MAY. 



243 



of the species called the Red spruce, is of the liighest value, 

 especially for ship-timber. There is no other kind of wood 

 that has so much strength in proportion to its weight. It is 

 remarkable for its elasticity, and is not surpassed in durability 

 even by the larch. On account of its combined lightness 

 and strength, it is extensively used for spars and for the masts 

 of smaller vessels. It is indeed employed for all parts of the 

 vessel for which its size renders it suitable, and is said to out- 

 last almost every other species of timber which is used for 

 such purposes. 



III. White Spruce. 



The White Spruce (Abies alba) is more common than the 

 last in our swamps ; it is a smaller tree, more slender and 

 tapering, and seldom exceeds fifty feel in height. Its foliage 

 is less dense, though longer, and not so persistent as that of 

 the Black spruce, falling off at the end of the second or third 

 year of its growth. The light green hue of its foliage yields 

 a lively appearance to the tree, and distinguishes it from the 

 formei- more than any other apparent quality. The branches 

 are somewhat irregularly disposed, though it has still more or 

 less of that disagreeable primness which causes all this class 

 of trees to be suggestive of artificial precision and dandyism. 

 The White spruce is also attached to high northern latitudes, 

 and was found by Hooker farther north than any other tree 

 in America. Its timber has the same properties as those of 

 the Black spruce, and is remarkable for the fine polish that 

 may be given to it. The aborigines are said to employ the 

 tough fibres of the wood of this tree for sewing their bark 

 canoes. 



ly. Balsam Fir. 



The Balsam Fir (Abies balsa7nea) by some naturalists is 

 separated from the genus Abies, and described, with other 

 species, under the generic name of Picea. As my descriptions 

 of trees are picturesque rather than botanical, I prefer, for the 

 sake of simplicity, to consider it as one of the genus Abies ; 

 and it seems to me to differ less from the comm^on spruces 

 than the latter differ from the hemlock. The Balsam fir, 



