Pinus is one of the most widely distributed genera of trees in the northern hemisphere, extending from the polar region to the tropics and including Central and North America, Europe and Asia. It is also one of the most widely planted exotics for timber and pulp purposes and large areas of pine are therefore found outside their natural range in South America, Africa and Australasia. In addition to their use for wood, pine trees are a valuable source of non-wood forest products: they can be tapped for resin, which can then be distilled to produce gum turpentine and gum rosin. Gum Naval Stores: Turpentine and Rosin from Pine Resin provides information on the technical and economic aspects of pine resin production including the tapping of trees and the distillation of the resin. It also reviews recent trends in world production and markets for gum turpentine and gum rosin. The book is intended for prospective new producers of turpentine and rosin, and for organizations and individuals appraising projects involving their production. It is particularly intended for those in developing countries.

The extraction of raw turpentine and tar from the southern longleaf pine—along with the manufacture of derivative products such as spirits of turpentine and rosin—constitutes what was once the largest industry in North Carolina and one of the most important in the South: naval stores production. In a pathbreaking study that seamlessly weaves together business, environmental, labor, and social history, Robert B. Outland III offers the first complete account of this sizable though little-understood sector of the southern economy. Outland traces the South’s naval stores industry from its colonial origins to the mid-twentieth century, when it was supplanted by the rising chemicals industry. A horror for workers and a scourge to the Southeast’s pine forests, the methods and consequences of this expansive enterprise remained virtually unchanged for more than two centuries. With its exacting attention to detail and exhaustive research, Tapping the Pines is an essential volume for anyone interested in the piney woods South.