IN EXTRA-TROPICAL COUNTRIES. 241 



It has the habit of P. excelsa, and is equal to it in its own line of 

 beauty (Beecher) and in hardiness, yielding a much esteemed 

 white or sometimes reddish timber. 



Pinus Balfouriana, Jeffrey. (P. aristata, Englemann.) 



California to Colorado, up to 12,000 feet elevation. The Fox-tail 

 or Hickory-Pine. Height to 100 feet ; trunk diameter to 5 feet. 

 Wood close-grained, tough, very strong (Sargent). 



Pinus balsamea, Linne. 



Balsam Fir, Balm of Gilead Fir. Canada, Nova Scotia, south to 

 New England, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. An elegant tree, 40 

 feet high, which with Pinus Fraseri yields the Canada balsam, the 

 well-known oleo-resin. The timber is light, pale, soft, and useful 

 for furniture and implements. The tree does not attain a very 

 great age. Sends a pleasant odour through the forest regarded as 

 salubrious, especially in phthisis diseases a remark which applies 

 to many other pines. It thrives best in cold, swampy places. 

 Eligible for Alpine regions. 



Pinus bracteata, D. Don. 



Southern California, up to 6,000 feet. A very handsome tree, 

 attaining 150 feet in height, with a slender, perfectly straight stern, 

 not more than 2 feet in diameter. The resin is used for incense. 



Pinus Brunoniana, Wallich. (P. dumosa, D. Don.) 



Himalaya, descending to 8,000 and ascending to 10,500 feet. 

 Attains a height of 120 feet, and the stem a circumference of 28 

 feet (J. D. Hooker). Particularly eligible for Alpine tracts. The 

 timber is pale and soft, and does not stand exposure well. 



Pinus Canadensis, Linne. 



Hemlock Spruce. In Canada and over a great part of the United 

 States, on high mountains, as well as on undulating land. A very 

 ornamental tree, 100 feet high, with a white cross-grained wood 

 remarkably durable when used for submerged water-works; also 

 employed for railway ties. According to Vasey it is one of the 

 most graceful of Spruces with a light and spreading spray. Next 

 to P. Strobus it is the highest pine of the Eastern States of North 

 America. The tree is extremely valuable on account of its bark, 

 which is much esteemed as a tanning material, containing 9 to 1 4 per 

 cent, tannin. It is much liked as an admixture to oak bark for par- 

 ticular leathers of great toughness, wearing strength, and resistance 

 to water. The extract of the bark for tanning fetches in the London 

 market from 16 to 18 a ton, and is imported to the extent of 

 about 6,000 tons a year; it is stripped off during the summer months. 

 The young shoots are used in making spruce-beer. 



