100 



SYLVA AMERICANA. 



trunk and one of the principal roots. It is often used for the 

 rafters of houses, and is more esteemed than the hemlock spruce. 

 It is sometimes sawn into boards of considerable width, which 

 are less valuable than those of white pine. Sometimes they are 

 used for floors, but they are liable to crack. The red spruce is 

 sometimes employed for the staves of fish casks. With the 

 young branches, especially those of the black spruce, is made 

 the salutary drink known by the name cf Spruce Beer, which in 

 long voyages is found an efficacious preventative of the scurvy. 

 The twigs are boiled in water, a small quantity of molasses or 

 maple sugar is added, and the mixture is left to ferment. The 

 essence of spruce is obtained by evaporating, to the consistence 

 of an extract, water in which the summits of the young branches 

 have been boiled. This species is not resinous enough to afford 

 turpentine as an article of commerce. The wood is filled with 

 air and snaps in burning like chesnut. 



ACER. 



Polygamia Monoecia Linn. Acerineee. Juss. Aperient, tonic. 



White Maple. 



PLATE VI. 

 Fig. LA leaf. Fig. 2. The seed. 



Acer eriocarpum. 



In the Atlantic parts of 

 the United States this species 

 is often confounded with the 

 red maple, which it nearly 

 resembles ; west of the 

 mountains, they are con- 

 stantly distinguished, and the 

 Acer eriocarpum is known 

 by no other name than White 

 Maple. It is found on the 

 banks of all the rivers which 

 flow from the mountains to 

 the ocean, though it is less 

 common along the streams 

 which water the southern 

 parts of the Carolinas and 



