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SYLVA AMERICANA, 



and offers more resistance to the impression of other bodies. 

 The most common use, in which great quantities of it are con- 

 sumed in the Northern States is for the first sheathing of wooden 

 houses, which are afterwards covered with white pine clap boards. 

 For economy the interior frame is sometimes made of hemlock 

 spruce, and it is found when protected from humidity, to be as 

 durable as any other species. It is well adapted to lathes of the 

 interior walls, and is exported in this form to England. In the 

 Eastern States it is taken for the posts of rural fence, which last 

 about fifteen years, and are preferable to those of gray and red 

 oak. Its bark is used as a substitute for that of the oaks in the 

 preparation of leather. . It is taken from the tree in June, and 

 half of the epidermis is shaven off before it is thrown into the 

 mill. Its deep red color is imparted to the leather, which is 

 said to be inferior to oak bark, but the two species united are 

 better than either of them alone. The bark contains a small 

 quantity of resin, commonly called Hemlock Balsam, which is 

 applied to similar purposes as the resin of the white spruce. 



Black or Double Spruce. Abies nigra. 



This species is indigenous 

 to the same countries as the 

 white spruce, and is called 

 Epinette noire and Epinette 

 a la biere in Canada, Double 

 Spruce in the state of Maine, 

 and Black Spruce in Nova 

 Scotia, though the last two 

 denominations are known 

 throughout all these coun- 

 tries. We have preferred 

 that of Black Spruce, which 

 expresses a striking character 

 of the tree, and is contrasted 

 with that of the white species. 

 Fig. 1. a seed. Fig. 2. a branch with a cone. From the influence of the 



