other parts of North America, includes three varieties: the white, the red, and the black Newfoundland spruce. These, however, differ very little. They are of an upright growth, though they do not shoot so freely or grow so fast with us as the Norway spruce. The leaves are of the same green, and garnish the branches in the same beautiful manner as those of that species; only they are narrower, shorter, and stand closer. The greatest difference is observable in the cones; for these are only about an inch long, and the scales are closely placed. In the cones, indeed, consists the chief difference of these three varieties; those of the white species are of a very light brown color; those of the red more of a nutbrown or reddish color; and those of the black species of a dark or blackish color. This trifling variation, however, is pretty constant in the plants raised from the seeds. The sorts often flower, and produce cones when only about five or six feet high, and look then very beautiful; but this is a sign of weakness in the plant, which it does not often fairly get over.

4. P. cedrus, ranked by Tournefort and others under larix, famous for its duration, is that popularly called by us the cedar of Lebanon, by the ancients cedrus magna, or the great cedar: also cedrelate, Keopeλarn; and sometimes the Phonician or Syrian cedar, from the country where it grows in its greatest perfection. It is a coniferous evergreen of the bigger sort, bearing large roundish cones of smooth scales, standing erect, the leaves being small, narrow, and thick set. They sometimes counterfeit cedar, by dying wood of a reddish hue: but the smell discovers the cheat, that of true cedar being very aromatic. In some places the wood of the cajou-tree passes under the name of cedar, on account of its reddish color and its aromatic smell, which somewhat resemble that of santal. Cedar wood is reputed almost immortal and incorruptible; a prerogative which it owes chiefly to its bitter taste, which the worms cannot endure. For this reason it was that the ancients used cedar tablets to write upon, especially for things of importance, as appears from that expression of Persius, Et cedro digna locutus. A juice was also drawn from cedar, with which they smeared their books and writings, or other matters, to preserve them from rotting; which is alluded to by Horace: by means of which it was that Numa's books, written on papyrus, were preserved entire to the year 535, as we are informed by Pliny. Solomon's temple, as well as his palace, were both of this wood. That prince gave king Hiram several cities for the cedars he had furnished him on these occasions. Cortes is said to have erected a palace at Mexico, in which were 7000 beams of cedar, most of them 120 feet long, and twelve in circumference, as we are informed by Herrera. Some tell us of a cedar felled in Cyprus 130 feet long and eighteen in diameter. It was used for the main mast in the galley of king Demetrius. Le Bruyn assures us that the two largest he saw on Mount Lebanon measured, one of them fifty-seven palms, and the other forty-seven, in circumference. In the temple of Apollo at Utica there are cedar trees nearly 2000 years old which yet are nothing to that beam

in an oratory of Diana at Seguntum in Spain, said to have been brought thither 200 years before the destruction of Troy. Cedar is of so dry a nature that it will not endure to be fastened with iron nails, from which it usually shrinks; so that they commonly fasten it with pins of the same wood. Hanbury says the wood is not obnoxious to worms; that its oil preserves cloth and books from corruption, and that the saw-dust will even preserve the human body from it. See CEDAR. What we find mentioned in Scripture of the lofty cedars can be nowise applicable to the common growth of this tree; since, from the experience we have of those now growing in England, as also from the testimony of several travellers who have visited those few remaining trees on Mount Libanus, they are not inclined to grow very lofty; but on the contrary extend their branches very far; to which the allusion made by the Psalmist agrees very well, when he is describing the flourishing state of a people, and says, 'They shall spread their branches like the cedar-tree.'

5. P. larix, the larch-tree, which the old botanists ranked under larix, with deciduous leaves and oval obtuse cones. It grows naturally upon the Alps and Apennines, and of late has been very much propagated in Britain. It is of quick growth, and the trunk rises to fifty feet or more; the branches are slender, their ends generally hanging downward, and are garnished with long narrow leaves which arise in clusters from one point, spreading open above like the hairs of a painter's brush; they are of a light green, and fall away in autumn. In April the male flowers appear, which are disposed in form of small cones; the female flowers are collected into oval obtuse cones, which in some species have bright purple tops, and in others they are white: these differences are accidental; the cones are about an inch long, obtuse at their points; the scales are smooth, and lie over each other: under each scale there are generally lodged two seeds, which have wings. There are other two varieties of this tree, one of which is a native of America, and the other of Siberia. The cones of the American kind which have been brought to Britain are in general larger than those of the common sort. In Switzerland their houses are covered with boards of this wood cut out a foot square; and as it emits a resinous substance it so diffuses itself into every joint and crevice, and becomes so compact and close, as well as so hardened by the air, as to render the covering proof against all weather. But as such covering for houses would cause great devastation in case of fire, the buildings are confined to a limited distance. The wood, when first laid on the houses, is said to be very white; but this color, in two or three years, is changed, by means of the sun and resin, to a black, which appears like a smooth shining varnish. Of the common larch there are several varieties. The flowers, which it exhibits early in spring, are of a delicate red color; another sort produces white flowers at the same season, and these have a delightful effect among those of the red sort; whilst another, called the black Newfoundland larix, increases the variety, though by an aspect little differing from the others.

There are also larches with greenish flowers, pale red, &c., all of which are accidental varieties from seeds. These varieties are easily distinguished, even when out of blow: the young shoots of the white flowering larch are of the lightest green, and the cones when ripe are nearly white. The red flowering larch has its shoots of a reddish cast, and the cones are of a brown color; whilst the cones and shoots of the black Newfoundland larch are in the same manner proportionally tinged. Their chief beauty consists in the manner of their growth, the nature and beauty of their pencilled leaves and fair flowers; for the cones that succeed them are small, of a whitish, a reddish, or a blackish brown color, and make no figure. The pinus cedrus and pinus larix are propagated by sowing in March, on a bed of light earth exposed to the morning sun. The seed must be covered half an inch thick with fine light earth, and the beds watered at times when the weather is dry. In about six weeks the plants will appear; they must at this time be carefully guarded from the birds, shaded from the sun and winds, and kept very clear of weeds. In the latter end of April following they may be removed into beds of fresh earth, placing them at ten inches distance every way. They are to be kept here two years, and such of them as seem to bend must be tied up to a stake to keep them upright. They may afterwards be planted in the places where they are to remain. They thrive well on the sides of barren hills, and make a very pretty figure there. Dr. Pallas, in his Flora Rossica, informs us that if this tree is burnt, and the wood confined, the internal part of the wood distils copiously a drying reddish gum, a little less glutinous than gum arabic, somewhat of a resinous taste, but wholly soluble in water. At the instigation of M. Kindar, this gum has been sold in the Russian shops under the name of gummi Orenburgensis, but which our author thinks should be called gummi uraliense loricis. It is eaten by the Woguli as a dainty, and is said to be nutritious and antiscorbutic. Some manna was gathered from the green leaves, but it could never be condensed. The Russians use the boletus laricinus as an emetic in intermittents, and to check the leucorrhoea. At Baschir and Siberia the inhabitants sprinkle the dry powder on the wounds of oxen and horses, as a detergent and anthelmintic. The nuts of the pinus cimbra, the same author asserts, are eaten as luxuries in Russia, and are even exported with the same view. The unripe cones give a very fragrant oil, termed balsamic. The inhabitants of Siberia use the tender tops, and even the bark rubbed off in the spring, as an antiscorbutic. The kernels of the nuts of the amygdalus nana give a very pleasing flavor to brandy; and when pressed afford a bitter oil in large quantities. The way of destroying the bitter is by digesting it in the sun with spirit of wine, and it then becomes sweet and extremely agreeable. From the larch-tree is extracted what we erroneously call Venice turpentine. This natural balsam flows at first without incision; when it has done dropping, the people make incisions at about two or three feet from the ground into the trunks of the trees, into which they fix narrow

troughs about twenty inches long. The end of these troughs is hollowed like a ladle; and in the middle is a small hole bored for the turpentine to run into the receiver which is placed below it. As the gummy substance runs from the trees it passes along the sloping gutter or trough to the ladle, and thence runs through the holes into the receiver. The people who gather it visit the trees morning and evening from the end of May to September, to collect the turpentine out of the receivers. When it flows out of the tree Venice turpentine is clear like water, and of a yellowish white; but, as it grows older, it thickens and becomes of a citron color. It is procured in the greatest abundance near Lyons, and in the valley of St. Martin near St. Lucern in Switzerland.

6. P. orientalis, the oriental fir, a native of the east, is a low but elegant tree. The leaves are very short, and nearly square. The fruit is exceedingly small, and hangs downward; and the whole tree makes an agreeable variety with the other kinds.

7. P. picea, or yew-leaved fir, is a tall evergreen, and a native of Scotland, Sweden, and Germany. This species includes the silver fir and the balm of Gilead fir. The first of these is a noble upright tree. Mr. Marsham says, 'The tallest trees I have seen were spruce and silver firs in the valleys in Switzerland. I saw several firs in the dockyards in Venice forty yards long; and one of thirty-nine yards was eighteen inches diameter at the small end. I was told they came from Switzerland.' The branches are not very numerous, and the bark is smooth and delicate. The leaves grow singly on the branches, and their ends are slightly indented. Their upper surface is of a fine strong green color, and their under has an ornament of two white lines running lengthwise on each side of the midrib; on account of which silvery look this sort is called the silver fir. The cones are large, and grow erect; and when the warm weather comes on they soon shed their seeds. All who wish to raise this plant should therefore gather the cones before that happens. The balm of Gilead fir has of all the sorts been most coveted, on account of the great fragrance of its leaves; though this is not its only good property; for it is a very beautiful tree, naturally of an upright growth, and the branches are so ornamented with their balmy leaves as to exceed any of the other sorts in beauty. The leaves, which are very closely set on the branches, are broad; and their ends are indented. Their upper surface, when healthy, is of a fine dark-green color, and their under has white lines on each side the midrib lengthwise, nearly like those of the silver fir. These leaves when bruised are very finely scented; and the buds, which smell in the autumn for the next year's shoot, are very ornamental all winter, being turgid, and of a fine brown color: and from these also exudes a kind of fine turpentine, of the same kind of (though heightened) fragrancy. The tree being wounded in any part emits plenty of this turpentine; and Hanbury says, it is supposed by many to be the sort from whence the balm of Gilead is taken, which occasions this tree being so called. But this is a mistake; for

the true baim of Gilead is taken from a kind of terebinthus: though I am informed that what has been collected from this tree has been sent over to England from America (where it grows naturally), and often sold in the shops for the true sort.' The silver fir is very hardy, and will grow in any soil or situation, but always makes the greatest progress in rich loamy earth. The balm of Gilead fir must be planted in deep, rich, good earth; nor will it live long in any other. The soil may be a black mould, or of a sandy nature if it be deep enough, and if the roots have room enough to strike freely.

8. P. pinea, or stone pine, is a tall evergreen tree, native of Italy and Spain. It delights in a sandy loam, though like most others it will grow well in almost any land. Respecting the uses of this species, Hanbury tells us that the kernels are eatable, and by many preferred to almonds. In Italy they are served up at the table in their desserts. They are exceedingly wholesome, being good for coughs, colds, consumptions, &c., on which account only this tree deserves to be propagated.' Hanbury observes, It is a great mistake Mr. Miller has committed, by saying, that seeds kept in the cones will be good and grow if they are sown ten or twelve years after the cones have been gathered from the trees: whereas the seeds of this sort, whether kept in the cones or taken out, are never good after the first year.'

9. P. pineaster, or wild pine, grows naturally in the mountains in Italy, and the south of France. It grows to the size of a large tree; the branches extend to a considerable distance; and while the trees are young they are fully garnished with leaves, especially where they are not so close as to exclude the air from those within; but as they advance in age the branches appear naked, and all those which are situated below become unsightly in a few years; for which reason they are now much less in esteem than formerly. From this species is extracted the common turpentine, much used by farriers, and from which is drawn the oil of that name. The process of making pitch, tar, resin, and turpentine, from these trees, is very familiar. In spring, when the sap is most free in running, they pare off the bark of the pine tree, to make the sap run down into a hole which they cut at the bottom to receive it. In the way, as it runs down, it leaves a white matter like cream, but a little thicker. This is very different from all the kinds of resin and turpentine in use, and it is generally sold to be used in the making of flambeaux instead of white bees' wax. The matter that is received in the hole at the bottom is taken up with ladles, and put in a large basket. A great part of this immediately runs through, and this is the common turpentine. This is received into stone and earthen pots, and is ready for sale. The thicker matter, which remains in the basket, they put into a common alembic, adding a large quantity of water. They distil this as long as any oil is seen swimming upon the water. This oil they separate from the surface in large quantities, and this is the common oil or spirit of turpentine. The remaining matter at the bottom of the still is common yellow resin. When they have thus VOL. XVII.

obtained all that they can from the sap of the tree they cut it down, and, hewing the wood into billets, they fill a pit dug in the earth with these billets, and, setting them on fire, there runs from them while they are burning a black thick matter. This naturally falls to the bottom of the pit, and this is the tar. The top of the pit is covered with tiles, to keep in the heat; and there is at the bottom a little hole, out at which the tar runs like oil. If this hole be made too large it sets the whole quantity of the tar on fire; but, if small enough, it runs quietly out. The tar, being thus made, is put in barrels; and if it is to be made into pitch they put it into large boiling vessels, without adding any thing to it. It is then suffered to boil a while, and, being then let out, is found when cold to be what we call pitch. A decoction of the nuts or seeds of this species in milk, or of the extremities of the branches pulled in spring, is said, with a proper regimen, to cure the most inveterate scurvy. The wood of this species is not valued.

10. P. rubra, the Scotch fir or pine. It is common throughout Scotland, whence its name; though it is also found in most of the other countries of Europe. M. Du Hamel, of the Royal Academy of Sciences, mentions his having received some seeds of it from St. Domingo, and thence concludes that it grows indifferently in the temperate, frigid, and torrid zones. The wood is the red or yellow deal, which is the most durable of any of the kinds yet known. The leaves are much shorter and broader than those of the pinea, of a grayish color, growing two out of one sheath; the cones are small, pyramidal, and end in narrow points; they are of a light color, and the seeds are small. The wood of the Scotch pine is superior to that of any other species. When planted in bogs, or in a moist soil, though the plants make great progress, yet the wood is white, soft, and little esteemed; but when planted in a dry soil, though the growth of the trees is there very slow, yet the wood is proportionably better. Few trees have been applied to more uses than this. The tallest and straightest are formed by nature for masts to our navy. The timber is resinous, durable, and applicable to numberless domestic purposes, such as flooring and wainscoting of rooms, making of beds, chests, tables, boxes, &c. From the trunk and branches of this, as well as most others of the pine tribe, tar and pitch are obtained. By incision, barras, Burgundy pitch, and turpentine, are acquired and prepared. The resinous roots are dug out of the ground in many parts of the Highlands, and, being divided into small splinters, are used by the inhabitants to burn instead of candles. At Loch-Broom, in Ross-shire, the fishermen make ropes of the inner bark; but hard necessity has taught the inhabitants of Sweden, Lapland, and Kamtschatka, to convert the same into bread. To effect this they, in the spring season, make choice of the tallest and fairest trees; then, stripping off carefully the outer bark, they collect the soft, white, succulent interior bark, and dry it in the shade. When they have occasion to use it, they first toast it at the fire, then grind, and after steeping the flour in warm water, to take off the resinous taste, they 2 E