ON THE FOBEST-TREES OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 437 



a covering. The wood of this tree, like the white spruce, which shall 

 be noticed in order, is used for masts and spars, and manufactured into 

 deals, boards, scantling, battens, shingles, and laths. The transportation of, 

 these manufactured articles to Great Britain and elsewhere, gives employ- 

 ment to a vast amount of tonnage, foreign vessels having received, for some 

 years past, nearly 40 per cent, of the carrying trade. 



White Spruce. — The production of this tree is unlimited, and grows 

 principally in soft soil, which permits the roots to expand to a prodigious 

 extent ; and, owing to the elasticity and toughness of the wood, it is highly 

 esteemed. The trees attain a height of eighty feet and upwards, and from 

 nine tct eleven feet in circumference at the base. This species of spruce, 

 like that just noticed, bears a cone about two inches long, and three-fourths 

 of an inch iu diameter, and retains its green foliage throughout the whole 

 year. 



The white spruce is very useful to the Indian on account of the tar or 

 resin which it contains. This substance exudes from the knots and 

 " blazes " made in the tree, and is used for more effectually securing the 

 seams of canoes and various utensils. Fangs, with which the canoes are 

 secured, are also procured from the roots of the white spruce. 



Spars, piles, deals, boards, battens, laths, shingles, &c, are made from 

 this tree ; and, in conjunction with similar articles manufactured from the 

 black spruce, form a very large item in the annual exports of the province. 



Fir (Abies). — The fir tree abounds in all parts of the province, attains 

 a height of forty-five and fifty feet, and from eighteen inches to two feet in 

 diameter at the base. The foliage is heavier than that of the spruce tree, 

 while the cone it bears is somewhat larger, and affords food for the squirrel, 

 &c, in the winter season. The grain of the wood is neither so close nor so 

 hard in its nature as that of the spruce, is more resinous, but, when free 

 from sap, is considered to be durable. This wood, like the spruce, is cut 

 up into deals, boards, battens, &c, for exportation. It is much used in 

 wharf building. When manufactured into tubs, pails, butter firkins, and 

 churns, it is greatly esteemed by farmers' wives, from the fact that the more 

 frequently these utensils are used, the whiter the wood becomes. 



It is from the fir tree, sometimes designated "Silver Fir," that the 

 " Canada Balsam," so highly esteemed throughout the province and else- 

 where, for its great healing properties, is procured. 



Rock Maple (Acer Saccharinum). — There are four kinds of maple. The 

 soil in which they grow is of a rich loamy nature, and very justly is more 

 highly valued on account of its agricultural capabilities, than land covered 

 with wood of an inferior description. The species now more particularly 

 under notice is known as the "Bock Maple." It grows to a height of 

 seventy and eighty feet, and the trunk is generally from three to four feet 

 in diameter. The maple sugar which this tree produces is a great source 

 of profit to the farmer ; indeed, many make the procuring of the sap 

 and the preparation of the sugar a branch of business. It has been esti- 

 mated that ths quantity of maple sugar annually made in New Brunswick 



