84 FOREST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



bage sprout * — the light olivo-grcen foliage living on 

 the compressed summit only, whilst the grey dead twigs 

 below are crowded with pendulous moss ; yet even here, 

 amidst the cold sphagnum, Indian cups, and cotton grass, 

 the tree lives to an age which would have given it a 

 proud position in the dry forest. Lastly, in the fissure of 

 a granite boulder may be seen its hardy seedling ; and 

 the little plant has a far better chance of becoming a tree 

 than its brethren in the swamp; for, one day, as frost and 

 increasing soil open the fissure, its roots will creep out and 

 fasten in the earth beneath. 



In unhealthy situations a singular appearance is fre- 

 quently assumed by this tree. Stunted, of course, it 

 throws out its arms in the most tortuous shapes, sud- 

 denly terminating in a dense mass of innumerable 

 branchlets of a rounded contour like a beehive, disj)lay- 

 ing short, thick, light green foliage. The summit of 

 the tree generally terminates in another bunch. The 

 stem and arms are profusely covered with lichens and 

 usnea. As a valuable timber tree the black spruce ranks 

 next to the pine, attaining a height of seventy to a hun- 

 dred feet. Being strong and elastic, it forms excellent 

 material for spars and masts, and is converted into all 

 descriptions of sawed lumber — deals, boards, and scant- 

 lings. From its young sprays is prepared the decoction, 



* Indeed tlicse miniature trees in bogs wliere the sphagnum perpetually 

 bathes their roots with chilling moisture, have a very similar appearance to 

 Brussels sprouts on a large scale. The water held in the moss is always 

 cold : on May 5th, 1866, the tussacs of sphagnum were frozen solidly 

 within two or three inches of the surface. The centre of these bogs, often 

 called cariboo bogs by reason of this deer frequenting them in search of 

 the lichen, Cladonia rangiferinue, is generally quite bare of spruce chunps, 

 which fringe the edge of the surrounding forest, the trees increasing in 

 height as they recede from the open bog. 



