102 
BLACK OR DOUBLE SPRUCE. 
the District of Maine, and Black Spruce in Nova Scotia, though the two 
last denominations are known throughout all these countries. I have pre- 
ferred that of Black Spruce, which expresses a striking character of the 
tree, and is contrasted with that of the following species, the White 
Spruce, From the influence of the soil upon the wood it is sometimes 
called Red Spruce , and this variety has been considered, erroneously as I 
shall prove in the sequel, as a distinct species. 
The Black Spruce is most abundant in the countries lying between the 
44th and 53d degrees of latitude, and between the 55th and 75th degrees 
of longitude, viz. : Lower Canada, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova 
Scotia, the District of Maine, Vermont and the upper part of New Hamp- 
shire ; and it is so multiplied as often to constitute a third part of the 
forests by which they are uninterruptedly covered. Further south it is 
rarely seen except in cold and humid situations on the top of the Alle- 
ghanies. It is particularly remarked in a large swamp not far from 
Wilkesbarre, in Pennsylvania, and on the Black Mountain, in South 
Carolina, which is one of the loftiest summits of the Southern States, and 
is probably thus named from the melancholy aspect occasioned by the 
dusky foliage of this tree. It is sometimes met with also in the White 
Cedar swamps near Philadelphia and New York ; but in these places, which 
are always miry and sometimes submerged, its vegetation is feeble. The 
leaves are of a dark, gloomy green, about 4 lines long, firm, numerous, 
and attached singly over the surface of the branches. The flowers appear 
at the extremity of the highest twigs, and are succeeded by small, reddish 
oval cones, pointing toward the earth, and varying in length from 8 lines 
to 2 inches. They are composed of thin scales, slightly notched at the 
base, and sometimes split for half their length on the. most vigorous trees, 
on which the cones are also the largest : they are not ripe till the end of 
autumn, when they open for the escape of the seeds, which are small, 
light, and surmounted by a wing, by means of which they are wafted 
abroad by the wind. 
The regions in which the Black Spruce is the most abundant are often 
diversified with hills, and the finest forests are found in valleys where the 
soil is black, humid, deep, and covered with a thick bed of moss : though 
crowded so as to leave an interval of only 3, 4, or 5 feet, these stocks attain 
their fullest development, which is 70 or 80 feet in height and from 15 
to 20 inches in diameter. The summit is a regular pyramid, and has a 
beautiful appearance on insulated trees. This agreeable form is owing to 
the spreading of the branches in a horizontal instead of a declining direc- 
tion, like those of the true Norway Pine, which is a more gloomy tree. 
The trunk, unlike that of the Pines, is smooth, and is remarkable for its 
perpendicular ascension and for its regular diminution from the base to the 
summit, which is terminated by an annual shoot 12 or 15 inches long. It 
