CONIFER Z. 267 
in the basket is put into a common alembic, and a large quantity of water being 
added, the liquor is distilled as long as any oil floats on the top. This oil is the 
common spirit or oil of turpentine, and the remaining matter at the bottom of the 
still is the common yellow rosin. Another important product of the pine is tar. The 
process by which it is obtained is very simple. The situation most favourable to the 
process is in a forest near to a marsh or bog; because the roots of the Scotch pine 
from which tar is principally extracted are always most productive in such places. 
A conical cavity is made in the ground (generally in the side of a bank or sloping 
hill), and the roots, together with logs and billets of the wood, being neatly trussed in 
a stack of the same conical shape, are let into the cavity. The whole is then covered 
with turf to prevent the volatile parts from being dissipated, which, by means of a 
heavy wooden mallet and a stamper, is beaten down, and rendered as firm as possible 
above the wood. The stack of billets is then kindled, and a slow combustion of the 
pine takes place, as in making charcoal. During this combustion the tar exudes, and 
a cast-iron pan being fixed at the bottom of the funnel, with a spout which projects 
through the side of the bank, barrels are placed beneath this spout to collect the fluid 
as it comes away. As fast as these barrels are filled, they are bunged, and are ready 
for immediate exportation. During this process, the wood itself being drained, is 
conyerted into charcoal. When pitch is to be made, the tar, without anything being 
added to it, is put into large copper vessels (fixed in masonry to prevent any danger 
of the tar taking fire), and is then suffered to boil for some time, after which it is let 
out, and, when cold, hardens, and becomes pitch. 
Tar and charcoal are obtained in Russia much in the same manner as in Sweden, 
from the bottoms of the trunks and roots of trees. In Germany the process is con- 
ducted with great accuracy. The process in Scotland is very simple, and the tar 
which is extracted is very coarse, and used only for local purposes. Flambeaux of 
the roots and trunks of the pine are used both in Britain and in the North of Europe. 
Hall, in his “Travels in Scotland,” relates a story of a bet made in London by a 
Highland chief that some massive silver candlesticks on the table at a gentleman’s 
house where he was dining were not better or more valuable than those commonly in 
use in the Highlands. The chieftain won his bet by sending to his estate for four 
Highlanders of his clan, and producing them with torches of blazing fir in their 
hands, declaring that they were the candlesticks to which he alluded. Dr. Howison 
observes that “the little tallow or oil which the peasantry in Russia can procure is 
entirely consumed at the shrines in the churches, and before the images in their isbas 
or huts.” ‘To supply the place of candles, “they take long billets of red Scotch pine, 
which they dry carefully near their stoves during the tedious winter, and split, as 
occasion requires, into two long laths. When a traveller arrives, or a light is required 
for any purpose, one of these laths is lighted and fixed in a wooden frame, which 
holds it in a horizontal position. It gives a bright flame, but only burns for a shori 
time.” 
As an ornamental tree various opinions are entertained of the Scotch fir. Mason 
says :— 
‘The Scottish fir, in murky file, 
Rears his inglorious head, and blots the fair horizon.” 
Gilpin accounts for the disfavour in which the Scotch fir is commonly held in a 
landscape on two grounds. He says: “ People object first to its colour; its murky 
hue is displeasing. A second source of contempt in which the Scotch fir is generally 
held is our rarely seeing it in a picturesque state. Scotch firs are seldom planted as 
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