THE SCOTCH FIR OR PINE. 



359 



branches being left at the summit to form a sort 

 of hedge on each side of the road, which is very 

 useful as a guide to travellers when the ground is 

 covered with snow. The interstices are then filled 

 in with earth, and the road is finished. In Lapland 

 and Northern Russia, the outer bark, like that of 

 the Birch, is frequently used by the natives for 

 covering their huts, or as a substitute for cork, to 

 float the nets of the fishermen. The inner bark 

 is made into ropes, and sometimes woven into 

 mats, like those made from the Lime-tree. In Nor- 

 way where it is the custom to kiln-dry oats to such 

 a degree, that both the grain and the husks are 

 made into a meal almost as fine as wheaten flour, 

 in seasons of scarcity, the dried inner bark of the 

 Pine is ground with the oats, and made into thin 

 cakes, which, when baked upon a girdle, are said 

 to be not unpalatable. 



From the growing tree turpentine may be pro- 

 cured by stripping off* a piece of bark from the 

 trunk in spring, w^hen the sap is in motion, and 

 the resinous juice that exudes is received in a notch 

 or hollow cut in the tree ; this juice, as it accu- 

 mulates, is ladled out into a basket, and the liquid 

 that passes through is the common turpentine. 

 The thick matter which remains is distilled with 

 water, and produces spirit of turpentine, leaving 

 the common yellow resin of the shops. But the 

 greatest quantity of turpentine used in this 

 country is imported from America, where it is 

 obtained from the Carolina Pine. 



Tar is obtained from the wood of the Pine after 

 it has been felled ; Dr. Clarke thus describes the 

 method of procuring it : — The inlets of the Gulf 

 of Bothnia everywhere appeared of the grandest 



