When barreled, the turpentine is frequently
sent to market in its crude state, but more often is distilled on the
plantation, the gatherers generally possessing means sufficient to own a
still.
In the process of distilling, the crude turpentine is 'dumped' into the
boiler through an opening in the top,--the same as that on which we saw
Junius composedly seated,--water is then poured upon it, the aperture
made tight by screwing down the cover and packing it with clay, a fire
built underneath, and when the heat reaches several hundred degrees
Fahrenheit, the process of manufacture begins. The volatile and more
valuable part of the turpentine, by the action of the heat, rises as
vapor, then condensing flows off through a pipe in the top of the still,
and comes out spirits of turpentine, while the heavier portion finds
vent at a lower aperture, and comes out rosin.
No article of commerce is so liable to waste and leakage as turpentine.
The spirits can only be preserved in tin cans, or in thoroughly seasoned
oak barrels, made tight by a coating of glue on the inner side. Though
the material for these barrels exists at the South in luxuriant
abundance, they are all procured from the North, and the closing of the
Southern ports has now entirely cut off the supply; for while the
turpentine farmer may improvise coopers, he can by no process give the
oak timber the seasoning which is needed to render the barrel
spirit-tight.
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