PIN 
Sion, barras, Burgundy pitch, and turpen- 
tine are acquired and prepared ; the resi- 
nous roots are dug out of the ground in 
many parts of the Highlands of Scotland. 
The fishermen make ropes of the inner 
bark ; and hard necessity has taught the 
Laplanders and Karaschatdales to convert 
it into bread ; to effect this, in spring they 
strip off the outer bark carefully from the 
best trees, collecting the soft, white, succu- 
lent, interior bark, and drying it in the 
shade. When they have occasion to use it, 
they first toast it at the fire, then grind, and 
after steeping the flower in warm water, to 
take off the resinous taste, they make it in- 
to thin cakes and bake them. 
P. strobus, Weymouth pine tree, or white 
pine, is one of the tallest species, frequently 
attaining a hundred feet in height, in its na- 
tive country. North America. The bark is 
very smooth and delicate, especially when 
the tree is young ; the leaves are long and 
slender ; they are closely placed on the 
branches ; the cones are long, slender, and 
very loose, opening with the first warmth 
of the spring. 
P. picea, silver fir, is a noble, upright 
tree; the branches are not numerous, but 
the bark is smooth and delicate; the upper 
surface of the leaves is of a fine strong 
green, the under has two white lines run- 
ning lengtliwise on each side of the mid- 
rib, giving the leaves a silvery look, for 
which reason this fir takes its name ; the 
cones are large, growing erect ; when the 
warm weather comes on they soon shed 
their seeds ; the scales are wide, deltoid, 
rounded above, below beaked, and appen- 
dieted with a membranaceous, spatulate, 
dorsal ligule, terminated by a recurved dag- 
ger-point; nuts rather large, membrana- 
ceous, variously angular, dun-coloured. It 
has been observed in Ireland, that no tree 
grows so speedily to so large a size as the 
silver fir ; some at forty years’ growth, in a 
wet clay on a rock, measuring twelve feet 
in circumference at the ground, and seven 
feet and a half at five feet high ; one con- 
tained seventy-six feet of solid timber. 
P. balsamea, balm of Gilead fir tree, 
rises with an upright stem ; the leaves are 
dark green on their upper surface, marked 
with whitish lines underneatli ; the cones 
are roundish and small ; the buds and leaves 
are remarkably fragrant ; from wounds 
made in this tree a very fine turpentine is 
obtained, which is often sold for the true 
balm of Gilead. This tree makes little 
progress after eight or ten years’ growth ; it 
PIP 
has very much the habit of the silver fir ; 
but the leaves are wider and blunter, dis- 
posed on each side along the branches like 
the teeth of a comb, but in a double row, 
the upper one shorter than the under ; un- 
derneath they are marked with a double, 
glaucous line, each having eight rows of 
white dots; they are often cloven at top. 
PIONEER, in the art of war, a labour- 
er employed in an army to smooth the 
roads, pass the artillery along, and dig lines 
and trenches, mines, and other works. 
PIPE, in building, &c. a canal or con- 
duit, for the conveyance of water and other 
liquids. Pipes for water, water-engines, 
are usually of lead, iron, earth, or wood : 
the latter are usually made of oak or elder. 
Those of iron are cast in forges, their usual 
length is about two feet and a half; several 
of these are commonly fastened together, 
by means of four screws at each end, with 
leather or old hat between them, to stop 
the water. Those of earth are made by the 
potters ; these are fitted into one another, 
one end being always made wider than the 
other. To join them the closer, and prevent 
their breaking, they are covered with tow 
and pitch : their length is usually about that 
of the iron pipes. The wooden pipes are 
trees bored with large iron augers, of dif- 
ferent sizes, beginning with a less, and then 
proceeding with a larger successively ; the 
first being pointed, the rest being formed 
like spoons, increasing in diameter, from 
one to six inches or more : they are fitted 
into the extremities of each other. 
Wooden pipes are bored as follows. (Fig. 
1, Plate Pipe-boring,) is a plan of the ma- 
chine ; and fig. 2, an elevation of it. The 
piece of timber intended to form the pipe, 
is placed upon a frame, a, a, a, a, and held 
down upon it firmly by chains going over 
it, and round two small windlasses, b b, and 
it is wedged up to prevent its rolling side- 
ways ; if the piece is tolerably straight this 
will be sufficient, otherwise it must be stea- 
died by iron dogs or hooks, similar to those 
used by sawyers, drove into the carriage at 
one end, and into the tree at the other. 
The frame and tree together run upon 
small wheels traversing two Ipng beams or 
ground sills, D D, placed on each side of a 
pit, dug to receive the chips made by the 
borer ; at one end they are connected by a 
cross beam, E, bolted upon them, this sup- 
ports the bearing for a shaft, F, the extre- 
mity of which, beyond the bearing, is per- 
forated at the end with a square hole, to 
receive the end of tlje borer, /. The 
