TREES GROWING IN RICH SOIL. 



227 



I 



yellow-green above, becoming darker; lustrous; silvery white underneath. 

 Cones: very small; hardly over half an inch long; ovate-oblong; solitary and 

 drooping at the ends of the branchlets. Hcales : rounded; thin; and not open- 

 ing widely when the seeds are ripe. Seeds and wings nearly as long as the scales. 



When on some open, rocky ridge this tree is seen growing by 

 itself, it is often clothed to the ground with its graceful and 

 drooping branches. Their spray is filmy and plume-like, and 

 as first the intense lustre of their dark-green needles is height- 

 ened and as then their silvery undersides dart upward, it appears 

 as though a light, fleecy cloud were gambolling through its 

 boughs. When the spring-time comes the tree is touched with 

 a lively yellow-green and is then, as also when it is young, one 

 of the most charming sights of nature. In October, in the for- 

 est's shade it becomes dark, almost black, and stretches itself 

 solemnly to its utmost height. 



The hemlock has been much planted as an ornamental tree 

 and has in cultivation produced new varieties, but none of 

 them is so free and graceful in its growth as the wild tree. 

 More often than for its timber, which is coarsely grained and 

 brittle, it is felled for the sake of its bark. From this tannin is 

 largely taken to be used in the manufacture of leather, and it is 

 also known to possess medicinal properties. 



T. Caroliniana^ Carolina hemlock, is also of all the evergreen 

 trees one of the most beautiful, and even in this point excels 

 a little the common hemlock which it so closely resembles. In 

 its habit of growth it is more dense, and the cones it bears are 

 slightly larger with scales that are prone to diverge. The tree 

 is not common and is generally found in groves along the high 

 bluffs of the Blue Ridge mountains — that part of the country 

 so rich in flora and forestry. 



BLACK SPRUCE. {Plate CXXIII.) 



Plcea Mariana, 



TIME OF BLOOM 



March-June, 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT 



Pint. Trunks straight: lower 30-90-100 y<r^^. 

 branches^ drooping. 



Bark: greyish brown; slightly rough. Branchlets: brown; greenish when 

 young and pubescent. Leaves : seldom over two-thirds of an inch long; dark 



RANGE 



North Carolina 

 northward. 



