TREES OF AMERICA 249 



had been built more than sixty years, they were 

 perfectly sound. Its most general use, how- 

 ever, is for fencing ; the posts last thirty-five 

 or forty years, and the rails fifty or sixty. 

 But even this is nothing to the durability 

 of the cedars of Lebanon, — enormous trees 

 that grow in Asia, the wood of which is said 

 to endure for hundreds of years." 



" Uncle Philip, I have read about the cedars 

 of Lebanon in the Bible ; was not Solomon's 

 temple built of them ?" 



" Yes, partly. They must have been very 

 plentiful in Solomon's time, but now they are 

 scarce. 



" There is yet one more tree that I must 

 tell you of, and then we shall have gone 

 through with the North American forests. It 

 is very similar to the spruces in many par- 

 ticulars, but a distinct name is given to it ; 

 this name is larch : in the northern part§ of 

 the United States it is commonly called hack- 

 matack, but larch is the most correct. It is 

 found in Maine and Vermont, but it is most 

 common still farther north, — in Canada and 

 Nova Scotia. In the Middle States it is 

 scarcely ever seen. It is a noble tree to look 

 upon, with a straight slender trunk, nearly a 



