidly until the output of the latter state varied widely since the World War. The high mark accounted for 57 per cent. of America's total dnring was reached in the 1919-20 season with a return of the 1937-38 season. It becomes more and more evident 63,509,000 dollars, with a low return of only 13,792,000 that the future of the American naval stores industry dollars for the 1932-33 season. The 1937-38 period lies in Georgia and Florida, which together contribute yielded a net cash return of 27,427,000 dollars. The net 83 per cent. of the present domestic supply. Georgia cash proceeds per unit of one barrel of turpentine and with an enormous acreage of regrowth of longleaf and 31/3 barrels of rosin varied from 153.01 dollars in 1919slash pines, and an abundant reworking of old trees, 20 to 30.65 dollars in 1932-33, compared with 54.31 promises to hold its supremacy for a t least many more dollars for the 1937-38 season. For the six years of years. The shift in relative production by states for recent *Round numbers taken from the last report made by the years is shown in Table 3. Bureau of Census. The an~roximate averare annual oroductions of rosin Government A. t Based uoan comoilation of the Carson Naval Stores Co.. of and turpentine for five-year periods Since 1890 for the ~a&nnah a i d ~acksonville
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acute depression, 1930-31 to 1935-36, inclusive, the average was 39.40 dollars per unit, with a value of 79.27 dollars per nnit for the six preceding years. For the thirteen years 1917-18 to 1929-30, inclusive, the average of the nnit net return was 83.44 dollars, or 29.13 dollars more than the net return for 1937-38. Tnrpentine dropped to the lowest price in forty years, 14.65 dollars per 50-gallon barrel, during the past season but the average return of 11.90 dollars per barrel of rosin was sufficiently high to maintain the unit proceeds to 23.66 dollars more than the 1932-33 low.
Rosin and turpentine occupied the fortieth and ninetieth positions, respectively, in the list of one hundred commodities rated* in 1937 according to their contribution in values to our foreign trade. The combined value of the exported rosin and tnrpentine was approximately 20 million dollars. About 56 per cent. of the exported rosin went to Europe, and the corresponding figure for turpentine is 75 per cent. United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, and Sweden, in the order named, are our best customers in Europe, while South America and Japan account for the bulk of our exports outside of Europe.
AMERICA DOMINATES WORLD'S PRODUCTION AND
CONSUMPTION
EARLY METHODS OF PRODUCTION
Methods known to the early settlers in this country for producing naval stores had a ripe old heritage. Certain essential features of the process had been handed down from the beginning of recorded history. Natives of ancient Asia many centuries before Christ prepared pitches and oils from resins of trees that grew on the shores of the Mediterranean. The resin was placed in pots and cooked down to a thick pitch, while fleecy sheep skins stretched over the pots collected the rising vapors of the oil which subsequently was recovered by wringing the fleeces. It is recorded that Noah in building the Ark was commanded to "pitch i t within and without with pitch." The Egyptians had some knowledge of the medicinal value of the oil, and also used i t in the age-enduring varnish for mummy cases. During colonial days, the old kiln method usually was used in making tar and pitch. Dead pine wood, which seldom decayed because of its high resinous content, was gathered for the purpose. Among tar makers, the dead wood was known as "fat lightwood," possibly deriving its name from the fact that i t ignited easily and burned rapidly, since it was anything but light wood in weight and color. After the wood was cut into convenient sizes, often about two or three feet in length and two or three inches thick, a suitable place was prepared for piling it. For that purpose, a circular mound was raised which sloped slightly from the circumference to the center. The surface of this mound often was packed hard and coated with clay, except for a hole in the center which in turn was connected by a conduit to an outer basin dug in the earth. Upon this base, the wood was stacked radially like the spokes of a wagon TABLE 5 wheel. The diameter of a pile required to produce one ESTIXATBDPEILCBNTACBS OF WORLD'SNAVAL SZORSS P X O D U ~ I O N hundred barrels of tar measured about twenty feet a t SVPPLLBD BY V~BIOIIIS CODNTXZBS POX 1937-38 SEASON the base and increased to nearly thirty feet a t the top, Counlry Per cent. of World Sugply ten or twelve feet high. The kiln was completed by United States of America 53.2 covering the wood with pine leaves and then with clay Frrnee 14.2 U.S.S.Rus& 8.4 or sod. This covering was necessary to prevent the Portugal 6.9 Soain 5.1 fire, which was kindled a t the top, burning too rapidly, dreas i t was necessary for the fire to penetrate to the Mexico Other countries bottom of the pile with slow and gradual combustion. Total The process was somewhat similar to that employed in making charcoal and required constant attention. At the present time, the United States is exporting nearly one-half of its naval stores products. A gradual * Compilation in 1937 by the Foreign Commerce Department decline in exportation has occurred during recent years. of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States.
The United States is the greatest producing and consuming country of naval stores in the world. It supplied approximately 80 per cent. of the world's total for the 190849 season which yielded the all-time high production for the world as well as domestically. Since then, America gradually has been losing ground as the dominating source of naval stores supplies, and by 1930 it was producing only approximately two-thirds of the total. Renewed efforts in recent years in foreign countries toward programs of self-sufficiencyhave decreased further America's leadership to about 53 per cent. for the 1937-38 season. It is rather significant to note that the increase in foreign production during the past season more than offset the lower production in this country, to push the world's supply approximately to the 190849 high mark. France always has been America's closest rival, usually producing approximately 15 to 20 per cent. of the world's output. Russia's development during the past few years has been especially rapid, with an increase of nearly eightfold in its production since 1930. Portugal, Greece, Mexico, and Poland also have shown considerable inaeases recently. The world's production of gum spirits turpentine by countries as estimated for the 1937-38 season is given in Table 5. The distribution is approximately true for rosin also since the output of rosin in proportion to tnrpentine averages about three barrels of rosin to one barrel of turpentine. In America, the ratio obtained from the gum dip is more nearly three and one-third barrels of rosin for each barrel of tnrpentine.
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