17 



BALSAM FIR. 



The Balsam Fir.^ Alfeshalsanua (L.) Miller, is a tree common all over 

 New England, springing up wherever the White Pine or Spruce are 

 out away. It produces great quantities of seed, which germinate 

 readily the succeeding year. The trees are usuallv smaller than the 

 Spruces, growing to ])e 50 feet (15 meters) in height and 6 inches to 1 

 foot (15 to 80 cm.) in diameter. Its wood is used for a cheap grade of 

 lumber, for it is ver} light and does not have any resisting power. 

 In central Maine it is often cut with the Spruce and sent to the pulp 

 mills. The trees are very su])ject to the attacks of insects and fungi. 

 The large black ants" annually destroy hundreds of trees. 



HEMLOCK. 



The Hemlock. T^xicja canadensis (L. ) Carriere, is a stately tree, usually 

 60 feet (18 meters) in height, having a trunk 2 to 4 feet (0.6 to 1.2 

 meters) in diameter. It is an important element of the northern forest, 

 and has long been valued for its bark, which is extensively used in the 

 tanning of leather. As an ornamental tree it has few equals among 

 our native trees. 



In stately grace it has no rival among the inhabitants of the gardens of the northern 

 United States, when, with its long lower branches sweeping the lawn, it rises into a 

 great pyramid, dark and somber in winter and light in early summer, with the 

 tender yellow tones of its drooping branchlets and vernal foUage.^ 



It is one of the most valuable trees of the Eastern forests. It is estimated that in 

 the year 1887, 1,200,000 tons of bark of this tree were harvested, and although a large 

 part of the timber of the trees cut and stripped of their bark is allowed to rot on the 

 ground it is believed that the average annual value of the material of all kinds 

 obtained from this hemlock is not less than 830,000,000. 



The tree is one Avhich grows very slowly. The seedlings are ver}^ 

 sensitive to exposure and do not recover readih' when injured. The 

 wood is very coarse and brittle and is worked with difficulty. It is, 

 however, used considerabl}^ in various localities for a cheap grade of 

 lumber, and at times, when other wood is not to be had, for railway 

 ties, fence posts, and railing, but its resisting powers to weathering 

 influences are very slight. 



AKBOK VIT^. 



The Arbor Vita\ Thuja. occUItntaJls^ L.,* is a tree found throughout 

 the northern parts of Kew England, particularh^ in wet, boggy lands, 

 where it forms dense forests, the individual members of which grow 



^Sargent, C. S. Silva of North America. 12:107, 108. 1898. 

 '^Hopkins, A. D. Preliminary Report on the Insect Enemies of the Forests of the 

 Northwest. Bui. No. 21, U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Entomology. 1899. 

 ^Sargent, loc. cit. 66. 



* Sargent, C. S. Silva of North America. 10:126. 1896. 

 5776 — No. 25 2 



