344 TURPENTINE FROM BRITISH FIRS. 



randum-books with this, had not the remarks been mingled 

 with others relative to my commercial pursuits ; but I shall 

 hare no hesitation in allowing any person to examine them, 

 or to afford any information in my power to any persons 

 "willing to make experiments in this way, if they will favour 



Tar might be me with a call. I am well satisfied in my own mind, that 



extracted from yg^y Jarge quantities of tar might be obtained from the 



the fir made , ,. , r . <- , ^ 



into charcoal, knots and limbs of the Scotch fir when cut down ; and that 



the charcoal made from it would not be injured by the tar 

 being first extracted : and as I was in Norway, Sweden, 

 and Russia, in 1789 and 1790,- and saw no tree, from which 

 I consider that tar could be extracted, except the Scotch 

 fir, or red deal, which is one and the same tree, I am per- 

 suaded, that the refuse of that tree must be what they 

 make the tar from in those countries, though I had no op- 

 portunity of seeing the process there. I suspect, that the 

 Swedish tar- Swedish tar-kilns must be constructed of brick, or some sort 

 ^'^"^- oflmasonry, as tbe tar brought thence is much clearer, better, 



and more free from extraneous matters, than that of any 

 North Carolina other country. I have observed the tar from North Carolina 

 ^^' to have frequently a quantity of sand in it, which is easily 



accounted for, from the soil in which the kilns are made; 

 it would, in the careless way in which they take it out of the 

 hole dug in a sandy soil, be very likely to be mixed with 

 the sand. In the small cask, in which the turpentine is, I 

 have sent a few small red deal knots, from some timber that 

 I have lately taken out of my warehouse, on some alterations 

 being made ; the timber from which they are taken has 

 been in the warehouse ev^r since the summer of 1786, and 

 yet, when (hese pieces are exposed to a moderate heat, the 

 tar will be seen to exude from them. 

 I remain. Sir, 

 Your obedient and very humble Servant, 



H. B. WAY. 

 Bridport Harbour, Nov. 27, 1809. 



Extracts from Notes taken by Mr. Way. 



Thursday, Jpril 12, 1792. 

 Method of ex- ARRIVED at Wilmington, North Carolina, about one 

 tractingturpen- p j^ Observed on the roads the pitch-pines prepared for 



tine m North r i- r i 



Carolina. extracting 



