62 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



or limbs, and their average circumference was twelve 

 feet. About the age and planter of this immense 

 tree its historians are not agreed, some of them 

 referring its origin to the days of Elizabeth, and even 

 alleging that it was planted by her own hand. 

 Another cedar, at Hillingdon, near Uxbridge, had, 

 at the presumed age of 1 1 6 years, arrived at the fol- 

 lowing dimensions: its height was fifty-three feet, 

 and the spread of the branches ninety-six feet from 

 east to west, and eighty-nine from north to south. 

 The circumference of the trunk, close to the ground, 

 was thirteen feet and a half ; at seven feet it was 

 twelve and a half; and at thirteen feet, just under 

 the branches, it was fifteen feet eight inches. There 

 were two principal branches, the one twelve feet and 

 the other ten feet in girth. The first, after a length of 

 eighteen inches, divided into two arms, one eight 

 feet and a half, and the other seven feet ten. The 

 other branch, soon after its insertion, was parted into 

 two, of five feet and a half each. 



Michaux, in his splendid work on the Forest-trees 

 of North America, has described fourteen species of 

 pine, which are found in the extensive woods of that vast 

 country. The most valuable of these are, the " Long- 

 leaved Pine" (Pinus Jlustralis}, from which the tur- 

 pentine and tar of America are principally produced; 

 the " White Pine," much used in ship-building; 

 the " Hemlock Spruce" (Mies Canadensis), the 

 timber of which is not good, but which affords bark 

 nearly as excellent for tanning as that of the oak; 

 and the " American Silver Fir" (Mies balsamifera), 

 from which is procured the resinous substance known 

 as Canada balsam. 



The principal exportation of deals from America, 

 not only to Europe, but to the West India colonies, 

 is of the timber of the white pine. Extensive as are 



