The lumber companies, for the most part, have moved on, leaving in their sawdust trail mute reminders of a once-stately pine forest​—naked and lowly stumps. Naked, yes, and lowly, but by no means worthless! These stumps are responsible for one of the largest industries in Nicaragua, the manufacture of rosin, turpentine, dipentene and pine oil.

Rosin is used in varnish, printing ink, soap, adhesives, and to rosin the bows of string instruments. Dipentene is in demand in making paint thinner. The turpentine and pine oil are, for the most part, consumed locally. Perhaps you associate turpentine with cleaning paintbrushes, but it is also an ingredient in the manufacture of insecticides. Pine oil is used in disinfectants.