A Difcourfe of Forcft-Trees. 55 



dry Goods 5 yea, and it Is cloven into Jbwgles for the covering of 

 houfes in feme places 5 not to forget the ksrnels^ of fuch admirable 

 ufe in Emulp>ns : In fum, they are Tlantations which exceedingly 

 improve the Air by their odoriferous and balfamical emifEons 

 and for ornament create a perpetual fpring where they are propa- 

 gated. 



16. But now whiles I am reciting the t^^j of thcfe beneficial 

 Trees, Mr. Winthorp prefents the Royal Society with the Vroceji 

 of making the Tar and Titch in Nevp England , which we thus 

 abbreviate. 



Tar is made out of that fort of Pine-tree from which naturally 

 Terpentine extilleth ^ and which at its firft flowing out is liquid 

 and clear 3 but being hardned by the 4/>, either on the Tree, or 

 where-ever it falls, is nor much Unlike the Burgundy Pitch j and 

 "We call them Pitch-pines out of which this gummy fubftance tran- 

 fudes : They grow upon the moft barren />/4/«j-, on rocl{s alfo and 

 hills rifing amongfl: thofe plains^ where feveral are found blown 

 down , that have lain lb many ages as that the whole bodies, 

 branches and roots of the Trees being pcrilhed, fome certain knots 

 only of the boughs have been left remaining intire (thele kitots 

 are that part where the hough is joyn'd to the body of theTreeJ ly- 

 ing at the fame diftance and pofture as they grew upon the Tree 

 for its whole length. The bodies of fome of thefe Tree/ are not 

 corrupted through age, but quite confum'd and reduc'd to afhes 

 by the annual burnings of the Indians^ when they fet their 

 grounds on fire ; which yet has, it feems, no power over thefe hard 

 \nots beyond a black Icorching 5 although being laid on heaps 

 they are apt enough to burn. 



It is of thefe kpots they make their T^r in New England and the 

 Country adjacent, whiles they are well impregnated with that Te- 

 rebinthine , and Refinous matter, which like a Balfam preferves 

 them folong i^wmputrifaifioa. The reft of the Tree doe indeed 

 contain the like Terebinthinefap, as appears (upon any flight in- 

 cifion of bark on the ftem, or boughs) by a fmall cryftaline pearl 

 which will fweat out J hut thk, for being more watry, and undi- 

 gefted by reafon of the porofity of the wood, which expofes it to 

 the impreffions of the air and rvet^ render the Tree more obnoxi- 

 ous 5 efpecially, if it lye proftrate with the barton, which is a 

 receptacle for a certain intercut aneous worm that accelerates its 

 decay. They are the k^ots then alone which the Tar-makers 

 amafs in heaps^ carrying them in Carts to fome convenient place 

 not far off, where finding clay ox loam fit for their turn, they lay 

 an Hearth of fuch ordinary ftone as they have at hand : This they 

 build to luch an height from the level of the ground, that a Vef- 

 fcl may ftand a little lower then the Hearth to receive the Tar as it 

 runs out : But firft, the Hearth is made wide according to the 

 quantity of knots to be fet at once , and that with a very fmooth 

 floore of clay J yet fbmewhat defending or dipping from the ex- 

 tream parts to the middle, and thence towards one of thejides, 

 where a gullet is left for the Tar to run out at. The Hearth thus 



finifti'd 



