A Difcourfe of Forcft-Trees. 57 



loweft part of whofe ftems towards the root is as full of Terpen' 

 tine as the kpots 5 and of thefe alfo may Tar be made : but luch 

 Trees being rarely found, are commonly preferved to fplit into 

 Candle-wood > becaufe they will be eafily riven out into any 

 lengths, and fcantlings defir'd, much better then the k»ots. 



There be who pretend an art of as fully impregnating the body 

 of any living Pine-tree for fix or eight foot high : and fome have 

 reported that fuch an art is pradtis'd in Norway : But upon leveral 

 experiments hy girdling the Tree (as they call it) and cutting fome 

 of the W)^ round, and a Wttlc into the wood oi the Tree, dyz. or 

 eight foot diftant from the ground, it has yet never fucceeded ; 

 whether the jn^feafon of the year were not obferv'd, or what elfe 

 omitted, were worth the difqmjition , if at leaft there be any fuch 

 Jecret amongft the Norwegians, Swedes, or any other Nation. 



0(Tar, by boiling it to a fufficient height, h Fitch made : and in 

 fome places where Rojin is plentiful, a fit proportion of that may 

 be diffolved in the Tar whiles it is boiling, and this mixture is 

 Ibonefl: converted to Pitch 5 but it is of fbmewhat a differing 

 kjnd from that which is made of Tar only, without other com- 

 pofition. 



There is a way which fome ship-Carpenters in thofe Countries 

 have us'd to bring their Tar into Pitch for any fiidden ufe 5 by ma- 

 king the Tar fo very hot in an Iron-kettle, that it will eafily take 

 fire, which when blazing and fet in an airy place, they let burn fo 

 long, till, by taking out fome fmall quantity for trial, being cedd^ 

 it appears of a fufficient confijience : Then by covering the Kettle 

 dole , the fire is extinguijh'd , and the Pitch is made without 

 more ceremony. 



There is a procef of making RoJinzKo out of the fame kffots, 

 by fplitting them out into thin pieces, and then boiling them in 

 Toater, which will educe all the Refinous matter, and gather it 

 into a body which (when cold) will harden into pure Ro^n. 



CHAP. XXII. 



Of the Larch, Platanus, Lotus, ^c. 



I. ID^t why might we not hope as well of the Larch from 1,^^^},^ ^ 



XJ whence that ufeful drogue -^gdw is gather'd. Ireadeof 

 Beams of nolefs then 120 foot in length made out of this good- 

 ly Tree which is of fo fi:range a cotnpofition that 'twill hardly 

 burn, as Ctefar found in a Cajile he befieg'd built of it : yet the 

 Coals thereof were held far better then any other for the melting 

 oilron. That which now grows fome where about Chelnsford 

 in Effex, arriv'd to a flourilhing, and ample Tree, does fufficient- 

 ly reproach our negligence and want of induffry as well as the in- 

 comparahie and ihady Platanns , that fo beautiful and precir 



K. ous 



