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AMERICAN SILVER FIR. 
Abies balsamifera. A. arbor 40-45 pedalis ; foliis solitariis, subtus argenteis , 
apice emarginatis integrisve , subrecurvo-patentissimis ; strobilis cylindraceis , 
violaceis, sursum spectantibus. 
The coldest regions of North America are the native country of this 
species of Spruce. In the United States, Canada and Nova Scotia, it is 
called Silver Fir , Fir Balsam , and Balm of Grilead. 
From the observations of Messrs Titus Smith, estimable botanists who 
have explored Nova Scotia and with whom I became acquainted at Halifax, 
by those of my father who visited Canada, and by my own, the Silver Fir 
appears not to constitute masses of woods, but to be disseminated,, in 
greater or less abundance, among the Hemlock and Black Spruces. Fur- 
ther south it is found only on the summit of the Alleghanies, and particu- 
larly on the loftiest mountains of North Carolina. Its height rarely 
exceeds 40 feet, with a diameter of 12 or 15 inches. This statement is 
confirmed by the persons whom I have just cited; and Vanghenheim, who 
never travelled in these countries, and after him Sir A. B. Lambert, mis- 
takenly assert that it is a tree of elevated stature. The body tapers from 
a foot in diameter at the surface of the ground to 7 or 8 inches at the 
height of 6 feet. When standing alone and developing itself naturally, 
its branches, which are numerous and thickly garnished with leaves, 
diminish in length in proportion to their height, and form a pyramid of 
perfect regularity. The leaves are 6 or 8 lines long, and are inserted 
singly on the sides and on the top of the branches ; they are narrow, rigid 
and flat, of a bright green above and a silvery white beneath ; whence 
probably is derived the name of the tree. 
The cones are nearly cylindrical, 4 or 5 inches long, an inch in diameter, 
and always directed upwards ; this last characteristic, which belongs also 
to the Silver Fir of Europe, distinguishes these species from the Fpicias , 
whose cones are turned toward the earth. 
The wood of the Silver Fir is light and slightly resinous, and the heart 
is yellowish. In Maine, where it chièfly abounds, it is not employed, on 
account of its deficiency of size or of strength. I was informed by Messrs. 
Smith, that in Nova Scotia it sometimes serves for the staves of casks used 
