384 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



common, its range is nearly the same as that of the pitch pine, probably 

 attaining a higher elevation above the sea level. This species is of hand- 

 some appearance and rapid growth, and is well worthy to be planted for 



ornament. 



In the White Mountain region, the balsam fir and black spruce, growing 

 together in about equal numbers, give to the scenery one of its peculiar 

 features. The stiff, spiked forms of the one are mingled with the blackish 

 green foliage of the other almost universally along the mountain sides, 

 and are the last of arborescent vegetation to yield to the increased cold 

 and fierce winds of the higher summits. North of the mountains these 

 trees, with arbor-vitse, are the predominant evergreens, mingling with the 

 white spruce about Connecticut lake. In the southern part of the state 

 they are mostly confined to the highlands between the Merrimack and 

 Connecticut, the black spruce appearing most abundantly. 



The hemlock, which when young is the most graceful of the spruces, 

 is common in the southern part of the state, ranging in greatest abun- 

 dance from around the base of the White Mountains southward along 

 the highlands, becoming less common near the coast. It has its northern 

 limit in the vicinity of Colebrook and Umbagog lake, reaching an eleva- 

 tion of about twelve hundred feet above the sea. 



"Our arbor-vitse is," says Prof. Gray, "the physiognomic tree of our 

 cold swamps at the north and in Canada." This tree, very rarely seen 

 in southern New Hampshire except when cultivated for a hedge,* enters 

 as a prominent element into the flora of Coos county, growing most 

 abundantly along the borders of slow streams and in swamps, and varying 

 from thirty to fifty feet in height. 



Hackmatacks, or tamaracks, do not enter largely into our flora, but are 

 of very graceful appearance wherever they are seen. This species is 

 chiefly found in swamps of small extent, and ranges along the highlands 

 from Massachusetts to north of the White Mountains. The red cedar, 

 or savin, has the most limited range of all our trees belonging to this 

 family, occurring mostly near the sea-coast in sterile soil.f Juniper,, 

 of the same family, is sometimes troublesome by overspreading hilly 

 pastures. The Canadian variety of the yew is often present in cold 



* Seen commonly in Sutton, Windsor, Antrim, and probably other towns along the Connecticut-Merrimack 

 water-shed.— C. H. H. 

 t Occurs also in Hart's Location.^C. H. H, 



