CHAP. CXIII. CONl'FER/E. PI'CEA. 2335 



land for that purpose. In the Vosges, it is used in every department of 

 agriculture, carpentry, joinery, and even cabinet-making and sculpture. In 

 England, the wood of the silver fir has been chiefly used for flooring; and, 

 according to Arthur Young, and also to Mitchell, boards sawn out of full- 

 grown trees may be laid down at once, without any risk of their shrinking. 

 (See Youngs Tour in Ireland, vol. i. p. 245., and Mitch. Dend., p. 270.) 

 As fuel, the wood of the silver fir is to that of the beech as 1079 is to 1540 ; 

 and to that of the spruce, as 1079 is to 1211. The charcoal is to that of the 

 beech as 1127 is 1600. Though the charcoal is much inferior to that of 

 the beech, yet it is preferred for heating iron that is to be forged ; as pro- 

 ducing the heat more slowly, in consequence of which the iron is more 

 pliant to work. The bark may be employed for tanning leather, and is used 

 generally in some parts of Switzerland. A resinous sap flows from the trunk 

 and branches, called larmes de sapin. This sap is bitter, acrid, and viscous ; 

 and its smell approaches to that of the citron : it is healing, balsamic, and 

 antiseptic. The resinous fluid is found in small tumours or blisters, under 

 the epidermis of the bark ; and in the green cones, from the latter of which 

 it is collected about midsummer. From the resin of this tree are manufac- 

 tured Strasburg turpentine (so called from a large forest of silver firs, the 

 Hochwald, near Strasburg), colophony, and white pitch. The quantity of 

 potash furnished by the bark and wood is in the proportion of 2 lb. of potash 

 to 1000 lb. of wood and bark ; which places the silver fir in the rank of 21 in a 

 series of 73 ligneous plants. In some parts of Europe, the young cones, 

 reduced by boiling to a pulp, and preserved with sugar, are eaten as a sweet- 

 meat. This conserve is put into tea, to which it is said to communicate an 

 agreeable odour. The leaves serve for litter ; and, in Switzerland, according 

 to KasthofFer, are given to sheep and goats; but they are said to give the milk 

 a peculiar taste. 



Mode of extracting and preparing the Strasburg Turpentine. Every year, 

 about the month of August, the Italian peasants who live near the Alps 

 make a journey into the mountains to collect the turpentine. They carry in 

 their hands cornets of tin, terminating in a sharp point, and a bottle of the 

 same metal suspended to the girdle round their waists. Some use bullocks' 

 horns instead of vessels of tin. Thus accoutred, the peasants climb to the 

 summits of the loftiest silver firs ; their shoes being armed with cramping-irons, 

 like spurs, which enter into the bark of the trees, and thus support the 

 climber; who also clings to the trunk of the tree with his knees, and one 

 arm, while with the other hand he presses his cornet to the little tumours, or 

 bladders, which he finds in the bark, to extract the turpentine within them. 

 As soon as a cornet is filled with the clear turpentine which flows from the 

 tumour, or blister, on the tree, it is emptied into the tin bottle, which is carried 

 suspended from the waist ; and, when this bottle is full, its contents are 

 strained into a large leathern bottle, or goatskin. The straining is to free the 

 turpentine from the leaves, and bits of bark and moss, which may have fallen 

 into the contents; and this is the only preparation that is given to this kind 

 of turpentine, which is kept in the goatskins, or leathern bottles for sale. 

 Besides the turpentine collected from the tumours, or blisters, an inferior 

 kind is produced by slightly wounding the bark of the tree. In rich soils, the 

 trees will yield their sap twice a year, viz. in spring and August; but, in gene- 

 ral, the tumours, or vesicles, form only once a year, viz. in spring, and are full 

 of turpentine in August. The tumours are sometimes round, and sometimes 

 oval ; but, when the latter, their greatest length is always in a horizontal di- 

 rection. Good Strasburg turpentine ought to be clear, free from impurities, 

 transparent, and of the consistence of syrup, with a strong resinous smell, 

 and rather a bitter taste. It is employed, as well as the essential oil of tur- 

 pentine which is distilled from it, both in medicine and the arts ; being found 

 superior to all the other substitutes for the turpentine of Pistacia Terebin- 

 thus. It is the only kind of turpentine, produced by any kind of pine or fir 

 tree, which is used in the preparation of the clear varnishes, and by artists 



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