P I N U S. 485 
reding fpecies are from A Report on the Trees, Shrubs, 
&c. ufed by the Indians of Upper Canada as Medicine, 
&c. by R. Kerr, efq. fenior furgeon to the Indian depart¬ 
ment in both Canadas; 1823. 
24. Pinus nigra, the black fpruce-fir-tree : leaves fo- 
litary, four-cornered, fcattered all round, ftraight, drift ; 
cones oblong. The black Newfoundland fpruce has 
Shorter leaves, whiter on the under fide, than the white ; 
the cones alfo are fmaller and more compaft. The appel¬ 
lations of white and black are given from the colour of 
the bark; for there is little difference in the colour of the 
wood, and the leaves of the black are whiter on their 
under fide than thofe of the white. Both are natives 
of North America; the white upon the mountains, the 
black upon the low grounds, generally in bogs or fwamps. 
The firft is by much the largeft tree. Few of thefe trees 
are now remaining near the European fettlements, but 
farther up in the country they are in great plenty. The 
cones both of the black and white fpruce were fent from 
Virginia to England by Mr. Banifter, towards the end of 
the feventeenth century; and feveral of the plants were 
railed in the gardens of Compton bifhop of London, at 
Fulham, Mr. Reynardfon at Hillendon near Uxbridge, 
and Mr. Darby at Hoxton; but thele were foon deftroyed, 
after the death of their poffeffors. About the fame time 
cones were brought from Newfoundland to Devonfhire, 
where there were, in 1755, fome large trees growing, 
which produced cones for thirty years; but there are few 
of thefe trees now in England, 
The branches of both forts are ufed indifferently in 
making fpruce-beer. The prefent fpecies is eafily known 
by its narrow leaves, placed on every fide of the branches, 
and its long pendulous cones, which do not fall to pieces 
on the tree, but drop off entire the following fummers 
the fcales open and emit the feeds on the firft warmth of 
the fpring. 
( 3 . A variety of this tree is cultivated in the gardens 
near London, called the long-coned, Cornj/h fir. The leaves 
are longer, broader, of a lighter colour, and fuller on the 
branches; the cones alfo are longer. From the appear¬ 
ance of the old trees they may be taken for diftinft fpe¬ 
cies ; but, fince both are produced from feeds of the fame 
cone, they are certainly only feminal varieties. 
25. Pinus rubra, the red fpruce-fir : leaves folitary, awl- 
fhaped; cones oblong, obtufe; their fcales rounded, 
fomewhat cloven, the margin entire; common filament 
Shorter than the braftes. Found in Nova Scotia, and 
about Hudfon’s Bay, flowering in May. Though Miller 
appears to have known this tree in cultivation, it is at 
prefent rarely feen; nor does it excite attention, except 
from the more curious obfervers. It is of more humble 
growth than the black, which it mod refembles, except 
that the leaves are awl-fliaped; the unripe cones are of a pale 
purplilh-green, and when ripe rather oblong than ovate, 
their fcales rounded, and not notched, but fplit. Spruce- 
beer ismade of the (hoots of this alfo; indeed Miller fays 
there is no difference whatever between this and the 
black, either in the cones which have been brought from 
America, or the young plants which have been raifed in 
our gardens. 
26. Pinus abies, the Norway fpruce fir-tree: leaves 
folitary, fomewhat four-cornered, (harpilh, diftich; 
branches naked below ; cones cylindrical. The Norway 
fpruce-fir is the loftieft of our European trees, attaining 
a height from 125 to 150 feet, with a very ftraight trunk, 
and throwing out its fpreading branches fo as to form 
an elegant pyramid. Leaves cluftered, without order, 
from an oblong cortical fcale four-cornered, drawn out 
into a (harp point, thickifh, commonly curved a little; 
as Linnaeus obferves, compreffed, flightJy keeled on both 
fidesj lhining on the upper furface. Male cones or 
catkins ovate, fcattered in the axils of the leaves, purple. 
The young female cones are alfo purple; when ripe, 
pendulous. They have eight rows of fcales in a fpiral; 
each row having from twenty to twenty-three fcales, in 
Vol. XX. No. 1384. 
each of which are two feeds, and confequently about 365 
in a cone. The fcales are obovate-rhomboidal, termi¬ 
nating in a dagger-point, not appendicled. Nuts 
fmallifli, ovate acuminate downwards, flatted a little, 
cruftaceous, blackifli-brown: wing covering the nut 
only on the outer fide, membranaceous, elliptic, thin. 
Albumen fubpellucid, of a watery colour. Embryo 
milky, having nine cotyledons. This fpecies is the 
fubjeft of Plate II. 
The vaft woods of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, &c. are 
principally compofed of the Pinus fylveftris, which we call 
Scotch Pine, becaufe it abounds in Scotland, and is the 
only tree of this genus which is indigenous there 5 and 
this fpecies of fpruce-fir,which we commonly call Norway- 
fpruce, becaufe we import the timber of this tree chiefly 
from Norway. There are two principal varieties of it, 
the white and the red, but both afford the white deals. 
Gaertner fays that they are called fo from the paler or 
deeper colour of the cones, and that they agree in the 
want of the ligules on the back of the fcales, by which 
they are diftinguifhed with greater evidence and certainty 
from Pinus pinea than by the leaves. Linnaeus has five 
varieties in his Flora Suecica, but they are infignificant. 
In the Kew Catalogue it is faid that the Norway fpruce 
was cultivated in Chelfea garden in 1739 : but we pro¬ 
bably had it much earlier ; for Mr. Evelyn fpeaks of Sir 
Norton Knatchbull’s delicious plantation of pines and 
firs, which he beheld with great fatisfaftion, and where 
a fir-tree of the knight’s own railing (hot no less than 60 
feet in height, in little more than twenty years ; of Sir 
Peter Wentworth’s, of Lillingfton-level; Cornbury in 
Oxfordfliire, and other places ; but efpecially thofe trees 
growing now in Harefield-park in the county of Middle- 
fex. Thefe might poflibly be North-American firs; but 
it is fcarcely credible that the Norway-fpruce (hould not 
have been introduced here before 1739; though we have 
not at prefent found any direct evidence for it. 
As to the immenfe forefts of fir or pine difcovered 
under-ground in various parts of thefe kingdoms, they 
were probably the P. fylveftris, or Scotch pine: for the 
fubterranean cones which have been feen evidently 
belonged to this fpecies: and hence, after all, Julius 
Csefar may be right in affirming that neither the fagus 
nor the abies were in his time indigenous of Britain, if 
the fagus be a fpecies of oak, and the abies the Norway 
fpruce-fir, which does not now, and probably never did, 
grow wild in this ifland : whereas great quantities of 
Scotch pine were cut down by the Romans, to difen- 
cumber the country, and deltroy the retreats of its 
favage inhabitants. 
The timber of the fpruce-fir is well known to be 
inferior to that of the Pinus fylveftris: the former afford¬ 
ing the white, the latter the red, deal. This however, 
fays Haller, is what is chiefly ufed in Swifferland for 
mails, beams, joints, fpars, and an infinity of utenfils and 
inftruments; charcoals, though not the hardeft, for 
fufing metals; refin collected to the quantity of forty 
pounds from a tree in one year; pitch, tar, See. Fir was 
anciently ufed, fays Evelyn, for building (hips ; it is (till 
ufed for the malts, and fome other parts, but feldom for 
the entire veffel, except in fmall craft. Its great con- 
fumption now among us is for the interior work of our 
lioufes; beams, joifts, rafters, fpars, doors, floors, 
wainfeot, all being made of this wood, almoll to the 
exclufion of any other. Scaffold-poles, balks, laths, 
boxes, and bellies formufical inftruments, are made of fir. 
It is exceedingly fmooth to polifh on, and therefore does 
well under gilding work, and takes black equal with the 
pear-tree. It fucceeds well in carving, the grain being 
eafy to work, and taking the tool every way. No wood 
takes glue fo well, or is fo eafily wrought. Cafes and 
barrels for dry goods, (hingles, hoops, &c. are made of it. 
It yields pitch, tar, turpentine, and refin ; and from the 
buds and tops fpruce beer is made, accounted fo excellent 
againft the feurvy. No tree will yield greater profit than 
6 H the 
