PINE THEE. 305 



to effect this, they carefully strip off the outer bark from 

 the finest trees in the spring, and collect the soft white 

 interior bark, which they dry in the shade. When they 

 are ready to use it, they first toast it at the fire, then 

 grind it, and after steeping the flour in warm water to 

 take off the resinous taste, they make it into thin cakes 

 and bake them. Linnaeus says that the Swedish boys 

 will often peel off this inner bark, and eat it raw, with a 

 greedy appetite ; and that the bark cakes fatten swine. 

 These hard-faring peasants of the north are often re- 

 duced to such food, and use the bark of the birch tree 

 for the same purpose. 



Lightfoot says that the farina of the flowers is some- 

 times carried away in such quantities by the winds in the 

 spring, as to alarm the ignorant and superstitious pea- 

 sants in Scotland with the notion of its raining brim- 

 stone. 



The Mountain Pine is a variety of this : it is a native 

 of the Swiss mountains, where it is called the Torch 

 Pine. It is very full of resin : the wood is of a reddish 

 colour when fresh cut. 



Churchill, in reference to the growth of the Scotch fir, 

 in various soils and situations, says 



" the pine of mountain race, 



The fir, the Scotch fir, never out of place." 



The Pineaster, or Cluster Pine, P'mus pinaster, grows 

 very large, and extends its branches to a considerable 

 distance : the young trees are well clothed, but as they 

 advance in age, the branches have a naked appearance, 

 the leaves are much larger and longer than those of the 

 Scotch Pine, and of a darker green ; the cones also arc 

 larger. It grows on the mountains of Italy and the 



x 



