THE SPRUCE FIR. 



385 



pose ; they are rendered flexible by splitting them 

 down the middle, and by boiling them for two or 

 three hours in water, mixed with alkali and sea 

 salt. They are then dried and twisted into 

 cordage, which is used instead of hemp, both for 

 naval and agricultural purposes. From a decoc- 

 tion of the young shoots Spruce beer is made. 



Spruce Firs in this country are liable to serious 

 depredations either from squirrels or crossbills, 

 which gnaw off about six inches of the young 



GALL OF SPRUCE FIR. 



shoots, and let them fall to the ground, some- 

 times in such quantities as to carpet the soil. It 

 is scarcely decided which of the two animals is the 

 culprit ; but the visits of either are much dreaded 

 by foresters. The only insect which injures the 

 Spruce Fir is a kind of aphis, which in the autumn 

 n. c c 



