PINACEiE 401 



woodwork of many old Scottish castles and mansions, which is 

 entirely of Scots pine, and perfectly sound after standing for 

 several centuries. Scots pine timber from N. Europe is usually 

 imported by a measurement known as the St. Petersburg standard 

 (165 cubic ft.), and prices are fixed on that measurement. 



The nomenclature of P. sylvestris and of its timber has been 

 subject to many alterations and there are few well-known trees 

 bearing more synonyms. Contrary to our usual practice in this 

 work, a number of continental names have been included amongst 

 the synonyms in the early part of this description. Great con- 

 fusion has been caused by the application of the name fir to this 

 species, the term only being correct when connected with species 

 of Abies. Amongst common names applied to the timber yeUoio 

 deal is perhaps the most commonly used and probably therefore 

 the most suitable. Redwood and nwthern redwood are, however, 

 familiar names in the trade. The name of deal or fir with the 

 prefix of a port or district often denotes a certain quality of timber, 

 but this multiplicity of names is undesirable and the interests of 

 the community would probably be better served by grading the 

 timber under one common name as suggested above. 



Turpentine, rosin, lampblack, charcoal, tar and other products 

 are obtained by destructive and steam distillation of the wood 

 and often of the roots ; stump oil and resin is obtained from the 

 roots, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia being the chief seats 

 of the industry. The wood has also been used for paper pulp, 

 but is less valuable than Spruce wood for the purpose. 



The fibre of the leaves has been manufactured into a stuffing 

 material for cushions, mattresses, etc., under the name of pine 

 leaf wool, whilst water used in the preparation has been utilized 

 in Breslau and elsewhere for medicinal baths. Oil obtained from 

 the leaves is sometimes used in medical practice. The wood of 

 trees dug up from bogs has been spht into shavings and utihzed 

 for coarse rope in Ireland. 



The Scots pine is essentially a light-demanding species and a 

 tree for light soils either on plains or mountains. In the 

 European Alps, merchantable timber is often carried to an 

 altitude of 6,000 ft., but the altitude is governed by both latitude 

 and shelter. In the British Isles good timber rarely occurs at a 

 higher altitude than 1,000-1,200 ft., and in exposed places the 

 timber line may be much lower. In sheltered vaUeys at a higher 

 elevation than 1,200 ft. good timber has been produced and it is 

 possible that by carefully building up shelter a much higher 

 timber line than at present obtains might be gained. Although 

 it withstands a good deal of exposure it is not a first-class shelter 

 tree as compared with Austrian pine, and trees growing in very 

 exposed positions are usually poorly developed unless they are 

 the remains of a former wood or plantation. It is sometimes 



