510 LXXVI. CONIFEILE. [Pinus. 



description of the mode of procedure, which is confirmed by other accounts : 

 In winter a cavity is cut into the base of the trunk about 3 or 4 inches from the 

 ground, commonly of the capacity of 3 pints, and about 4 in. deep. These cavities 

 are called boxes, and they have the shape of a large distended waistcoat-pocket. 

 When the trees are large, 2 or sometimes 4 boxes are excavated on opposite 

 sides of the trunk. Two oblique gutters are made at the edges of the box, and 

 the surface of the stem is hacked or chipped above the box ; this is repeated once 

 a-week ; the first year the chippings extend 12 in. upwards, and are carried up 

 higher every year, but after 5 or 6 years the tree is generally abandoned. The 

 turpentine begins to run about the middle of March, and the hottest months, 

 July and August, are the most productive. The boxes generally fill every three 

 weeks, and the turpentine is ladled out with wooden shovels into pails. Fires 

 are the great danger, and on that account the ground at the foot of the trees is 

 carefully cleared of leaves and herbage. The solid masses of resin, which con- 

 crete on the chipped part of the stem, are collected under the name of scrap- 

 ings. In ordinary years it is estimated that 3000 trees, which generally form 

 the charge of one person, yield 75 barrels of turpentine and 25 barrels of scrap- 

 ings in one season, which supposes the boxes to be emptied five or six times 

 during the season. The method of collecting resin of P. Pinaster, Laricio, and 

 halepensis, in France and Corsica, described at p. 514, differs essentially 

 from the American system, the scars being flat, and the turpentine being col- 

 lected either in earthen pots, or in cavities cut in the roots or made in the 

 sand at the foot of the tree. Large quantities of tar are made from the tops 

 and branches and dead trees of Pinus australis in charcoal-kilns, which have 

 the shape of a truncated and inverted cone ; Michaux states that a kiln 10-12 

 ft. high, 20 ft. diam. below, and 25-30 ft. above, yields 100 barrels of tar, 

 which seems a very large quantity. It is evident that the yellow pine is more 

 resinous than most other Conifers. The wood of this tree is extensively used for 

 building in the Southern States, it is also exported largely to the West Indies. 

 The species is distinguished by long cylindrical cones, 6-10 in. long, the scales 

 armed with short recurved spines ; the leaves are 10-15 in. long. 



2. P. Tceda, Linn., the Loblolly Pine, grows in the Southern States, mainly 

 in the long narrow marshes that intersect the Pine Barrens. It also is tapped 

 for resin, but is less valued. 



3. P. rigida, Mill., the Pitch Pine, inhabits the Northern States ; during last 

 century it yielded large quantities of resin and tar, but the wholesale destruc- 

 tion of the trees has diminished or stopped the supply from that source. 



3. P. excelsa, Wall. PL As. Ear. t. 201 j Cleghorn 1. c. t. 2. Syn. P. 

 Peuce, Grisebach ; P. pendula, Griff. Vern. Piuni, Afg. ; Biar, Hazara ; 

 Chil, chir, cMUu, cliitu, dim, from Kashmir to Jaunsar ; Chila, Garhwal ; 

 Kail, Bias and Sutlej (outer hills) ; Lim, Hum, Chamba and Kunawar ; 

 Yara, yiir, yiro, Kashmir ; Shomshing, Lahoul ; Rdisalla, lamsliing, byans, 

 on the upper Sarda ; Tongsclii, Bhutan. 



A large tree, with dark-coloured bark, divided into small irregular plates. 

 Foliage bluish-green, or greyish-green in exceptional cases, particularly at 

 high elevations. Leaves in clusters of 5, 6-8 in. long, slender, drooping, 

 sheath and bracts deciduous. Cones erect while young, on peduncles 1-2 

 in. long or longer, pendulous when mature, cylindric, 6-10 in. long ; scales 

 closely imbricate, 2-2J in. long, 1-1J in. broad, cuneate-oblong, flat, apex 

 (apophysis) not much thickened, rhomboid, the ends rounded. Seeds 

 ovoid, J in. long, or a little longer, with an oblong, obliquely truncate 

 wing. Cotyledons usually 9. 



