186 FOREST TREES. 
as their growth is more rapid and their timber more 
valuable. 
5. Abies balsamea—Balsam Fir. 
Leaves, narrowly linear, three-quarters to one inch 
Jong, silvery beneath; bark, smooth, with resinous 
vesicles; cones, three to four inches long, cylindrical, 
violet-colored, erect; the bracts obovate, serrulate, 
pointed. i 
This tree is a native of the coldest parts of the 
United States and of the British possessions. Its 
ordinary height does not exceed forty feet, with a 
diameter of twelve or fifteen inches. The trunk 
tapers rapidly from the base upwards. In some local- 
ities it is said to attain a much greater size, and to 
equal the Black Spruce in height. The wood is 
white, soft and deficient in strength. It is often used 
for the timbers of buildings, but is not often sawed 
into lumber, from the rarity of stocks of sufficient 
size. he resin is deposited in vesicles or blisters on 
the trunk and branches, and is collected and used for 
medicinal purposes. 
The Balsam Fir is very generally popular as an 
ornamental tree, and it is certainly beautiful while 
young and vigorous. Some denounce it as short 
lived and apt to become meagre and decrepid. This 
is doubtless the case in poor, gravelly and shallow 
soils; but wherever planted in the deep loam of the 
Western prairies, (and there are trees there forty feet 
high) it has thus far retained its full vigor and 
beauty. 
