RECREATIVE NATURAL HISTORY. 



little pots, or other vessels, placed for it* reception. 

 Tin- tiin"Titin.--tfiitherers nay that tho aide of the tree facing 

 the south yields a notable quantity of juice more than cither the 



act, or wast surfaces of the tree. 



Tho iiKinm-r in \vhi-h fir-troo sap i collected appears to 

 have undergone but little change since periods of remote 

 anti<iu i i.f tiiri.cntinc-gathering as prao- 



iivy 



" Tho new-rondo trees in tears of amber run, 

 Wliu-h l.urJcn into value by the sun." 



t to the larch in point of 



! unlancc in this country, and 



tl:r frrrilum with which it yields 



ita resinous juices, we may men- 



the Scotch jir (P. sylvea- 



n'sents the cone, 



folir., nnd seed. This conifer 



uninterrupted stream of tar componitkra from the 

 chamber in which it was prepared. 



A great deal of tar is manufactured in the north of Europe, 

 and a great portion of this is commonly known as Stockholm 

 tar. Such supplies, however, as are furnished from the fin of 

 this country are mainly obtained from tho Scotch pine. The 

 root* and other cuttings of old trees furnish the largest return 

 on treatment. P. tylveitrii is not, however, the only pine 

 from which the tar of commerce is obtained. The tar of the 

 North American botanist* is obtained from a conifer known 



an P. riyida. P. TreJa and P. 

 A uttralia also yield it. Between 

 four and five millions of barrel* 

 of wood tar are annually im- 

 ported into this country. 



The substance known as lamp- 

 black is, as most of our readers 



is rich in a product, the loss of 

 which would entail enormous 

 inconvenience and difficulty. 



There is perhaps no product 

 yielded by the pine which, for 

 importance and general useful- 

 ness, can be compared with tar. 



The rope-maker, the shipwright, the timber merchant, and 

 the sailor are all debtors to it. Those wondrous cables which 

 furnish a medium for the conveyance of messages and intelli- 

 gence from polo to pole and sea to sea, owe much of their power 

 to resist decay and deterioration to the tar used in saturating 

 the yarns or hempen cords which, layer after layer, envelop 

 both the electric and protecting wires used in fashioning these 

 submarine ropes. We were much pleased a short time since, on 

 visiting tho submarine cable manufactory at Silvertown, with 

 the ingenious manner in which an endless band of heavy chain- 

 links were made to deposit, agitate, stir, and carry upwards to 

 the rope, in tho course of manufacture, a perfectly regular and 



will be aware, extensively used 

 in the arts. This is made in 

 very large quantities from the 

 waste products resulting from 

 the manufacture of common tar, 

 and it may not prove unin- 

 teresting to the reader to follow 



out the manner in which this soft, jet-black, and generally 

 useful substance is prepared. The Germans manufacture 

 lampblack extensively, and find it a valuable addition to the 

 return from the tar-works, about which we shall have more 

 to eay as we proceed. When about to prepare lampblack, the 

 manufacturer prepares for himself a sort of coffer or box. This 

 is accurately closed at every joint, but at the top a sort of venti- 

 lated stopper-arrangement is placed. This is provided with & 

 number of holes, over which a sort of cone or case of linen cloth is 

 fastened. At a convenient distance from the box and cone a 

 narrow-mouthed furnace is constructed in such a way that as the 

 waste tar products are subjected to heat, the vapours given off 



