SOME AMERICAN PINES 339 



from the compact habit uniformly preserved they form one of the most 

 striking and truly graceful objects in Nature. Those on the other hand 

 which are in the dense gloomy forests, two -thirds of which are composed 

 of this species, are more than usually straight, the trunks being destitute 

 of branches to the height of 100 to 140 feet, being in many places so close 

 together that they naturally prune themselves, and in the almost impene- 

 trable parts where they stand at an average distance of five square feet, 

 they frequently attain a greater height and do not exceed even 18 inches in 

 diameter close to the ground. In such places some arrive at a magnitude 

 exceeded by few if any trees in the world generally 20 or 30 feet apart. 

 The actual measurement of the largest was of the following dimensions : 

 entire length 227 feet, 48 feet in circumference 3 feet above the ground, 

 1\ feet in circumference 159 feet from the ground. 



Some few even exceed that girth, but such trees do not carry thair 

 proportionate thickness to such a vast height as that above mentioned. 

 Behind Fort George, near the confluence of the Columbia River, the 

 old establishment of the Honourable the Hudson's Bay Company, there 

 stands a stump of this species which measures in circumference 48 feet, 

 3 feet above the ground, without its bark. The tree was burned down to 

 give place to a more useful vegetable, namely potatos. 



On a low estimation the average size may be given at 6 feet diameter, 

 and 160 high. The young trees have a thin, smooth, pale whitish-green 

 bark covered with a profusion of small blisters like P. balsamea [ or Balm 

 of Gilead Fir, which, when broken, yield a limpid oily fluid possessing 

 a fragrant and very peculiar odour, and which, after a few days' exposure 

 to the action of the atmosphere, acquires a hard brittle consistence like 

 other rosins, assuming a pale amber colour. The bark of the aged trees 

 is rough, rotten, and corky, the pores smaller and containing less rosin, and 

 in the most aged, 4 to 12 inches thick, greatly divided by deep fissures. 



Often in the space or vacuity between the bark and the timber of 

 standing dead trees 2 is found and may be flayed off in large pieces 

 of several square yards and from its texture and colour might without 

 examination be taken for sheepskin. There is no doubt but this curious 

 species of Fungus hastens the decay of the timber like dry rot in Oak, 

 though perhaps not in the same degree, and, as I have observed it only on 

 erect trees or those dead on the stump, I infer it will not exist in the 

 seasoned wood, consequently cannot detract any merit from it. 



Wood straight and regular in the grain, fine, heavy, and easily split ; 

 the layers or rings of a darker tint, closely resembling the timber of the 

 well-known Larch. Whether it will prove durable or not remains yet to 

 be known. 



If we judge from the quantity of charcoal produced it will not prove 

 so durable as the Larch ; the coal is moderately hard, bulky, brown, which 

 might be expected from the great quantity of gaseous matter it contains. 

 What might be the exact age of one of the largest dimensions could not 

 be ascertained, not having the means of preparing a transverse section 



1 Abies balsamea, Mast, in Journ. R. Hort. Soc. xiv. p. 189. 

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