8 THE PINE FAMILY. 



even if we had to push it ourselves, realised that the case was desperate. 

 In a few minutes he liad telegraphed to the superintendent at Johnston City, 

 taken down his answer and turning to us said, not without a shade of grace : 

 " We've got that train to go on for you, ladies." 



" Let us take the word back," 1 said, grasping at the opportunity for re- 

 venge on the conductor. When again we reached the ridge, it was a long, 

 stiff walk, this personage with the passengers sat complacently on the bank. 

 Perhaps they thought that time was made for slaves. 



" The train is to go on," I said, handing him the yellow missive. He made 

 an effort, opened wide his eyes, arose and shook out his great frame as he 

 read slowly : 



"Have Justice run to Montezuma and return for me, 



(Signed) Hamlin." 



" That 'ere means to go on," he said with deliberation. " I obey's orders." 

 And on we did go. Slowly we crept over the high trestle work, as the little 

 engine puffed and blew. On every side were mountains and deep gorges. 

 It was a wonderfully beautiful ride. When it was over we were full of regret. 



BLACK SPRUCE. HE BALSAM. 



Picea Mariana. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Pine. Trunk straight : t,o-<^o-\oo feet. North Carolina March-June, 



branches drooping. to Canada. 



Bark: greyish brown; slightly rough. Branc/ilets: greenish wlien young and 

 pubescent. Leaves: seldom over two-thirds of an inch long; dark l)lue-green ; 

 simple; growing thickly all along and on every side of the brown twigs; needle- 

 shaped ; four-sided; curved or straight; rigid. Cones: one-half to one and a half 

 inches long; rich purple, and turning later to reddish brown or tan colour; ovate 

 or ovoid; solitary, and drooping near the ends of the branches; often persistent 

 for many years. Scales: rounded; persistent; thin, with entire or scalloped 

 borders. 



It is a strange conceit of the mountaineers in the Alleghanies to call this 

 tree the " He Balsam," a name indiscriminately applied by them to both the 

 black spruce and the red spruce, P. riibens, which grows in southern 

 Virginia. And thinking perhaps that it should have a mate of their choosing 

 they call the beautiful silver fir, the " She Balsam.'' The spruces bear, 

 however, on the same tree both staminate and pistillate flowers, a fact per- 

 haps not appreciated when these vernaculor names were bestowed. The 

 general name of " Black Spruce " is in reference to the dark green 

 foliage of the tree which in certain lights appears sombre and black. The 

 species is very variable, some perplexing forms of it being presented. The 

 slender form which occurs in the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia 

 is possibly the individual that Dr. Chapman calls, in his Flora, Picea alba, 

 the Picea Canadensis of later botanists, a tree, however, which is not known 



