ARBORETUM AND FRUT1CETUM. PART 111. 



houses; which is another important defect in a country where nearly all the 

 houses are of wood : but when covered it is of great duration ; and as 

 the white pine (P. Strobus) becomes rarer, the hemlock spruce is sub- 

 stituted for it as extensively as possible. It is firmer, though coarser 

 grained ; affords a tighter hold to nails ; and offers more resistance to the 

 impression of other bodies. For this reason, it is employed, in the district 

 of Maine, in the form of 2-inch planks, for threshing-floors. But the most 

 common use, in which great quantities are consumed in the northern states, 

 is for the first sheathing of wooden houses, which are afterwards covered 

 with clap-boards (see p. 2284?.) of white pine. For economy, the interior 

 frame is sometimes made of hemlock spruce ; and it is found, when guarded 

 from humidity, to be as durable as any other species. It is always chosen 

 for the laths of the interior walls, and is exported in this form to England. In 

 the district of Maine, it is usually taken for the posts of rural fences, which last 

 about 15 years, and are preferable to those of the grey and red oaks (Quercus 

 ambigua and Q,. rubra). It contains little resin, and the trunk is but slightly 

 coated with turpentine, even where large pieces of bark have been a long 

 time removed. The bark, when used for tanning, is taken from the tree in 

 the month of June ; and half the epidermis is shaved off with a plane before it 

 is thrown into the mill. From the district of Maine, it is exported to Boston, 

 Providence, &c., and is almost exclusively employed in the tanyards at those 

 places. It is brought to New York from the upper parts of the Hudson, and 

 is sometimes carried to Baltimore. Its deep red colour is imparted to the 

 leather ; and, though it is inferior to the bark of the oak, the American tanners 

 think the bark of the two kinds united are better than either of them alone. 

 Hemlock spruce bark was once exported to England, but the commerce has 

 ceased with the demand. The Indians are said to use it in dyeing their light 

 baskets made of red maple. (Mic/ix.) The young twigs and ends of the 

 shoots are used by the settlers as a substitute for tea ; the essence of spruce 

 is also extracted from the shoots. In England, the hemlock spruce forms 

 one of the most ornamental of the fir family; being among needle-leaved 

 evergreen trees what the weeping willow is among the willows. As it bears 

 the knife* and is extremely hardy, it might be employed as hedges ; for 

 which purpose it is used in the American nurseries, along with the jThiiju 

 occidentalis. 



Statistics. In the environs of London, at Kenwood, Hampstead, 60 years planted, it is 25 ft. high, 

 the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 6 in., and of the head 40 ft. ; at York House, Twickenham, it is 30 ft. 

 high, with a trunk 1 ft. 2 in. in diameter; at Muswell Hill, it is 30ft. high ; at Abercorn Priory, at 

 Stanmore, it is 30 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 6 in., and of the head 33 ft. South of London. 

 In Devonshire, at Bystock Park, 21 years planted, it is 50ft. high. In Dorsetshire, at Melbury Park, 

 15 years planted, it is 23 ft. high. In Hampshire, at Alresford, 41 years planted, it is 59 ft. high ; at 

 Strathfieldsaye, it is 45 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft, and of the head 42 ft. In Somerset- 

 shire, at Kingsweston, 12 years planted, it is 18ft. high. In Surrey, at St. Ann's Hill, 34 years 

 planted, it is 38 ft. high ; at Claremont, it is 45 ft. high, the diamefer of the trunk ft. 9 in., and of 

 the head 55ft.; at Ockham, 35 years planted, it is 18 ft. high. In Sussex, at Westdean, 10 years 

 planted, it is 19 ft. high. In Wiltshire, at Wardour Castle, 50 years planted, it is 30ft. high, the 

 diameter of the trunk 3ft. 6 in., and of the head 43 it. North of London. In Bedfordshire, at 

 Southill, it is 22 ft. high, with a trunk 1 ft. in diameter. In Berkshire, at Bearwood, 10 years planted, 

 it is 15 ft. high ; at Ditton Park, .34 years planted, it is 30 ft. high. In Hereiordshire, at Stoke Edith 

 J'ark, 50 years old, it is 30ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft 8 in., and of the head 26ft. In 

 Hertfordshire, at Cashiobury, 30 years planted, it is 28 ft. high ; at Cheshunt, 10 years planted, it is 

 17ft. high. In Leicestershire, at Elvaston Castle, 16 years planted, it is 12ft. high; at Belvoir 

 C.istle, 18 years planted, it is 15 ft. high. In Nottinghamshire, at Clumber Park, it is 25 ft high. In 

 .Vuiffoidiliire, at T.-entham, it is 16ft. high In Warwickshire, at Combe Abbey, 60 years planted, 

 it is 41 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. Sin., and of the head 36 ft. In Worcestershire, at 

 Croome, 40 years planted, it is 35 ft. high. In Yorkshire, at Grimston, 12 years planted, it is 1 ft. 

 high. In Scotland, at Hopetoun House, it is 35 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk nearly ft, and 

 of the head 21 ft In Roxburghshire, at Minto, 50 years planted, it is 35 ft high. In Perthshire, at 

 Taymouth, it is 20 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. riin., and of the head 12ft. ; another, 50 

 years planted, is 26ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2ft. 6 in., and of the head 18ft. In Ross. 

 sUire, at Brahan Castle, it is ioil. high, the diameter of the trunk 14 in. In Ireland, in Louth, at 

 Oriel Temple, 35 years planted.it is 32ft. high. In France, at Colombey, near Met/, 67 years 

 planted, it is40ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 6 in. In Hanover, in the Botanic Garden, 

 (Jottingcn,20 years planted, it is 20ft. high In Saxony, at Worlitz, 60 years planted, it is 60 ft. high, 

 the diameter of the trunk 3 It., and of the head 40ft. In Austria, at Vienna, at Brtick on the 

 Leytha, 36 years planted, it is 26ft. high. In Bavaria, in the English Garden at Munich, 10 years 

 planted.it is 10ft. high. In Prussia, near Berlin, at Sans Souci,50 yearsplanted, it is 40 ft. high. 



Commercifil Statistics. Plants, in London, are 25.?. per hundred ; .2 ft. high, 

 50*. per hundred : at Bollwyller, from 3 francs to 5 francs each ; and at New 

 York, 50 cents. 



