CHAP. CX11I.

CONI FERfE. Pl'NUS.

2175

mm; the turpentine, melted by fire, mixing with the sap and juices of thepine, while the wood itself, becoming charred, is converted into charcoal.(Tmv. in Scand., &c.)

When pitch is to be made, the tar, without any thing being added to it,is put into large copper vessels (fixed in masonry, to prevent any danger ofthe tar taking fire), and is there suffered to boil for some time; after whichit is let out, and, when cold, hardens and becomes pitch.

Tar and charcoal are obtained in Russia much in the same manner as inSweden , from the bottoms of the trunks and the roots of the trees. InGermany , the process is conducted with very great accuracy, and is describedin detail by Hartig, in his translation of Du Hamel ’s Traite des Arbrcs, &c.,tol. i. p. 15.; and it is also given in the Dictionnaire des Faux ct Forets, art.Resine, p. 731. In France , it is conducted in a similar manner; though theresinous products of the pine and fir tribe, in that country, are generallyobtained from the pinaster, as will be described under that tree. In Britain ,tar is sometimes extracted from the roots of the Scotch pine in the High-lands, in a rude manner, for local purposes. The country people, having hewnthe wood into billets, fill a pit dug in the earth with them ; and, setting themon fire, there runs from them, while they are burning, a black thick matter,which naturally falls to the bottom of the pit, and this is tar. The top of™ pit is covered with tiles to keep in the heat; and there is at the bottoma little trough, out of which the tar runs like oil : if this hole be made too• ar gc, it sets the whole quantity of the tar on fire; but, if small enough, it runsquietly out. In England, a piece of a branch of the tree is sometimes put in1 smithy fire, at one end, while the sap and resinous matter which oozes outat the other is scraped off from time to time, and mixed with tallow forgreasing the wheels of carts.

Flambeaux of the roots and trunks of the pine are in use both in Britain a jd in the north of Europe. Hall, in his Travels in Scotland , relates a story“ a bet made in London by a Highland chief, that some massive silver can-dlesticks, on the table at a gentleman’s house where he was dining, were notbetter, or more valuable, than those commonly in use in the Highlands. Thechieftain won his bet, by sending to his estate for four Highlanders of hisc ™> and producing them with torches of blazing fir in their hands, declaringthat they were the candlesticks to which he alluded, (vol. ii. p. 440.) Dr.Hawison observes “ that the little tallow or oil which the peasantry in*'ussm can procure is entirely consumed at the shrines in the churches, andbetore the images in their isbas, or huts.” To supply the place of candles, “ theytake long billets of red Scotch pine, which they dry carefully near theirPatches, or stoves, during the tedious winter, and split, as occasion requires,Mo long pieces resembling laths. When a traveller arrives, or a light isrequired for any other purpose, one of these laths is lighted at the peatch,af fixed in a wooden frame, which holds it in a horizontal position. It givesa bright flame, but only burns for a short time.” (For. Trees of Russ, in Jam.

' our •> vol. xii. p. 60.)

A s o timber tree, for planting in poor dry soils, and in exposed situations,bone can excel the Scotch pine, and it is only equalled by the larch. In. nlain > it surpasses every other species of the pine and fir tribe for shelter-‘"S other trees, with the exception of the spruce fir, which, being of a moreoonical shape, admits more light and air to the heads of the trees which are“bedrawn up by it. The Scotch pine is, however, altogether unfit for givings “elter in single rows, unless the branches are allowed to remain on, from the5 r °tmd upwards, and the roots have free scope on every side. Hence, this pine,Se every other species of the tribe, is altogether unfit for a hedgerow tree,sbh |H P ant;e ^ ’ n narrow belts round fields for shelter, it soon becomes un-^gntly, unless the trees stand so thin as to allow of their being clothed withinches from the ground upwards. The true situation for this tree, when“°' v n for timber, is in masses over extensive surfaces.

As an ornamental tree, various opinions are entertained of the Scotch

7 B