22 



palutftria, or P. ausfrrafris), the swamp fine, and 1'inn,* tceda, the frankincense 

 pin. of Virginia, < 'arolina ami other Southern States, but a considerable quantity 

 imported t'n.m Russia and Swollen, is the produce of the Scots pine (P. 

 , and from Mi.- south of France, under the name of "Bordeaux turpen- 

 t' m , ' \\-lifiv it is ol.i.-iinrd from the cluster pine (P. pinaster), and other species. 

 Strasburg turpentine is obtained from the silver fir (Abies pectinate*,), and 

 "Venice turpentine" from the larch (Lt.ri.c europcea). Canada balsam is a 

 simihr produet from Ali'u'slxtJxn/ineti. and A. canadensis. The cultivation of the 

 cluster | iin' I /'. i>inHte)') on the sand dunes of the Landes of Bordeaux is a good 

 mple of the conversion of an originally merely protective measure into a 

 soun-r of profit from soil formerly worse than useless. Whether the felling of 

 Mir forests of Southern France, by producing floods and droughts, was or was 

 not originally the cause of the arid barren sands, certain it is that by damming* 

 up tlu> natural drainage and shifting inland, these dunes produced swamps and 

 wastes, Mie advance of which was only stopped by the binding roots of these 

 pines. Originally planted with this protective object, their yield of timbar, bark, 

 turpentine and tar, has rendered them a source of profit, which should remind us 

 that we have in our own country considerable stretches of sand wastes. A use- 

 ful illuminating oil containing from 80 to 92 per cent, of carbon has been obtained 

 by M. Guillemara from the resin from the Bordeaux area. 



MINOR PRODUCTS. 



Besides such substances as bark, charcoal, wood-spirit, acetic acid, tar, pitch 7 

 turpentine, and resin, which are important articles of commerce, chemical 

 discovery has demonstrated in the past, and may be expected to show still more 

 frequently in the future, the presence of substances in trees which might well 

 form sources of profit. For example : from the sap of the Scots pine and of the 

 larch felled in summer, barked and scraped, a substance known as " coniferin " is 

 obtained, which yields " vanillin " the essential constituent of " vanilla." Though 

 an expensive substance to prepare, this is considerably cheaper than common 

 vanilla, the sole source of which is the inner pulp of the pods of one or two- 

 species of orchid. 



Another similar product, not as yet much developed, is the " rubber " obtained 

 \)y distillation from the bark of the common birch, a black, gummy " latex,' r 

 which resists the action of air and acids, and which will considerably increase 

 the durability of india-rubber or gutta-percha, even if mixed with them in only 

 a small proportion. As in the salt mines of Stassfurt it has been found that the 

 formerly wasted bye-products, the salts of potash, are as valuable as the rock salt, if 

 not more so, and as in Michigan the " smoke " has proved more valuable than the 

 charcoal, so the development of new chemical industries may render such pro- 

 ducts as this vanillin and gutta-percha more remunerative than the timber itself. 



LEAVES, SAWDUST, ETC. 



In Styria young pine and fir needles, from loppings or thinnings made in 

 spring, are dried in ovens or kilns, ground, mixed with one-twenty-fifth of salt, 

 and used with advantage as a food for cattle. Similarly, in the north of Italy the 

 dried leaves of the poplar have long been used as cattle food, and chemical analysis 

 bears out their value for this purpose. When not used for fodder, however, dried 

 leaves make an excellent litter, and analysis proves their value as manure. 



