Natural History of Nova Scotia, 64-3 



period, been covered with wood ; not excepting the granite 

 hills, which have little or no earth upon them. Upon the 

 fertile soils the vegetation is composed of hardwood (trees 

 with deciduous leaves), and succulent plants with annual 

 leaves. Their growth is rapid, and the outer bark (technically 

 called the epidermis, the only part of a tree that is very du- 

 rable) is extremely thin. The annual crop of leaves, the 

 trees overthrown by the autumnal storms, or dying of age, 

 and the lowest twigs, which are constantly perishing by suffo- 

 cation, furnish a large quantity of dead vegetable matter, 

 which, by the operations of the jPungi, insects, and the suc- 

 ceeding process of putrefaction, is soon changed into mould, 

 which must continue to accumulate till the trees are fully 

 grown ; thus preparing a soil for the cultivator, by removing 

 to the surface the most fertile part, from the greatest depth to 

 which the roots of a tree can reach. Upon this soil neither 

 turf nor peat earth is formed ; but a fine mould lies under 

 the. dead leaves. This portion of the forest can rarely be 

 affected by fires in the woods, as the leaves in summer are 

 full of watery juices. Should a part of it (as sometimes hap- 

 pens) be overthrown by a hurricane, it is very soon replaced. 

 Shoots from the old roots and seedlings spring up, among 

 which a few scattered plants of the balsam fir [^fbies bal- 

 samifera Mx.~] appear, which, overtopping the hardwood, by 

 their shelter accelerate its growth, and, being short-lived 

 trees, are, in their turn, overtopped and suffocated by the 

 hardwood, when it no longer needs their assistance. 



Upon a barren soil the trees are generally of the fir kind, all 

 evergreens, except the hacmetac []Z,arix pendula Lamb, or else 

 microcarpa Lamb.'] : the greater part of the shrubs and plants 

 are also evergreens. Their leaves contain more resinous and 

 more woody matter, than the plants of fertile soils ; they 

 have also a strong thick epidermis. The trees on this soil 

 grow slowly, and have an appearance which is called " scrub- 

 bed : " this is partly caused by the unusual quantity of the 

 epidermis, which increases in an inverse proportion to the 

 growth of the tree (a black spruce [v4 N bies nigra H. K,~\ with a 

 very rough scaly bark being sometimes a hundred years old, 

 when not more than 4 in. in diameter) ; and partly by a large 

 quantity of resin, which flows from the knots produced by the 

 dying of the lower branches, and from wounds made in the 

 bark by insects ; as the wood of these trees is much more solid 

 and resinous than that of the same species in situations where 

 it grows rapidly. 



In addition to the turpentines of the fir tribe, the wax of 

 the candleberry myrtle [Myrica sp.], and the oily substance 



zz 2 



