FOREST LIFE. 43 



importance of its products in naval, and especially in civil and 

 domestic architecture, in many of the arts, and in some instances 

 in medicine." 



"As it affords timber and boards of a greater size than any 

 other soft-wooded tree, and is lighter and more free from knots, 

 it is used in preference for the masts of ships, for the large beams, 

 posts, and covering of wooden buildings, and for the frame-work 

 of houses and bridges, as well as for clap-boards and shingles. 

 The clearness, softness, and beauty of this wood recommend it 

 for the panels and frames of doors, for wainscotings, for the frames 

 of windows, for cornices and moldings, and for all the uses of the 

 joiner. As it receives paint .perfectly, it is employed for floors 

 which are to be painted. Varnished without paint, it gradually 

 takes a yellowish or light reddish color, and has considerable 

 beauty. It is excellent for the carver in wood, and is used for 

 the figure-heads of vessels ; and as it takes gilding well, it is pre- 

 ferred for the frames of looking-glasses and pictures." 



Its importance may be estimated, also, from the vast amount 

 of employment it furnishes and the revenue it produces. Its 

 history is full of interest from the hour it leaves the stump in the 

 forest, through the various processes it passes until taken from 

 the hold of the ship and piled away upon our market piers. The 

 amount of employment it furnishes to lumbermen, mill-men, raft- 

 ers, coasters, truckmen, merchants, and mechanics, exceeds that 

 furnished by any other single product in Maine or the province 

 of New Brunswick. On the Penobscot alone there arc said to be 



