The wood of a tree which grows in parts of America and the West Indies. It is imported in great quantities, and employed in dyeing purple and the finest blacks.
What is Tar?
A coarse, resinous liquor issuing from the wood and bark of pine or fir-trees; it is in fact the oily juices of the sap thickened and colored by the heat of the sun or by age; it is extracted for use by burning the wood of the trees under a heavy covering of turf or earth; the tar exudes during the slow combustion, and is collected into a cavity dug in the ground for the purpose. Tar is exported in great quantities from Norway, Sweden, and our Southern States.
What are its uses?
It is applied to the sides of ships and boats and their rigging, to preserve them from the effects of the weather; it is used instead of paint for palings, &c.; and sometimes also in medicine. A kind, called mineral tar, is also drawn from coal by the process of distillation. Mineral tar is also found native in some parts of the earth.
What is Pitch?
A kind of juice or gum, likewise drawn from unctuous woods, chiefly those of the pine and fir; it is used for nearly the same purposes as tar in shipping, medicine, and various other arts. Pitch is properly a juice of the wild pine, or pitch tree; it is of a glossy black color, dry brittle, and less bitter and pungent than the liquid tar.
What is Camphor?
A vegetable substance, chiefly procured from a kind of laurel, (Laurus Camphora,) growing in Borneo, Japan, and many East Indian islands; it is also produced from other plants and shrubs, though in very small quantities.
How, and from what part of the tree is it taken?