CHAP. CXIII. CONl'FERA. ^BIE'l'IN^. 2125 



Scotch pine : next to it is the larch, and after that the spruce fir. When 

 some of the newly introduced American and Himalayan species are better 

 known, perhaps they may rank as high as, or higher than, these European 

 ones; but at present, with the exception of JH>ies Douglasu, which promises to 

 be a rapid-growing species, what they are likely ultimately to become in 

 Britain must necessarily be only matter of conjecture. 



Resinous substances have been extracted from the pine and fir tribe, since 

 the days of Theophrastus, who has given (book ix. c. 10.) a very good ac- 

 count of the process, which has been copied, with very little variation, by all 

 authors who have written on the subject, up to the time of Du Hamel ; and 

 which, as Dr. Clarke observes, corresponds so well with the modern prac- 

 tice in the north of Europe, that there is not the smallest difference between 

 a tar-work in the forests of Westro-Bothnia, and one in those of ancient 

 Greece. Du Hamel's account forms the groundwork of an article on the 

 resinous productions of the pine and fir tribe by Dr. Maton, published in 

 Lambert's Genus Pinus, vol. ii. ; but the most complete treatise on the sub- 

 ject is in the Dictionnaire des Eaux et Forets, where the German practices 

 are given from Hartig and Burgsdorf; and those of France, Switzerland, and 

 Italy, from modern authors of the respective countries. From these and 

 other sources we shall here give what is general to all the ^bietinae ; and 

 under the particular genera and species we shall insert the details for extract- 

 ing and manufacturing the products peculiar to each. These products are 

 various ; but they may be all divided into two classes ; viz. those obtained from 

 the tree while it is in a living state, and those procured from the wood and 

 roots after the tree is cut down. The first kinds are extracted from the trunk of 

 the tree by making incisions in the bark or wood, from which a resinous matter 

 flows in greater or less quantity, according to the kind of tree ; and from this 

 are procured, turpentine, liquid balsam, the common yellow and black rosins of 

 the shops, oil and spirit of turpentine, and some minor articles. The other 

 kinds are procured from the trunk, branches, and roots, after the tree is cut 

 down, by the application of heat ; and they include tar, pitch, lampblack, &c. 

 The common turpentine is generally the produce of the pine ; and the process 

 for obtaining and manufacturing it will be given under the head Pinus. The 

 Strasburg and Venice turpentines are drawn from the silver fir and the larch 

 (see Picea and arix) ; and the best yellow rosin is that of the spruce fir (see 

 ^Tbies). The resinous matter drawn from the trunk of pine trees is put into 

 baskets, and placed over stone or earthenware jars. The fluid part, which 

 runs from it, is the common turpentine ; and the solid part left in the basket, 

 when purified by boiling, is the common yellow rosin. Oil, and rectified 

 spirit of turpentine, are distilled from the raw turpentine, and the residuum 

 left after distillation is the black rosin, or colophony, used by players on 

 the violin for their bows. Tar is procured by cutting" the wood and roots 

 into small pieces, and burning, or rather charring them, in a close oven, or 

 heap covered by turf, while a tube or trough is left near the bottom of the 

 heap or oven, through which the tar runs, in the form of a thick black fluid. 

 The Swedish tar is the most highly esteemed in commerce ; and that of 

 Archangel ranks next to it. In the United States, Michaux informs us, tar 

 is generally made from dead wood collected in the forests, and on this account 

 it is considered very inferior to the tar of Europe. The lampblack is the soot 

 evolved during this process, and is collected from the upper part of the oven, 

 or from the turf which has covered the heap ; and pitch is merely tar boiled 

 to dryness. The resinous matter of the spruce, like that of the pine, is col- 

 lected from incisions made in the bark ; but it does not yield its turpentine 

 without the aid of heat and pressure. The resinous juice of the silver fir is 

 obtained by collecting the natural exudations on the surface of its trunk ; and 

 that of the larch, from the interior of the trunk, by tapping it with an auger, 

 as is done to obtain the sap of the birch and the sugar maple. 



The chemical properties of the resinous juice of the pine and fir tribe 

 have been given at length by Dr. Maton, in Lambert's Genus Finns, from 



