542 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816 



is simple, branching, and not very 

 proliferous. The leaf is ucerose, 

 one tenth of an inch in width, 

 and three fourths in length, firm, 

 stiif, and acuminate, it is tri- 

 angular, a little declining, thick- 

 ly scattered on all sides of the 

 bough, and springs from small 

 triangular pedestals of soft, 

 spongy, elastic bark at the junc- 

 tion of the boughs. Tlie bud- 

 scales continue to encircle their 

 respective twigs for several years. 

 Captain Lewis has counted as 

 many as the growth of four years 

 beyond the scales; it yields but 

 little rosin, and we have never 

 been able to discover the cone, 

 although we liave felled several. 



The second is a much more 

 common species, and constitutes 

 at least one half of the timber in 

 this neighbourhood. It seems to 

 resemble a spruce, rising from 

 one hundred and sixty to one 

 hundred and eiglity feet, is fi-om 

 four to six in diamctei', straight, 

 round, and regulaily tapering. 

 The bark is thin, of a dark co- 

 lour, nmch divided in small longi- 

 tudinal interstices : the bark of 

 the boughs and young trees is 

 somewhat smooth, but not equal 

 to the balsam fir : the wood is 

 white, very soft, but difficult to 

 rive : the trunk is a simjde, 

 branching, and diffuse stem, not 

 so proliferous as tlie pines and 

 firs usually are. It puts forth 

 buds fi'om the sides of the small 

 boughs, as well as from their 

 extremities : the stem terminates 

 like the cedar, in a slender point- 

 ed top : the leaves are^petiolate, 

 the footstalks short, acerose, ra- 

 ther more than half a line in 

 width, andveryunequal in length ; 

 the greatest length seldoiu ex- 



ceeds one inch, while other leaves 

 intermixed on every bough, do 

 not exceed a quarter of an inch. 

 The leaf has a small longitudinal 

 channel on the upper disk, which 

 is of a deep and glossy green, 

 while the under disk is of a whit- 

 ish green only : it yields but little 

 rosin. What is remai kable, the 

 cone is not longer than the end of 

 a man's thumb ; it is soft, flexi- 

 ble, of an ovate form, and pro- 

 duced at the ends of the small 

 twigs . 



The third species resembles in 

 all points, the Canadian balsam 

 fir. It grows from two and a half 

 to four feet in diameter, and 

 rises to the height of eiglity or 

 an hundred feet. The stem is 

 simple, branching, and prolife- 

 rous : its leaves are sessile, ace- 

 rous; one eighth of an inch in 

 length, and one sixteenth in width, 

 thickly scattered on the twigs, 

 and adhere to the three under 

 sides only ; gibbous, a little de- 

 clining, obtusely pointed, soft, 

 and fiexible. The upper disk is 

 longitudinally marked with a 

 slight channel, of a deep, glossy, 

 green ; the vmder of a pale green 

 and not glossy. This tree affords 

 in considerable quantities, a fine 

 deep aromatic balsam, resembling 

 the balsam of Canada in taste and 

 appearance. The small pistils 

 filled, rise like a blister on the 

 trunk and the branches. The 

 bark that envelops *hese pistils, 

 is soft a)id easily punctured : the 

 genei'al appearance of the bark is 

 dark and smooth : but not so re- 

 markable for that (luality as the 

 white pine of our country. The 

 wood is white and soft. 



The fourth species in size re- 

 sembles the second. The stem is 



simple. 



