392 



THE SILVER FIR. 



leaving the recent bark of a deep rich brown. 

 Pliny relates that an enormous ship, which was 

 built to transport an obelisk from Egypt to Rome, 

 had for its mast a Silver Fir, measuring twenty- 

 four feet in circumference. It is supposed to 

 have been introduced into England about the be- 

 ginning of the seventeenth century, and is now 

 very common. Specimens are in existence which 

 have attained a height of a hundred and fifty feet, 

 with a trunk sixteen feet in diameter. The 

 timber of British growth is found to be of excel- 

 lent quality, and adapted for almost all purposes 

 to wiiich the wood of the Pine is applicable ; it 

 possesses both elasticity and strength; its grain 

 being straight and even, it is not subject to warp 

 or twist, even when sawn out of the green or 

 newly cut log. On the Continent the forests of 

 Silver Fir, besides affording a large supply of 

 naval timber for masts, yards, &c., produce much 

 of the wood used in building ; and as it is found 

 to endure a long time when driven as piles under 

 water, it is extensively used for that purpose in 

 Holland and other places."^ 



The resinous products of the Silver Fir are 

 highly valuable. The substance called Strasburg 

 turpentine (from a large forest of these trees near 

 Strasburg) is collected from small tumours or 

 blisters under the cuticle of the bark. The me- 

 thod of procuring this is thus described by Lou- 

 don : — Every year, about the month of August, 

 the Italian peasants who live near the Alps make 

 a journey into the mountains to collect the tur- 

 pentine. They carry in their hands cornets of 

 tin, terminating in a sharp point, and a bottle of 



* Selby. 



