NOTES ON FOREST TREES. 185 



when a specimen was cut the name was found to be very 

 appropriate. The largest tree found was 21 inches in di- 

 ameter, and after it was cut it was found to be 85 feet 

 long. It was covered on the upper limbs with full grown 

 cones man}' of which were 3 inches long. 



Picea nigra (Black Spruce) is the most common of all 

 the forest trees, growing abundantly from Essex Co. , N. Y. , 

 to Montreal, In Ellenburgh it often attains a circumfer- 

 ence of 12 feet and is from 90 to 100 feet high ; but trees 

 of this size are so far back in the forest that it is impossible 

 to get a specimen in the autumn. The proper time to col- 

 lect such specimens is in the winter, for in that section of 

 the country, there is usually a solid crust on the snow 

 which enables one to go where he likes, and with a horse 

 one could select his own path and go over ground that it is 

 impossible to pass over at any other season. A specimen of 

 the Black Spruce was obtained which measured two feet 

 in diameter and 190 circles of growth were counted. 



Larix Americana (Larch or Tamarack) is one of the 

 largest timber trees in Clinton county ; several of the 

 largest were measured. One in Altona was 13 feet in cir- 

 cumference and probably over 100 feet high. In Ellen- 

 burgh, there are hundreds of trees from 9 to 12 feet in 

 circumference with a perfectly formed trunk slightly 

 tapering and 30 feet to the first limb. There was one old 

 loir on the ground that was 110 feet long. 



Before the large trees were found, a specimen had been 

 secured in Morrisonville, 18 inches in diameter. It is a 

 slow growing tree, the circles of growth being so near 

 each other, it was difficult to count them. However 150 

 annual circles were found ; the tree was GO feet high. 



Pinus resinosa (Bed Pine) is abundant in all parts of 

 Clinton and Franklin counties. In the town of Belmont, 

 there is a growth of several acres and all the trees appear 



