EXTRACTS FROM THE PINE. 85 



some further uses of parts of the pine species. The 

 bark of the larch tree contains a considerable portion of 

 the astringent bitter called tannin, which, by being 

 mixed with the mucilaginous, or gluey part of the 

 skins of animals, changes that into a substance not 

 soluble in water; and thus it is useful in the opera- 

 tion of tanning, or converting the raw hides of 

 animals into leather. Portions also are edible: the 

 young shoots of the common fir, stripped of the leaves 

 when these just begin to appear, are sought for with 

 avidity, in some places, by the children of the 

 peasants, and there is no doubt that, properly pre- 

 pared, they would form both an agreeable and a 

 wholesome salad in the spring. In young and vi- 

 gorous trees, too, the liber, or part of the bark near- 

 est the wood, is pleasant in the early part of the year; 

 and the milky juice upon it, which is the new layer 

 of wood in an incipient state, is very sweet, and 

 without any of the pungent bitterness of turpentine. 

 The inner bark of the spruce has these qualities, 

 though in an inferior degree; but the young shoots 

 of it are bitter, astringent, and disagreeable. The 

 inhabitants of the cold and uncomfortable regions of 

 Lapland contrive to convert the inner bark into a 

 kind of bread: for this purpose, they dry it at the 

 fire till it becomes brittle; next they grind it; then 

 they macerate it in water; and, after this, they knead 

 it into thin cakes, which they bake in the usual 

 manner. These cakes are, however, more insipid 

 than the recent bark, probably because the sugar, 

 or manna, or whatever imparts to that its agreeable 

 sweetness, may be destroyed by the maceration, in 

 addition to the pungent taste of the turpentine, to get 

 rid of which is the object of that operation. Ropes 

 made of this bark are pretty generally used among 

 the fishermen of the north, and they have consider- 

 able strength, as well as elasticity. From the different 

 VOL. n. 8 



