CONIFERS. 



SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



109 



Vi 



Churchill, extends down the Churchill to the divide which separates the waters of that river from 

 those of the Athabasca, down this stream to the shores of Lake Athabasca, and up the Athabasca to 

 the neighborhood of Fort Assiniboine and Lesser Slave Lake, the most northern point where it has been 

 observed being in latitude 62° north/ Southward the Balsam Fir is spread over Newfoundland, the 

 Maritime Provinces of Canada, Quebec, and Ontario, over northern New England, and through northern 

 New York, northern Michigan and Minnesota to northeastern Iowa j ^ leaving the Atlantic coast near 

 Portland, in southern Maine,^ it ranges along the Appalachian Mountains through western Massachu- 

 setts, over the Catskills of New York and western Pennsylvania'* to the high mountains of southwestern 

 irginia.^ Li Labrador Abies balsamea is scattered about the margins of lakes and large streams 

 usually in moist alluvial soil;® on the lower Rupert and in the country adjacent to Lake Mistassinie 

 it grows in abundance with the Aspen, the Canoe Birch, and the White Spruce. It is common in 

 Newfoundland, the Maritime Provinces, and in Ontario and Quebec, growing usually in swamps or on 

 higher ground near their borders/ In Manitoba and Saskatchewan it forms with the White Spruce 

 dense forests on alluvial bottom-lands, and it occurs also but not commonly on plateaus and low hills up 

 to elevations of twelve hundred feet above the streams. In the northeastern states and in the region 

 of the Great Lakes the Balsam Fir is a common tree in all northern and elevated parts of the country, 

 growing on low swampy ground and on well-drained hillsides, sometimes singly in forests of Spruces, 

 Hemlocks, Pines, Birches, and Beeches, and sometimes in small almost impenetrable thickets; and, 

 occasionally ascending to high elevations on the mountains of New England and New York, it is reduced 

 near their timber-line to a low nearly stemless shrub with wide-spreading prostrate branches.® South 

 of Maine and New Hampshire the Balsam Fir is found only west of the Connecticut River, and is 

 less abundant and of smaller size than farther north, growing in high cool situations, where its roots 

 are rarely without the abundant supplies of moisture which are essential for its welfare. 



The wood of Abies balsamea is very light, soft, not strong, coarse-grained, and perishable ; it is 

 pale brown often streaked with yellow, with thick lighter colored sapwood, and contains conspicuous 

 narrow bands of small summer cells and numerous obscure medullary rays. The specific gravity of the 

 absolutely dry wood is 0.3819, a cubic foot weighing 23.80 pounds. It is occasionally made into 

 cheap lumber, principally used for packing-cases. From the bark of this tree Canadian Balsam, or 

 Balm of Fir, used in the arts, and in medicine chiefly in the treatment of chronic affections of the 

 mucous membrane, is obtained.® ' 



^ Richardson, Arctic Searching Exped. ii. 316. 



2 In 1882 Mr. E. W. D. Hoi way found a single tree of Abies 

 halsamea near Decorah in Winneshiek County, Iowa. It has also 

 been found in the adjacent county of Alamakee, in the extreme 

 northeastern corner of the state. (Teste L. H. Pammel.) 



3 In May, 1881, Mr. John Robinson found Abies halsamea on 

 Goose Island, Portland Harbor, 



^ Rothrock, Rep, Dept. Agric. Penn. 1895, pt. ii. Div, Forestry, 

 284. 



s In June, 1892, Mr. John K. Small found A hies halsamea on the 

 summit of Mt. Rogers, in Grayson County, Virginia, at an eleva- 

 tion of five thousand seven hundred and nineteen feet above the 



level of the sea. 



^ Low, Rep, Geolog. Surv. Can. ser. 2, viii. pt. i. 35 L. 



^ Provancher, Flore Canadienne, ii. 555. — Brunet, Cat. Veg. 

 Lig. Can. 57. — Macoun, Cat. Can. PI. 473. 



8 One of these dwarf forms of the Balsam Fir, a low cushion- 

 like plant which does not appear to have produced cones, has long 

 been an inhabitant of gardens. It is : — 



Abies halsamea Hudsonia, Engelmann, Trans. St. Louis Acad. 

 iii. 597 (1878). — Veitch, Man. Conif. 83. — Beissner, Handh, 

 Nadelh. 465. 



Picea Fraseri Hudsonia, Knight, Syn. Conif. 39 (1850). 



Abies Fraseri (B) nana-j Lindley & Gordon, Jour. Hort, Soc, 

 Lond. V. 209 (1850). 



Abies Fraseri, var. Hudsoni, Carri^re, Traite Conif. 200 (1855). 



Picea Fraseri Hudsonica, Gordon, Pinetum, 148 (1858). 

 ® The gathering of Canada Balsam, which is chiefly a Canadian 

 industry, although it is sometimes collected in the northeastern 

 United States, is carried on in the province of Quebec only by the 

 poorest white people and by Indians, who camp in the woods from 

 the middle of June until the middle of August, the season when 

 it is usually gathered, the women cooking and keeping the camps, 

 while the men and children gather the balsam. This is done with 

 small iron cans, furnished at the top with iron tubes sharpened at 

 the end. The tube is pressed against the resin blister, punctures 

 it, and the gum flows down the tube into the can. The yield of a 

 large tree is about one pound, although the average yield is not 

 more than half a pound. One man can gather about half a gallon 

 of the gum in a day, but with the assistance of his children, who 

 climb into the upper limbs while the father works near the ground, 

 the yield of a day's work for the family is often a gallon. Canada 

 Balsam can be collected only on pleasant days and when the leaves 

 of the tree are dry, as the water shaken from the branches, mixing 



