CHAP. CXUI.

CONI'FERiE. Pl'NUS.

2259

pool; where, according to Michaux, it is called the Georgia pitch pine, and issold at 25 per cent or 30 per cent higher than any other pine imported fromthe United States . The young trees, which have larger and more numerousleaves than the old ones, are sometimes cut by the negroes for brooms; andhence the name of broom pine. P. australis supplies nearly all the resinousmatter used in the United States in ship-building. Formerly, tar was made inall the lower parts of the Carolinas and Georgia; but at present this manu-facture is confined to the lower districts of North Carolina . The resinousproducts of this pine are, turpentine, scrapings, spirit of turpentine, resin, tar,and pitch. Of these, turpentine is the raw sap of the tree obtained by makingincisions in the trunk. It begins to distil about the middle of March, whenthe circulation commences, and it flows with increasing abundance as theweather becomes warmer ; so that July and August are the most productivemonths. The sap is collected in what are in America termed boxes : theseare incisions, notches, or cavities, cut in the tree, about 3 in. or 4 in. fromthe ground, generally of a sufficient size to hold about three pints of sap, butproportioned to the size of the tree; the rule being that the cavity shall notexceed one fourth of the diameter of the tree. These cavities are made inJanuary or February, commencing with the south side, which is thought thebest, and going round the tree. The next operation is the raking or clearingthe ground from leaves and herbage. About the middle of March, a notchis made in the tree, with two oblique gutters, to conduct the sap that flowsfrom the wood into the box, or cavity, below. In about a fortnight, the boxbecomes full, and a wooden shovel is used to transfer its contents to a pail,by means of which it is conveyed to a large cask placed at a convenient dis-tance. The edges of the wound are chipped every week, and the boxes,after the first, generally fill in about three weeks. The sap thus procured isused as turpentine, without any preparation, and is called pure dripping.The scrapings are the crusts of resin that are formed on the sides of thewounds; and these are often mixed with the turpentine, which, in this state,is used in the manufacture of yellow soap, and is called Boston turpentine.Long-continued rains check the flow of the sap, and even cause the woundsto close; and, for this reason, very little turpentine is procured in cold dampseasons. In five or six years, the tree is abandoned; and the bark neverbecomes sufficiently healed to allow of the same place being wounded twice.

Spirits of turpentine are made principally in North Carolina ; and areobtained by distilling the turpentine in large copper retorts. Six barrels ofturpentine are said to afford one cask, or 122 quarts, of the spirit. Theresiduum, after the distillation, is resin, which is sold at one third of the priceof the turpentine.

AH the tar of the southern states is made from the dead wood of P.australis , consisting of trees prostrated by time, or by the fires annuallykindled in the forests; of the summits of those that are felled for timber;and of limbs broken off by the ice that sometimes overloads the trees.(See p. 2137.) It has been already observed (p. 2108.), that, as soon asv egetation ceases in any part of a pine tree, its consistence changes : thesap wood decays, and the heart wood becomes surcharged with resinous juice,(o such a degree as to double its weight in a year; and that this accumulation'■'creases for several years. Dead wood is thus productive of tar for severalyears after it has fallen from the tree.

To procure the tar, a kiln is formed in a part of the forest abounding indead wood: this is first collected, stripped of the sap wood, and cut into billets^ ft. or 3 ft. long, and about 3 in. thick; a task which is rendered tedious andd'fficult by the numerous knots with which the wood abounds. The nextst ep is to prepare a place for piling the billets; and for this purpose a cir-c ular mound is raised, slightly declining from the circumference to the centre,and surrounded by a shallow ditch. The diameter of the pile is proportionedto the quantity of wood which it is to receive : to obtain 100 barrels of tar,d should be 18 ft. or 20 ft. wide. In the middle is a hole, with a conduit

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