108 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Dec. 



uses as that of the white spruce. The woods of these two species 

 of Picea offer no perceptible differences in structure, color, light- 

 ness, or other qualities. They are equal in value, and command 

 the same price in the Quebec market. 



Picea nigra, var. grisea; gray spruce. 



This spruce does not appear to differ essentially from the black 

 spruce in its organs of fructification. Its leaves are however of 

 a more or less dingy and grayish green, and its bark has a lighter 

 red color than the typical black spruce. The gray spruce is found 

 principally in poor soils. This variety often attains a very large 

 size. We measured one of these trees in the eastern section of 

 Rimouski, and found it to be 160 feet high, with a diameter of 

 four feet. 



In certain parts of Canada an infusion of the leaves of the 

 Picea nigra is used as a common drink. The Abbe Ferland in 

 his Voyage au Labrador speaks of " the little black spruce which 

 creeps over the rocks, and whose leaves infused in hot water fur- 

 nish a beverage which by the peasants is preferred to tea." It is 

 with this plant also that is made the fermented liquor known as 

 spruce beer. As it may not be without interest, we copy a 

 description of the mode of preparing this beverage a century since, 

 copied from Duhamel, (Traiti des arbres et arbustes, Paris, 1755.) 



" The white spruce * (epinette blanche) which is a species of 

 Epicea, having smaller leaves and cones than that cultivated in 

 France, serves in Canada to make a wholesome beverage, which 

 is not agreeable when tasted for the first time, but becomes so by 

 use. As a similar drink might be made very cheaply from our 

 own Epicia, I give the receipe * 



* This is evidently an error of the author, since the black spruce has 

 always been employed for making this kind of small beer. 



The French of Lower Canada apply the name of Epinette to several 

 trees ; the Larix Americana is by them called epinette rouge, and the 

 white and black spruce are respectively epinette blanche, and epinette 

 noire, while the name of epinette grise is given to what we regard as a 

 variety of the latter, P. nigra var. grisea. The origin of this word, which 

 is not applied to any tree in France, is by no means clear. It has, how- 

 ever been used from an early date in the history of the colony, as 

 will appear from the following citation from the Histoire Naturelle du 

 Canada, of Pierre Boucher, 1663. " II y a une autre espece d'arbre qu'on 

 nomme epinette ; c'est quasi comme du Sapin, si non qu'il est plus 

 propre a faire des masts de petits vaisseaux, comme des chaloupes et 

 des barques, estants plus fort que le Sapin." 



