PRODUCTS OF THE LONG-LEAVED PINE. 119 



two inches long; in drying they shed great quantities 

 of yellowish pollen, which is diffused by the wind and 

 forms a momentary covering on the surface of the 

 land and water. The cones are very large, being 

 seven or eight inches long, and four inches thick 

 when open, and are armed with small retorted spines. 

 In the fruitful year they are ripe about the 15th of 

 October, and shed their seeds the same month. The 

 kernel is of an agreeable taste, and is contained in a 

 thin white shell, surmounted by a membrane; in 

 every other species of American Pine the shell is 

 black. Sometimes the seeds are very abundant, and 

 are voraciously eaten by wild turkeys, squirrels, and 

 the swine that live almost wholly in the woods. But, 

 in the unfruitful year, a forest of a hundred miles in 

 extent may be ransacked without finding a single 

 cone. 



"The resinous products of the long-leaved pine are 

 of five sorts, viz. : Crude turpentine, spirits of turpen- 

 tine, resin, tar and pitch. The last two are delivered 

 in their natural state ; the others are modified by the 

 agency of fire in certain modes of preparation. Crude 

 turpentine is the sap of the tree obtained by making 

 incisions in its trunk. It begins to distil about the 

 middle of March, when the circulation commences, 

 and flows with increasing abundance as the weather 

 becomes warmer, so that July and August are the 

 most productive months. When the circulation is 

 slackened by the chills of autumn, the operation is 



