208 
RURAL HOURS. 
death for a space of forty years.* Amid this wild confusion, we 
note here and there some mark left by civilized man ; the track 
of wheels, a rude road sprinkled over by withered leaves, or the 
mark of the axe, sharp and clean, upon a stump close at hand, 
reminding us how freely and how richly the forest contributes to 
the wants of our race. 
Perhaps two-fifths of the woods m our neighborhood are ever- 
greens, chiefly pine and hemlock ; the proportion varies, however, 
in different spots ; occasionally you see a whole mountain-side 
dark with hemlock and pine, while other hills, again, are almost 
entirely covered with deciduous trees ; more frequently, they are 
pleasingly mingled in the same wood. Both hemlock and pine 
grow in all positions, upon the hills, in the valleys, in dry soils, 
and upon the banks of the streams. The balsam is less common, 
generally found in marshy spots, in company with its kinsman, 
of the tamarach, which in summer, at least, has all the appearance 
of an evergreen. The balsam is a beautiful tree ; though not aspir- 
ing to the dignity of the pine and hemlock, it shoots up in the 
most perfect and gradual spire-like form, to a height of thirty or 
forty feet, remarkable for its elegance ; the foliage is very rich 
in color and quantity. It seems to delight in throwing its 
image into the pools and tarns about our hills, often standing 
on their banks, tinging the waters with its own dark green. 
There is no cedar very near us ; the white cedar, or cypress, is 
found about eight or nine miles to the northward, and still far- 
* The trees destroyed on the Mississip]3i by the earthquake of 1811 are stand- 
ing to-day, when nearly forty years have elapsed (Dec. 1849). And many simi- 
lar instances might, no doubt, be found, if people had watched these dead inhab- 
itants of our forests. 
