DENDROLOGY. 99 



soil upon the wood it is sometimes called Red Spruce. The 

 black spruce is most abundant in the countries lying between the 

 44th and 53d degrees of latitude, and between the 55th and 75th 

 degrees of longitude ; and it is so multiplied as often* to constitute a 

 third part of the forests by which they are uninterruptedly covered. 

 Farther south it is seldom seen except in cold and humid situa- 

 tions, particularly on the top of the Alleghanies. The finest 

 forests are to be found in valleys where the soil is black, humid, 

 deep and covered with a thick bed of moss. 



The trunk, when it attains its fullest developement, is 70 or 80 

 feet in height and from 15 to 20 inches in diameter. The 

 .summit is a regular pyramid, and has a beautiful appearance on 

 insulated trees. This agreeable form is owing to the spreading 

 of the branches in a horizontal direction. The trunk is smooth, 

 and is remarkable for its perpendicular ascension and for its 

 regular diminution from the base to the summit, which is 

 terminated by an annual shoot of 12 or 15 inches in length. The 

 heart is most generally white, but in some situations reddish. 

 The leaves are of a dark, gloomy green, about four lines long, 

 firm, numerous, and attached singly over the* surface of the 

 branches. The flowers appear in May at the extremity of the 

 highest twigs, and are succeeded by small, reddish, oval cones, 

 pointing towards the earth, and varying in length from eight lines 

 to two inches. They are composed of thin scales, slightly 

 notched at the base, and sometimes split for half their length on 

 the most vigorous trees, on which the cones are also the largest : 

 they are not ripe till the end of autumn, when they open for the 

 escape of the seeds, which are small, light and surmounted by a 

 wing, by means of which they are wafted abroad by the wind. 



The distinguishing properties of the wood of black spruce are 

 strength, lightness and elasticity. It furnishes the best yards 

 and topmasts that can be used. The red variety is superior in 

 size to the other, which grows in a poorer soil, and is less supple 

 and more liable to be crooked. The knees of vessels are fre- 

 quently of black spruce where the oak is rare. When these 

 pieces are of oak, they are formed of two limbs united at the 

 base ; but when of spruce, they are made from the base of the 



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