378 THE SCOTCH FIR, OK PINE. 



made of it. In naval architecture it is very extensively 

 used, and the best masts are considered to be those made 

 of the Pine imported from the Baltic. In Eussia many 

 of the roads are formed of the trunks of the Pine, trees 

 being selected which are from six to twelve inches in 

 diameter at their largest end. The ground being marked 

 out for the road, the trunks are laid down side by side, the 

 thick end of the one alternately with the narrow end of 

 the other, and the branches being left at the summit to 

 form a sort of edge on each side of the road, which is very 

 useful as a guide to travellers when the ground is covered 

 with snow. The interstices are then filled in with earth, 

 and the road is finished. In Lapland and Northern 

 Eussia the outer bark, like that of the Birch, is frequently 

 used by the natives for covering their huts, or as a sub- 

 stitute for cork, to float the nets of the fishermen. The 

 inner bark is made into ropes, and sometimes woven into 

 mats, like those made from the Lime-tree. In Norway, 

 where it is the custom to kiln-dry oats to such a degree, 

 that both the grain and the husks are made into a meal 

 almost as fine as wheaten flour, in seasons of scarcity, the 

 dried inner bark of the Pine is ground with the oats 

 and made into thin cakes, which, when baked upon a 

 girdle, are said to be not unpalatable. 



From the growing tree turpentine may be procured by 

 stripping off a piece of bark from the trunk in spring, 

 when the sap is in motion, and the resinous juice that 

 exudes is received in a notch or hollow cut in the tree ; 

 this juice, as it accumulates, is ladled out into a basket, and 

 the liquid that passes through is the common turpentine. 

 The thick matter which remains is distilled with water, and 

 produces spirits of turpentine, leaving the common yellow 

 resin of the shops. But the greatest quantity of turpentine 

 used in this country is imported from America, where it is 

 obtained from the Carolina Pine. 



Tar is obtained from the wood of the Pine after it has 

 been felled. Dr. Clarke thus describes the method of 



