The kiln is completed by covering the wood with “pine straw” and sand. This prevents air currents and keeps the fire, which is on the back end, from drawing through and consuming the wood without producing tar. Moreover, while the kiln is burning--a period of two weeks or more for a twenty-five cord pile--it must be watched day and night so that straw and sand blown off by the gases within may be replaced at once. As the tar comes from the kiln it is caught in a hole dug beneath the outlet and is dipped up and poured into barrels--the average yield being one barrel to the cord. The tar is then hauled by cart to water or railroad, thence to be transported to the various naval stores yards. For the foregoing description and the accompanying illustrations of tar manufacture we are indebted to the American Naval Stores Company. The pictures showing kiln operations are very unusual and were secured only after several trips. The others were taken at the Company’s yards at Wilmington, North Carolina, where the tar is carefully inspected, strained and then re-barreled for shipment to our two factories. [Illustration: TAR HANDLING AT NAVAL STORES YARD 1. INSPECTING 2. STRAINING 3. LOADING FOR SHIPMENT 4. TAR YARD FROM RIVER ] Part III [Illustration] CHAPTER I BUYING, GRADING AND STORING OF FIBER In Part II we described the various fibers from which rope is made and pointed out the importance of expert knowledge and foresight in the buying of these raw materials. Purchasing power and the resources for grading and using each bale of fiber with strict regard to its particular fitness for his products are also of special value to the rope manufacturer. We have already shown that Manila fiber or hemp, as it is commonly called, is the principal and for most purposes the best cordage material. Including the numerous commercial grades and the brands of individual packers, the market designations or marks of Manila hemp run into the hundreds and cover a wide range in the four important qualities of strength, texture, length and color. A single mark may, furthermore, vary greatly in one quality or another from time to time, so that the market designation alone is not a safe sign of the fiber’s fitness for a certain purpose. Because of these facts the only way a manufacturer can be sure of sufficient fiber of the character required to insure uniform quality in each of his products is by examining and re-grading, according to his own standards, the hemp delivered to him and by combining selections of different marks in the right proportions to give the desired results. To do this successfully requires a thorough knowledge of fibers, large stocks always available and special storage facilities. [Illustration: EXAMINING AND RE-GRADING MANILA FIBER]