TREES OF AMERICA. 237 



Mountains. The leaves are of a dark green, 

 almost black, and grow so thickly as to give 

 the trees a very cheerless and gloomy appear- 

 ance : they are about half an inch long, and 

 grow all over the branches as close as they 

 can stand together : the cones are small, gene- 

 rally about an inch long, reddish, and always 

 hanging down ; they are composed of thin 

 scales, which open in the fall and let out the 

 seeds ; the seeds have a sort of wing attached 

 to them, and are so light that they are carried 

 about by the winds. 



" The height of the black spruce is from 

 sixty to eighty feet, and the top forms a regular 

 pyramid: the wood is white, strong, light, 

 and not brittle, and is much employed for 

 the yards and small spars of ships ; it contains 

 very little turpentine, and when burning 

 snaps like the chestnut. Spruce-beer is made 

 by boiling the young twigs in water, adding 

 molasses or sugar, and leaving- the liquid to 

 ferment, or work, as the country people call 



it." 



"But, Uncle Philip, how do they make 

 spruce-beer in cities, where there are no spruce- 

 trees : I know that a great deal of it is made 



