CHAP. CXIII. 



coni'ferje. ^bie'tin^. 



212:^ 



Properties and Uses. The native forests of Jbi^tins are observed to be 

 warmer in winter than those of any other evergreen tree in the same climate. 

 They consequently afford excellent shelter for wild animals of every descrip- 

 tion, and one of the best substitutes for a house for man. In the north of 

 Europe, this is more particularly applicable to the forests of spruce fir, which 

 form so dense a covering as almost to exclude heat in summer, and cold in 

 winter. The pine and fir tribe, in a living state, with the exception of the 

 larch (that tree having tender foliage), afford food to but few insects; but the 

 seeds are greedily devoured by the squirrel and other animals, and by some 

 birds. In civilised society, the wood of the pine and fir tribe is in universal 

 use, and forms one of the most important articles of European and American 

 commerce. No other tree produces timber at once so long and so straight ; 

 and so light, and yet so strong and stiff; it is therefore peculiarly fitted for 

 almost all the purposes of civil architecture, and for some peculiar uses in the 

 construction of ships. Masts are every where made of it, where it can be pro- 



cured of sufficient size; and the yellow deal of Europe, which is produced by the 

 Pinus sylvestris ; the white deal of Norway, which is produced by the J'bies ex- 

 celsa ; and the white pine wood of America, which is the Pinus .Strobus, are 

 used throughout the civilised world in building and fitting up houses, in the 

 construction of machinery, in furniture, and for an endless number of purposes. 

 Log-houses (see Jig. 2006.) are more conveniently made of trunks of the pine 

 and fir tribe than of any other tree, on account of their straightness, and the 

 slight degree in which they taper. 



For the same reason, also, the Wf^ -^sI^t. 2007 



worm fence of America (/g. 

 2007.), and the wooden fence of 

 Sweden and Norway (_fig.2008.), 

 are always made of pine or 

 fir wood, when it can be obtain- 

 ed. In Russia, Poland, and other 

 parts of the north of Europe, 

 and also in the interior of North 

 America, roads are formed over 

 marshy ground by laying down the trunks of pine trees, side by side, and 

 close together, across the line of road. In the latter country, these are called 

 CO duroy roads. In some parts of the towns of Russia, and particularly in 

 Moscow and Kiow, regularly squared planks are laid down instead of rough 

 trunks ; and, both in Moscow and Vienna, the courts of some of the larger 



