Utilizing Waste Forest-Produce 251 



the forest tar, pitch, turpentine, rosin, wood-spirit, acetic 

 acid, etc. nor, indeed, with paper-pulp, it may not be out 

 of place to point out briefly the minor uses to which waste 

 timber and by-products generally may be applied. 



Tar, which at present is largely imported from the Baltic 

 ports and Southern United States, is obtainable principally 

 from three species of Pinus : P. palustris, P. Pinaster, and 

 P. sylvestris. 



Pitch is simply tar deprived of the volatile oils, which is 

 brought about by boiling. 



Turpentine comes from incisions made in the stems of 

 some of the pines, principally Pinus palustris, P. sylvestris, 

 and P. tceda. 



The common silver fir (Abies pectinata) produces the 

 famous Strasburg turpentine, while the larch is the source of 

 the Venice turpentine of commerce. 



In New England the whole of the younger sapling pines 

 stem, branches, bark and leaves are made into paste- 

 board, while in other countries the lime and poplar are con- 

 verted into paper-pulp of great value. That the great and 

 ever-increasing demand for paper of all qualities will cause 

 a corresponding demand for the material used in its produc- 

 tion cannot be doubted, and attention has already been 

 directed to this matter in some parts of this country. From 

 the sap of the larch and Scotch firs " coniferin " is obtained, 

 while " rubber," a valuable product for mixing with gutta- 

 percha, which is very durable, is got from the bark of the 

 common birch by distillation. The value of gorse as a food 

 for horses and sheep is well known even in this country, 

 while in Italy poplar leaves have long been used as cattle- 

 food, and ground fir-needles in Styria for the same purpose. 



Dried leaves make excellent litter, and they are valuable 

 as manure. Sawdust, though without manurial value, 

 absorbs liquid manure, and is thus used as an excellent top- 

 dressing. Leaf -mould is well known for its many uses in 

 the garden, as for top-dressing and mixing with other 

 poorer soils in the making of composts for planting. These 

 are some of the many uses to which the minor by-products 

 of the forest can be applied, but, as these hardly come 



