126 HARDY ON NOVA SCOTIAN CONIFERS. 



scaly, and, though light grey outside, shews a rich red-brown tint 

 when chipped. The sojourner in the woods seeks the dry and easily 

 detached bark which clings to an old dead Hemlock, as a great 

 auxiliary to his stock of fuel for the camp-fire ; it burns readily, 

 long, and emits an intense heat ; and so fond are the old Indians 

 of sitting round a small conical pile of the ignited bark in their 

 wigwams, that it bears in their language the sobriquet of '• the old 

 Grannie". 



The Hemlock, as a shrub, is perhaps the most ornamental of all 

 the jSTorth American evei'greens. It has none of that tight, stiff, 

 old-fashioned appearance so generally seen in other spruces : 

 the graceful foliage droops loosely and irregularly, hiding the stem, 

 and, when each spray is tipped with the new season's shoot of the 

 brightest sea-green imaginable, the appearance is very beautiful. 

 The young cones are likewise of a delicate green. 



The spray of the Hemlock is often used by the woodsman in 

 hard times as a decoction in water in lieu of tea, as also is the 

 ground Hemlock. The bark is very ornamental for decorating 

 garden flower baskets in a rustic style. 



A. halsamea — Marshall — (Balsam Fir). Canada Balsam or 

 Balm of Gilead Fir, 



Leaves narrowly linear ; cones cylindrical, large, violet-coloured ; the 

 bracts obovate, serrulate, tipped with abrupt and slender point, slightly pro- 

 iecting upwards. Leaves 1 in. or less in length, narrower and lighter-green 

 than those of European or Silver Fir. Cones .3 to 4 in. long, 1 in. broad, 

 the scale very broad and rounded. 



So very similar is the American species to the Silver Fir (Picea) 

 of Europe, that, when visiting England, I have had to seaixh the 

 stem for the characteristic pustules of balsam, found on our fir, 

 before assuring myself of the difference. The general appearance 

 of the trees is very analogous : the same silvery lines on each side 

 of the midrib under the leaf, which glistening in the sun as the 

 branches are blown upwards by the wind, gives the tree its name. 

 The leaves, however, of the American species are neither so broad 

 nor so dark in colour as those of Picea. Dr. Cooper assigns the 

 range of the Silver Fir, K.E. S.W, between the Labrador and the 

 mountains of Penn. It inhabits moist Avoods and, though growing 

 to a large size, is a short lived tree — often falling before a heavy 

 gale, and shewing a rotten heart. This Province and New Bruns- 



