88 
PITCH PINE. 
in length ; they are of a pyramidal shape, and each scale is pointed 'with 
an acute spine about 2 inches long. Wherever these trees grow in masses 
the cones are dispersed singly over the branches, and, as I have learned 
by constant' observation, they release the seeds the first autumn after their 
maturity ; but on solitary stocks, exposed to the buffeting of the winds', 
the cones are collected in groups of 4, 5, or even a larger number, and 
remain closed for several years. This clustering of the cones serves, also, 
to distinguish the Jersey and Table Mountain Pines. 
The Pitch Pine has a thick, blackish, deeply furrowed bark. It is 
remarkable for the number of its branches, which occupy two-thirds of its 
trunk and render the wood extremely knotty. The concentric circles are 
widely distant, and three-fourths of the larger stocks consist of sap. On 
mountains and gravelly lands the wood is compact, heavy, and surcharged 
with resin, whence is derived the name of Pitch Pine : in swamps, on the 
contrary, it is light, soft, and composed almost wholly of sap ; it is then 
called Sap Pine. These essential defects place it below the Yellow Pine, 
but as that species is daily dwindling by the vast consumption in civil and 
naval architecture, it is partially replaced by the Pitch Pine, the poorer 
variety of which is used for the boxes employed in packing certain sorts of 
merchandize, such as soap, candles, etc. 
On some parts of the Alleghanies, where this tree abounds, houses are 
built of it, and the wood, if it is not covered with paint, is recognized by 
its numerous knots. It is thought better than the Yellow Pine for floors 
that are frequently washed, as the resin with which it is impregnated ren- 
ders it firmer and more durable. It serves perfectly well for ship-pumps, 
for which purpose trees with very little heart are preferred. The bakers 
of New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, and the brick-makers in the 
vicinity of these cities, consume it in prodigious quantities. From the 
most resinous stocks is procured the lamp-black of commerce. 
The Pitch Pine seems to have formerly abounded in Connecticut, Mas- 
sachusetts and New Hampshire ; for, since the beginning of the seven- 
teenth century till 1776, they have furnished a certain quantity of tar. 
About the year 1705, upon a misunderstanding with Sweden, whenee^she 
had drawn her supplies, Great Britain encouraged this branch of industry 
in the northern part of America by a premium of one pound sterling for 
eight barrels of tar made from dead wood, and of two pounds for the same 
quantity extracted from green trees. The method of depriving the trees 
of their bark and felling them the following year, the excellence of which 
has since been proved by Buffon’s experiments on the conversion of albur- 
num into perfect wood, and which might be profitably applied in the United 
States, was published and disseminated. In consequence of this encou- 
ragement, or from other causes, the destruction has been so rapid that the 
Northern States no longer furnish turpentine or tar for their own consump- 
