

AMERICAN FOREST TREES. Ill 



100 feet; The winged elm, or wahoo, and the slipery elm, remarkable 

 for its mucilaginous bark ; The numerous and valuable pines, spread 

 all over our country, at once the most numerous, lofty and valuable of 

 the America Q . forest trees, often lifting its head more than 200 feet, 

 and spreading its towering trunk to 20 feet in diameter ; (see article 

 on Pines in the 2d part of the work. ;) The dm. larch, or hackmatack, 

 of the extreme north, rising 100 feet and affording a most valuable wood, 

 The bald Cyprus of the southern swamps, attaining a height of 120 feet 

 and affording a strong and valuable wood ; The red cedar of the south, 

 one of the most durable, light, and compact of woods ; The catalpa, 

 also of the south, remarkable for its beauty ; The alder, common to 

 most parts of our country and highly esteemed for its various uses ; 

 The white, cedar, along the Atlantic of the middle states, attaining the 

 height of 80 feet and very valuable in the arts ; The Am. arbor vita, 

 highly durable and allied to the last, with similar good qualities; The 

 hemlock spruce, found with the white pine, and a beautiful and valuable 

 tree, rising to 80 feet ; The black or double spruce, peculiar to the north, 

 and with the others much used in the arts ; The white or single spruce; 

 the Am, silver spruce, much distinguished for its balm of Gilead; The 

 osage orange, or bow-wood, of Arkansas, its fruit resembling the orange 

 and its wood very valuable; The locust, a native of the valleys of the 

 west hut everywhere mixed with our trees and the most valuable wood 

 of our northern climate ; The honey-locust, little less diffused and valu- 

 able for its hard timber ; The big laurel, or magnolia, of the southern 

 states, one of the most remarkable trees of America for its majestic 

 form, the beauty of its flowers, and the magnificence of its foliage ; 

 The cucumber tree of the Allegariies, little inferior to the big laurel in 

 beauty and size ; also the long-leafed and umbrella trees of this genus ; 

 The devil wood of the south ; The wild cherry of the west, distinguished 

 for its gigantic form ; All these, with others quite innumerable and 

 of little less importance, characterise the soil, forests, and the floral 

 features of the United States, presenting in one broad view the most 

 extended and the richest aspect of productive vegetable nature on the 

 face of the earth. 



Further and more interesting particulars of the qualities and pro- 

 ductions of many of our forest trees will be found under their respective 

 heads in the 2d part of this work. 



Jl comparison of American and French forest trees shows that in 

 France but 37 species of trees grow higher than 30 feet ; while in N. 

 America there are 90 more than 40 feet high. But 18 of the former 

 constitute the mass of forest trees there, while the 90 form the mass 

 here a difference of 72, or 5 to 1. Of the 90 here 76 are found in 

 the northern and southern states. But 9 of the French trees are suit- 

 able for civil and naval architecture, while there are 51 here. The 

 90 of large growth in America are composed chiefly of 20 species of 



