CHAP. cxin. CONI'FER^:. ^BIE'TIN/E. 2118 



consequence much employed in Roman sculpture, and the latter appellation, 

 pine-apple, has been transferred to the fruit of the ananas, from its resemblance 

 in shape to the cone of the pine. 



In more modern times, we find accounts of immense forests of pines and 

 firs in different countries, but those of the north of Europe and North 

 America are the most celebrated. 



In Sweden and Norway are enormous forests, consisting almost entirely of 

 the Scotch pine and the spruce fir ; which, in many places, are nearly in- 

 accessible. " If the reader," says Dr. Clarke, " will cast his eyes on the map 

 of Sweden, and imagine the Gulf of Bothnia to be surrounded by one con- 

 tinuous unbroken forest, as ancient as the world, consisting principally of 

 pine trees, with a few mingling specimens of birch and juniper, he will have 

 a general and tolerably correct notion of the real appearance of the country." 

 (7Vt>.) The manner of conveying the trees in these forests, over land, to the 

 banks of a river or the sea, is thus noted by the traveller just mentioned : 

 " At Helsinborg, some fir trees of astonishing height were conducted by wheel- 

 axes to the water side. A separate vehicle was employed for each tree, drawn 

 by horses which were driven by women. These long, white, and taper shafts 

 of deal timber, divested of their bark, afforded the first specimens of the pro- 

 duce of those boundless forests of which we had, till then, formed no con- 

 ception." The principal river in Sweden by which the pine and fir timber of 

 that country is floated to the sea, is the Gotha, by which it is conveyed to 

 Gottenburgh. The timber of Norway is floated down the Glomm to Chris- 

 tiania, whence it is called Christiania deal ; down the Drammen to Dram, a 

 seaport about twenty miles west of Christiania, whence it is called Dram deal ; 

 and down various other rivers. 



In Prussia, Russia, and Poland, are also immense pine and fir forests, the 

 timber of which is brought down the rivers, and shipped into the ports on the 

 southern shores of the Baltic, whence it is called Baltic timber. The principal 

 of these ports are Memel, Dantzic, Riga, and Petersburg. The river 

 Memel being the principal channel by which the pine trees grown in the north 

 of Prussia reach the sea at the town of that name, the timber they produce is 

 known by the name of Memel timber. In the hoffs, or lowlands, of this 

 country, amber is found in greater abundance than in any other part of the 

 world ; and it is now generally supposed that this substance is the resinous 

 matter of decayed pines, changed by the length of time it has been buried in the 

 earth. ( See Jam. Jour., July, 1837, p. 173.) The timber shipped at Mernel 

 conies principally from the estates of Prince Radzivil, in Polish Prussia, and 

 it is always much more abundant than that shipped at any other port of the 

 Baltic ; that of Dantzic is of better quality, and it is floated down the Bug 

 and the Vistula, from the forests of West Prussia and Poland. The best 

 Baltic timber, however, is that of Riga ; and it is the principal kind used for the 

 masts, both of the British and French navies. " The mast trade," says 

 M'Culloch, "is very extensive. The burghers of Riga send persons who are 

 called mast brokers into the provinces, to mark the trees, which are purchased 

 standing. They grow mostly in the districts which border on the Dnieper, 

 and are sent up that river to a landing-place, whence they are transported 30 

 versts (about 23 English miles) to the Dwina; where being formed into 

 rafts of from 50 to 100 pieces each, they descend the stream to Riga. The 

 tree which produces the longest masts is the Scotch pine. The pieces, 

 which are from 18 in. to 25 in. in diameter, are called masts ; and those under 

 these dimensions, spars, or in England Norway masts, because Norway ex- 

 ports no trees of more than 18 in. in diameter. Great skill is required in 

 distinguishing those masts which are sound from those which are in the least 

 degree internally decayed. They are usually from 70 ft. to 80 ft. in length." 

 (Diet, of Com.) 



The pine timber shipped at Petersburg is at present brought from a 

 great distance in the interior, all the large timber of the comparatively near 

 forests havinii been long since cut down. A Russian proprietor wishing to 



6x2 



