DENDROLOGY. 231 



and the resinous matter, which is abundant, is more uniformly- 

 distributed than in the other species ; hence the wood is stronger, 

 more compact and more durable : it is, besides, fine-grained, 

 and susceptible of a bright polish. These advantages give it a 

 preference to every other pine ; but its quality is modified by 

 the nature of the soil in which it grows. In the vicinity of the 

 sea, where only a thin layer of mould reposes upon the sand, it 

 is more resinous than where the mould is five or six inches thick ; 

 the stocks that grow upon the first-mentioned soil are called 

 Pitch Pine, and the others Yellow Pine, as if they were distinct 

 species. This wood subserves a great variety of uses in the 

 Carolinas, Georgia and the Floridas : four-fifths of the houses 

 arc built of it, except of the roof, which is covered with the 

 shingles of the cypress ; but in the country the roof is also of 

 pine, and is renewed after fifteen or eighteen years. A vast 

 consumption takes place for the inclosure of cultivated fields. In 

 naval architecture this is the most esteemed of the pines : in the 

 Southern States, the keel, the beams, the side planks and the 

 pins by which they are attached to the ribs, are of this tree. 

 For the deck it is preferred to the true yellow pine. In certain 

 soils this wood contracts a reddish hue, and it is for that reason 

 known in the dock yards of the Northern States by the name of 

 Red Pine. Wood of this tint is considered best, and in the 

 opinion of some shipwrights it is more durable on the sides of 

 vessels, and less liable to injury from worms, than the oak. The 

 value of this tree does not reside exclusively in its wood : it 

 supplies nearly all the resinous matter used in the United States 

 in ship building, and a large residue for exportation to the West 

 Indies and Europe. 



The resinous product of the pine is of six sorts, namely, turpen- 

 tine, scrapings, spirit of turpentine, rosin, tar and pitch* The last 

 two are delivered in their natural state ; the others are modified 

 by the agency of fire in certain modes of preparation. More 

 particularly, turpentine is the sap of the tree obtained by making 

 incisions in its trunk. It begins to distil about the middle of 

 March, when the circulation commences, and flows with increasing 

 abundance as the weather becomes warmer, so that July and 



