' >

THE

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NORTH AMERICAN SYLVA;

OR

%, Imtiftfian

OF THE

FOREST TREES OF THE UNITED STATES,

CANADA, AND NOVA SCOTIA,

CONSIDERED PARTICULARLY WITH RESPECT TO THEIR USE IN THE
ARTS, AND THEIR INTRODUCTION INTO COMMERCE ;

TO WHICH IS ADDED

A DESCRIPTION OF THE MOST USEFUL OF

THE EUROPEAN FOREST TREES.

ILLUSTRATED

BY 156 COLOURED COPPERPLATE ENGRAVINGS,

BY REDOUTE, BESSA, ETC.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF

F. ANDREW MICHAUX,

Member of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, etc.

WITH NOTES BY J. JAY SMITH,

MEMBER OP THE ACADEMY OP NATURAL SCIENCES, ETC.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. III.

ROBERT P. SMITH, PHILADELPHIA.

1 8 5 3 .

Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by ROBERT P SMITH, i
Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

KITE & WALTON, PRINTERS.

n the

.SSJJî 1

Jtt.JOJ.

C abb a^'e Tree.
Chamærojw palmetto .

A.m/ttddf

THE

NORTH AMERICAN

S Y L Y A.

CABBAGE TREE.

Hexandria trigynia. Linn. Palmæ. Jusg.

Chamærofs palmeto. C. caule arboreo; frondibus palmatis,plicatis,stipitibus
non aculeatis.

From its lofty height, this vegetable is considered in the United States
as a tree ; and upon the shores of the Ocean, where it grows, it is called
Cabbage Tree. It belongs to the genus of the Palms, and is found further
north than any other species in America, being first seen about Cape Hat-
teras, in the 34th degree of latitude, which, in the temperature of the
winter, corresponds with the 44th in Europe. From Cape Hatteras it
spreads to the extremity of East Florida, and probably encircles the Gulf
of Mexico : I have no doubt that it exists also in Cuba and the Bahama
Isles ; I have seen it in Bermuda, which is more than 600 miles from the
coast of North America.

Further south the Cabbage Tree is not confined, as in the United States,
to the immediate vicinity of the sea ; on the river St. John, in Florida, à
few miles above Lake George, I caused two stocks to be felled at the dis-
tance of 40 or 50 miles from the shore.

A trunk from 40 to 50 feet in height, of a uniform diameter, and
crowned with a regular and tufted summit, gives to the Cabbage Tree a
beautiful and majestic appearance. Its leaves are of a brilliant green,
Vol. III.— 2

2

CABBAGE TREE.

palmated, and borne by petioles from 18 to 24 inches long, nearly triangu-
lar and united at the edges ; they vary in length and breadth from 1 foot
to 5 feet, and are so arranged that the smallest occupy the centre of the
summit, and the largest the circumference. Before their development they
are folded like a fan, and as they open, the outside sticks break off and
fall, leaving the base surrounded with filaments woven into a coarse, flim-
sy and russet web.

The base of the undisclosed bundles of leaves is white, compact and ten-
der ; it is eaten with oil and vinegar, and resembles the artichoke and the
cabbage in taste, whence is derived the name of Cabbage Tree. But to
destroy a vegetable which has been a century in growing, to obtain three
or four ounces of a substance neither richly nutritious nor peculiarly agree-
able to the palate, would be pardonable only in a desert which was destined
to remain uninhabited for ages. With similar prodigality of the works of
Nature, the first settlers of Kentucky killed the Buffalo, an animal weighing
1200 or 1500 pounds, for the pleasure of eating its tongue, and abandoned
the carcase to the beasts of the wilderness.

The Cabbage Tree bears long clusters of small greenish flowers, which
are succeeded by a black, inesculent fruit, about the size of a pea.

In the Southern States the wood of this tree, though extremely porous,
is preferred to every other for wharves : its superiority consists in being
secure from injury by sea-worms, which, during the summer, commit such
ravages in structures accessible to their attacks ; but when exposed to be
alternately wet and dry in the flowing and ebbing of the tide, it decays as
speedily as other wood. This use of the Cabbage Tree is rapidly dimin-
ishing its numbers, and probably the period is not distant when it will
cease to exist within the boundaries of the United States.

In the war of Independence the Cabbage Tree was found eminently
fitted for constructing forts, as it closes on the passage of the ball, with-
out splitting.

The growth and development of the Palms have occupied the attention
of distinguished botanists, to whose memoirs the reader is referred for
more accurate information. The tardy growth of this species will always
discourage its propagation.

PLATE CL

A Cabbage Tree with its Fruit.

F/.ioz

-Bcssa pma: .

Pride of India

Jlfelia avledartzc/i .

( 3 )

PRIDE OF INDIA.

Decandria monogynia. Linn. Meliœ. Juss.

Melia azedarach. M. foliis bipinnatis.

This tree is a native of Persia. For the beauty of its flowers and the
elegance of its foliage, it has long been in request in southern climates for
embellishing towns and adorning the environs of dwellings. It is propa-
gated for this purpose in India, in the Isles of France and Bourbon, in
Syria, Spain, Portugal, Italy and the southern departments of France. In
the New World it is found in several towns of the West Indies and of
South America ; and on the Northern Continent it is so abundant and so
easily multiplied in the maritime parts of the Southern States, as to be
ranked among their natural productions. This claim upon our attention
is enforced -by 'the, valuhle properties of its bark and of its wood.

The Pride of India rises to the height of 30 or 40 feet, with a diameter
of 15 or 20 inches; but,' when standing alone, its growth is usually arrested
at a lower elevation, and it spreads into a spacious summit. Its leaves are
of a dark green color, large, doubly pinnate, and composed of smooth, acu-
minate, denticulated leaflets. The lilac flowers, which form axillary clusters
at the extremity of the branches, produce a fine effect, and exhale a deli-
cious odor. The ripe seeds are large, round and yellowish ; they are sought
with’ avidity by certain birds, particularly by the red-breasts, in their
annual migration to the South, which, after gorging themselves immod-
erately, are sometimes found stupefied by their narcotic power. The ven-
omous principle which resides in this tree is taken notice of by Avicenna,
an Arabian physician, who flourished about the year 980. In Persia the
itch is cured with an ointment made by pounding its leaves with lard.

The Pride of India prospers in a dry and sandy soil, and magnificent
stocks are seen, in the streets of Charleston and Savannah. Its foliage,
which, as well as the flowers, is developed early in the spring, affords a
delightful refreshment to the eye, and yields a shelter from the fervor of the
sun during the intense heat of summer. It grows with such rapidity, that
from the seed it attains the height of 12 or 15 feet in four years. This
surprising vegetation is chiefly remarked in stocks less than ten years of
age, in which the concentric circles are more distant than in any other

4

PRIDE OF INDIA.

tree. Like the Locust, it possesses the valuable property of converting its
sap into perfect wood in the earliest stages of its growth ; a stock 6 inches
in diameter has only an inch of sap, and consequently may be employed
almost entire. The wood is of a reddish color, and is similarly organized
with that of the Ash : it receives a less brilliant polish than the Red Bay,
the Wild Cherry, the Maple and the Sweet Gum ; but this defect is unim-
portant in a country which possesses the species just mentioned and can
easily procure Mahogany. The Pride of India is sufficiently durable and
strong to be useful in building, and it will probably be found adapted to
various mechanical uses ; it has already been employed for pullies, which
in Europe are made of Elm, and in America of Ash. I have been assured
that it is excellent fuel.

This succinct description deserves attention in the southern parts of
North America, andin those countries of Europe where the Pride of India
is considered as an ornamental rather than as an useful tree. Fields
exhausted by cultivation and abandoned, might be profitably covered with

it.

PLATE OIL

A leaf of a third part of the natural size. Fig. 1 . Flowers of the natural size.
Fig. 2, Seeds of the natural size.

[The Pride of India cannot be considered hardy as far north as Phila-
delphia, where its limbs are killed regularly every year ; the root survives,
and stools are again produced in the spring.]

Fl. io3

Bmsû del

Pis ta cia Tree .
Pur form ocra

Gabriel scidv

^miÈÊk

( 5 )

PISTACIA TREE.

Diœcia pentandria. Linn.

Terebinthaceæ. Juss.

Pistacia veea. P. foliis impari-pinnatis ; foliolis sulovatis , recurvis, coraceis.

The Pistacia Tree is indigenous to Asia Minor and is particularly abun-
dant in Syria. It equals, and sometimes exceeds, 25 or 30 feet in height,
and has heavy, crooked limbs clad in a thick, grayish bark, and large
leaves composed of one or two pair of coriaceous leaflets, with a terminal
odd one. This vegetable belongs to the class of dioecious plants whose
sexes are borne by different stocks. The barren flowers are minute and
hardly apparent, and the fertile ones are likewise small and of a greenish
color. Its fruit consists of thin-shelled oval-acuminate nuts, about the size
of an olive, which are collected in bunches, and are commonly yielded in
profusion. They are of a more agreeable flavor than the hazel-nut or
almond, and are annually exported to those parts of Europe and Asia
where the trees do not flourish.

The Pistacia Tree succeeds in dry, calcareous, stony grounds, but shuns
a sandy and a humid soil. In forming plantations, care must be taken to
possess trees of different sexes, without which the fructification is impossi-
ble ; one male should be allotted to five or six females, and to avoid mis-
take, young grafted stocks should be procured, or suckers from the foot
of an old tree.

The wood is hard, resinous, excellent for fuel, and fitted for economical
purposes.

According to Pliny, pistacia-nuts were first brought to Rome about the
reign of Tiberius, by Yitellius, Governor of Syria, and probably the tree
was introduced into Italy at the same period. It has long been cultivated
in Spain, Portugal, and the south of France, and, when protected by a wall
and favored with a southern exposure, it yields fruit even at Paris. It is
less delicate than the Orange Tree, and prospers in the same soil and
climate with the Olive. Though it offers less powerful inducements than

6

AMERICAN CHESNÜT.

the Olive to attempt its introduction into West Tennessee and the
Southern States, it would afford an agreeable addition to the luxuries of
the table.

PLATE CIII.

A branch with fruit of the natural size. Fig. 1, A barren flower. Fig. 2,
A fertile floioer. Fig. 3, Fruit with the nut exposed. Fig. 4, A met with the
kernel exposed. Fig. 5, A kernel without the pellicle.

AMERICAN CHESNUT.

Moncecia polyandria. Linn. Amentacece. Jirss.

Castanea vesca. C. foliis lanceolatis , acuminatd-serratis, utrinquè glabris ;
nucibus dimidio superiore villosis.

The Chesnut does not venture beyond the 44th degree of latitude. It
is found in New Hampshire between the 43d and the 44th degrees, but
such is the severity of the winter, that it is less common than in Connecticut,
New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It is most multiplied in the mountainous
districts of the Carolinas and of Georgia, and abounds on the Cumberland
Mountains and in East Tennessee.

The coolness of the summer and the mildness of the winter in these
regions are favorable to the Chesnut ; the face of the country, also, is per-
fectly adapted to a tree which prefers the sides of mountains or their im-
mediate vicinity, where the soil in general is gravelly, though deep enough
to sustain its perfect development. The Chesnut of the Old World attains
its greatest expansion in similar situations ; an example is said to exist on
Mount Etna of a Chestnut 160 feet in circumference, or about 53 feet in
diameter, and large enough to shelter 100 men on horseback beneath its
branches ; but its trunk is hollowed by time almost to the bark : near it
stand several others more than 75 feet in circumference- At Sancerre, in
the Department of the Cher, 120 miles from Paris, there is a Chesnut
which, at 6 feet from the ground, is 30 feet in circumference; 600 years
ago it was called the Great Chesnut , and though it is supposed to be more
than 1000 years old, its trunk is still perfectly sound, and its branches are

Sews# nW

American Cliesnali

Castanea vesca .

i/tFT t Toft/ iTcu/jf.

.

AMERICAN CHESNUT.

7

annually laden with fruit. I have never met with instances of such extra-
ordinary growth in the United States, but the American species is probably
susceptible of an equal development, since, in the forests of North Carolina,
it is commonly as tall and as large as the corresponding species in those of
Europe. I have measured several stocks which, at 6 feet from the ground,
were 15 or 16 feet in circumference, and which equalled the loftiest trees
in stature.

The Chesnut is a stranger to the Province of Maine, the State of Ver-
mont and a great part of Gennesee, to the maritime parts of Virginia, to
the Carolinas, Georgia, the Floridas and Louisiana as far as the mouth of
the Ohio.

Though the American Chesnut nearly resembles that of Europe in its
general appearance, its foliage, its fruit, and the properties of its wood, it
is treated by botanists as a distinct speeies. Its leaves are 6 or 7 inches
long, lè inch broad, coarsely toothed, of an elongated oval form, of a fine
brilliant color and of a firm texture, with prominent parallel nerves beneath.
The barren flowers are whitish, unpleasant to the smell, and grouped on
axillary peduncles 4 or 5 inches long. The fertile aments are similarly
disposed, but less conspicuous. The fruit is spherical, covered with fine
prickles, and stored with two dark brown seeds or nuts, about as large as
the end of the finger, convex on one side, flattened on the other, and coated
round the extremity with whitish down. They are smaller and sweeter
than the wild chesnuts of Europe, and are sold in the markets of New York,
Philadelphia and Baltimore.

The wood is strong, elastic, and capable of enduring the succession of
dryness and moisture. Its durability renders it especially valuable for
posts, which should be made of trees less than 10 inches in diameter and
charred before they are planted in the earth. In Connecticut, Pennsyl-
vania and a part of Virginia, it is also preferred for rails, and is said to
last more than fifty years. F or shingles this wood is superior to any species
of Oak, though it has the same defect of warping. It is not extensively
used for staves, and its pores, like those of the Red Oak, are so open that it
is proper only for dry wares ; the European species, which is more compact,
is employed in Italy to contain wines and brandy.

Throughout France and the south of Europe, young Chesnuts are almost
exclusively chosen for hoops, and they are found to be better adapted to
this important use than any other species, as they last longer in the hum-
idity of the cellar. I have been informed by coopers at New York and
| Philadelphia that the American Chesnut is too brittle for hoops ; if such
is the fact, the European species has the advantage of superior flexibility.
A more probable reason is that it is not strong enough to remain firmly
attached, like the Hickory, by crossing the ends, but requires to be bound
j| with osier, which is an additional labor and expense.

j

AMERICAN CHESNUT.

The Chesnut is little esteemed for fuel, and is not used in the cities of
the United States : like the kindred species in Europe it is filled with air
and snaps as it burns. The coal is excellent, and on some of the mountains
of Pennsylvania where the Chesnut abounds, the woods in the neighborhood
of the forges have been transformed into copses, which are cut every sixteen
years for the furnaces. This period is sufficient to renew them, as the
summer is warmer in America than in Europe, the atmosphere more moist,
and consequently vegetation more rapid. The proprietors of forges in
Virginia, in the upper part of the Carolinas and on the Holston, should,
imitate the example by establishing copses of Chesnut and Oak. Besides
the inducement of private gain, this measure would be attended with public
benefit, by the economy of fuel, which is daily becoming scarcer and more
costly. Among the Oaks, the Rock Chesnut Oak should be selected for
this object, for reasons indicated in describing it.

Chesnut copses are considered in France as the most valuable species of
property : every seven years they are cut for hoops, and the largest branches
serve for vine-props ; at the end of fourteen years they furnish hoops for
large tubs, and at the age of twenty-five years they are fit for posts and
for light timber. Lands of a middling quality, which would not have
produced a rent of more than 4 dollars an acre, in this way yield a mean
annual revenue of from 16 to 24 dollars.

Different methods are pursued in forming the copses ; in the New Dic-
tionary of Natural History the following is preferred : After the ground
has been carefully loosened with the plough and the harrow, lines are drawn
6 feet apart, in which holes about a foot in depth and in diameter are
formed at the distance of 5 feet. A chesnut is placed in each corner of
the holes, and covered with 3 inches of earth. As the soil has been thor-
oughly subdued, the nuts will spring and strike root with facility. Early
in the second year three of the young plants are removed from each hole,
and only the most thriving is left. The third or fourth year, when the
branches begin to interfere with each other, every second tree is suppressed.
To insure its success, the plantation should be begun in March or April,
with nuts that have been kept in the cellar during the winter in sand or
vegetable mould, and that have already begun to germinate.

The European Chesnut would be a valuable acquisition to many 7 parts
of the United States. This tree produces the nuts called Marrons de Lyon ,
which are four times as large as the wild chesnuts of America, and which
are sent from the vicinity of Lyons to every part of France and to the north
of Europe; they were formerly exported also to the West Indies. Ken-
tucky, West Tennessee, and the upper part of Virginia and the Carolinas
are particularly interested in the introduction of this species. It already
exists in the nurseries of Philadelphia and New York, and it is only neces-

AMERICAN CHESNUT.

9

sarj to procure a few stocks to furnish grafts for young Wild Chesnuts
transplanted from the woods or reared in the nursery.*

The Chesnuts may he grafted by inoculation or the insertion of a shoot.
The common method is by lopping a branch of the wild tree, removing a
girdle of the bark near the end, from 1 to 3 inches wide, and replacing it
by another from a limb of the cultivated stock of corresponding diameter.
The lower edge of the new covering is exactly adjusted to the natural bark,
but a portion of the limb is left exposed above, which is scraped down so
as to form a species of tent or dressing, and the whole is protected from
the weather by a coating of clay.

PLATE CIV.

Leaves and aments of the natural size. Fig. 1, Full-grown fruit. Fig. 2,
A chesnut.

[Emerson has given the following dimensions of Chesnut trees in Massa-
chusetts, viz. : one on the land of Joseph Houghton with an erect undi-
vided trunk of 40 or 50 feet and several large branches above, which
measured in 1840, 21 feet 3 inches in circumference at the surface : another
22 feet 8 inches : one is mentioned in Hopkinton which measured in 1826
25 J feet : another southeast of Monument mountain had attained in 1844
at the surface, 30 feet 3 inches in circumference. Still more remarkable
specimens no doubt exist further south, of whose measurements I have no
record.]

* The European cultivated Chesnut is now grown in the United States ; at Burlington,
New Jersey, there are 16 trees in the grounds of Mr. Askew which have produced in one year
16 bushels of these fine nuts which sold readily for 6 to 8 dollars the bushel. — (See also Nuttall’s
(Supplement, Vol. I. p. 2.)

Vol. III. — 3

( 10 )

CHINCAPIN.

Castanea pumila. C. foliis ovalihus serratis, subtus incano-tomentosis ; fructu
parvo, in singulis capsulis echinatis unico.

The Chincapin is bounded northward by the eastern shore of the river
Delaware, on which it is found to the distance of 100 miles from Cape
May. It is more common in Maryland, and still more so in the lower part
of Virginia, of the Carolinas, Georgia, the Floridas and Louisiana, as far
as the river of the Arkansas. In West Tennessee it is multiplied around
the prairies enclosed in the forests, and it abounds throughout the Southern
States wherever the Chesnut is wanting.

In New' Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, the Chincapin is a large shrub
rarely exceeding the height of 7 or 8 feet ; but, in South Carolina, Georgia
and Lower Louisiana, it is sometimes 30 or 40 feet high and 12 or 15
inches in diameter.

The leaves are 3 or 4 inches long, sharply toothed, and similar in form
to those of the American Chesnut, from which they are distinguished by
their inferior size, and by the whitish complexion of their lower surface.
The fructification, also, resembles that of the Chesnut in form and arrange-
ment, but the flowers and fruit are only half as large, and the nut is con-
vex on both sides and about the size of the wild hazel-nut. The nuts of
the Chincapin are brought into the markets, and are eaten raw by children.
The improvement of the Chesnut or of the Chincapin seems hardly to de-
serve attention, since the cultivated variety of Europe can easily be pro-
cured.

In the south of the United States the Chincapin fructifies on the most
arid lands, but it is stinted to 6 or 7 feet in height : its perfect development
requires a cool and fertile soil. As it springs everywhere with facility,
except in places liable to be covered ’with water, it is among the most
common shrubs.

The wood of this species is finer-grained, more compact, heavier, and
perhaps more durable than that of the Chesnut. It is perfectly fitted for
posts, and lasts in the earth more than forty years. Stocks of sufficient
size are so rarely found, that it is only accidentally employed for this pur-
pose, and if the method of forming enclosures practised in the centre of
the United States should prevail in the south, the Pride of India would

J’ï.joS .

CastccnecL jjiamla .

TL i.i 7 .

Wlii (re Bee cli.
LFaans sylve^ti'hs .

WHITE BEECH.

11

merit a decided preference over the Chincapin. The saplings of this
species are laden with branches while they are no thicker than the finger,
and are thus rendered too knotty for hoops. In,the Southern States, where
the White Oak and the Hickories are comparatively rare, perhaps the
Chincapin might be advantageously reared for this purpose in copses.
But it is a tree of secondary importance, which can he recommended only
to amateurs desirous of enriching their collections with a species of Chesnut
interesting for the beauty of its foliage and the diminutive size of its fruit.

PLATE CY.

A branch with leaves and a barren ament of the natural size. Fig. 1, Full-
grown fruit. Fig. 2, A nut.

WHITE BEECH.

Fagus svlvesteis. F. foliis acuminatis, obsolete dentatis , margine ciliatis.

In North America and in Europe the Beech is one of the tallest and
most majestic trees of the forest. Two species are found in Canada and
in the United States, which have hitherto been treated by botanists as
varieties ; but my own observations confirm the opinion of the inhabitants
of the Northern States, who have long since considered them as distinct
species and given them the names of White Beech and Red Beech, from
the color of their wood. In the Middle, Western and Southern States, the
Red Beech does not exist or is very rare, and the other species is known
only by the generic name of Beech. I have retained for the White Beech
the Latin specific name of Fagus sglvestris, which corresponds with the
short description in the Flora Boreali- Americana , and have given to the
Red Beech that of Fagus ferruginea, which accords with the descriptive
phrase in the edition of 1805 of Willdenow’s Species Plantarum.

* A deep, moist soil and a cool atmosphere are necessary to the utmost
expansion of the White Beech, and it is accordingly most multiplied in the
Middle and Western States. Though it is common in New Jersey, Penn-

12

WHITE BEECH.

sylvania, Maryland, and throughout the country east of the mountains, it
is insulated in the forests, instead of composing large masses, as in Gennesee,
Kentucky and Tennessee. I found the finest Beeches on the hanks of the
Ohio between Gallipolis and Marietta, and measured several stocks grow-
ing near each other, which were 8, 9, and 11 feet in circumference, and
more than 100 feet high. In these forests, where the Beeches vegetate
in a deep and fertile soil, their roots sometimes extend to a great distance
even with the surface, and being entangled so as to cover the ground, they
embarrass the steps of the traveller and render the land peculiarly difficult
to clear.

The White Beech is more slender and less branchy than the Red Beech ;
hut its foliage is superb, and its general appearance magnificent. The
leaves are oval-acuminate, smooth, shining, and bordered in the spring with
soft hairy down. The sexes are borne by different branches of the same
tree. The 'barren flowers are collected in pendulous, globular heads, and
the others are small and of a greenish hue. The fruit is an erect capsule
covered with loose, flexible spines, which divides itself at maturity into four
parts, and gives liberty to two triangular seeds. The bark upon the trunk
of the Beech is thick, gray, and, on the oldest stocks, smooth and entire.
The perfect wood of this species bears a small proportion to the sap, and
frequently occupies only 3 inches in a trunk 18 inches in diameter. The
specific name of White Beech is derived from the color of the alburnum ;
and it should be observed that trees of the same genus are more frequently
distinguished in the United States by the complexion of their wood than
by the differences of their foliage and of their flowers. The properties of
this wood will be more particularly mentioned in the description of the
Red Beech.

On the banks of the Ohio and in some parts of Kentucky, where the
Oak is too rare to afford bark enough for tanning, the deficiency is supplied
by that of the White Beech; the leather made with it is white and ser-
viceable, though avowedly inferior to what is prepared with the bark of
the Oak.

The Beech wood brought for fuel to the market of Philadelphia bears a
small proportion to the Oak and the Hickory ; hence we presume that it is
comparatively little esteemed.

Noth withstanding the beauty of this tree, the properties of its wood are
not such as to entitle it to attention in Europe.

PLATE CYI.

A branch with leaves and fruit of the natural size. Fig . 1 , A beech-nut.

Fl îo 6

Red Beecli .

Tagus fernuniia

RED BEECH.

13

[Soil, Propagation , Sfc. Michaux has mentioned above the soil best
suited to the Beechi It will thrive in elevated situations, but is not found
at so great a height as the Sycamore, or even the Gale. The species is
universally propagated by the seed, and the varieties, of which the Copper
presents a most pleasing one for ornamental planting, by budding, grafting,
or inarching. Shake the nuts from the tree as they ripen, dry them in
the sun, or in an airy shed or loft, after which they may be mixed with
sand that is ^perfectly dry, at the rate of three bushels of sand to one of
mast, which only retains its vital properties for one year. Sow the seeds
one -inch apart in March in a light rich soil and cover them about one inch ;
the tender young plants will appear in May, when if the season is dry
they should be moderately watered. In March, next season, with a spade
made very sharp for the purpose, undermine the roots and cut them be-
tween 4 or 5 inches under ground. After the plants have stood two years,
or if, in poor soil, three years, they may be transplanted in lines 2 feet
asunder, and in three or four years they may be removed into a general
plantation. At their removal they must not be pruned at all, but when
once established they may be pruned at pleasure.

Our author is in error in undervaluing the wood of the Beech wood as
fuel ; comparing it with hickory, Bull found it to be as Jo 5 to 100 ; its
ashes furnish a great quantity of potash. The Beech forms a good screen
against wind, and its leaves are strongly recommended by European writers
for filling beds, which last longer than those filled with straw.]

RED BEECH.

Fagus ferrugiiîea. F. foliis ovato-acuminatis , grosse dentatis ; nuces duce
triquetræ , calyce echinato , coriaeeo, quadrijido, inclusœ.

This species of Beech is almost exclusively confined to the north-eastern
parts of the United States, and to the provinces of Canada, Hew Bruns-
wick and Nova Scotia. In the District of Maine and in the States of Hew
Hampshire and Vermont, it is so abundant as often to constitute extensive
forests, the finest of which grow on fertile, level or gently sloping lands,

14

RED BEECH.

which are proper for the culture of corn. Its name is derived from the
color of its wood and not of its leaves, as might be supposed in Europe,
where a species, with dull red and sometimes with purple foliage, is culti-
vated in the gardens.

The Red Beech bears a greater resemblance to that of Europe than to
the kindred American species : it equals the White Beech in diameter, but
not in height ; and as it ramifies nearer the earth, and is more numerously
divided, it has a more massive summit and the appearance off more tufted
foliage. Its leaves are equally brilliant, a little larger and thicker, and
have longer teeth. Its fruit is of the same form, but is only half as large,
and is garnished with firmer and less numerous points. To these differ-
ences must be added a more important one in the wood: a Red Beech 15
or 18 inches in diameter consists of 3 or 4 inches of sap and 13 or 14
inches of heart, the inverse of which' proportion is found in the White
Beech.

The wood of the Red Beech is stronger, tougher and more compact.
In the District of Maine and in British America, where the Oaks are rare,
it is employed with the Sugar Maple and Yellow Birch for the lower part
of the frame of vessels. As it is extremely liable to injury from worms,
and speedily decays when exposed to alternate dryness and moisture, it is
rarely used in the construction of houses. In the District of Maine the
Hickories are rare and the White Oak does not exist, and when the Yel-
low Birch and Black Ash cannot be procured in sufficient abundance, the
Red Beech is selected for hoops.

This wood is brought to Boston for fuel, but it is less esteemed and is
sold at a lower price than the Sugar Maple. It serves for shoe-lasts and
the handles of tools, -and is especially proper for the tops of cards, because,
when perfectly seasoned, it is not liable to wai'p. It is brought from the
river Hudson to Philadelphia for the same uses. I have been informed by
mechanics in that city, employed in making plane-handles of the Red
Beech, that it is sometimes equal, though usually inferior, in compactness
and solidity, to the European Beech.

Red Beech planks about 3 inches thick are exported to Great Britain,
for purposes which I am unable to particularize ; but whatever may be the
consumption, the' American forests are extensive enough to supply for a
long time the demands of commerce.

The European Beech bears so strict an analogy to the Red Beech, that
it may be useful to take notice of its properties, its uses, and the means
by which its duration is insured in important structures.

Experience has demonstrated the advantage of felling the Beech in the
summer, while the sap is in full circulation : cut at this season, it is very
durable, but felled in the winter, it decays in a few years. The logs are
left several months in the shade before they are hewn, care being taken

RED BEECIL

15

that they do not rest immediately upon the ground ; after which they
are fashioned according to the use to which they are destined, and laid in
water for three or four months. They are said to be rendered in this way
inaccessible to worms.

The Beech is very durable when preserved from humidity, and incor-
ruptible when constantly in the water ; but it rapidly decays when exposed
to alternations of dryness and moisture.

In Europe, where there are not as many trees as in North America with
durable and elegant wood, such as the Birches and the Maples, we are
dependent upon the Beech for a greater variety of uses. It is employed
for tables and bedsteads, for screws, rollers, pestles, dishes, wooden shoes,
corn shovels, etc. ; in the north of France it is taken for the fellies of
wheels, and it was formerly used, instead of pasteboard, in book-binding.
In the valley of Saint- Jean-pied-de-port, in the Pyrenees, oars are made
of it to supply the neighbouring ports of the ocean. While the wood
retains a portion of its sap, they are pliant and elastic ; but for this use no
tree can stand in competition with the Black Ash of the United States.
Though the Beech is rapidly consumed, it is highly esteemed as a combus-
tible, and its ashes are rich in alkali.

In certain cantons of Belgium, particularly near the village of St. Nich-
olas, between Ghent and Antwerp, very solid and elegant hedges are made
with young Beeches, placed 7 or 8 inches apart and bent in opposite direc-
tions so as to cross each other and form a trellis, with apertures 5 or 6
inches in diameter. During the first year they should be bound with osier
at the points of intersection, where they finally become grafted and grow
together. As the Beech does not suffer in pruning, and sprouts less luxu-
riantly than most other trees, it is perfectly adapted to this object. In the
compendium at the close of my work will be found a more particular
description of these hedges, which are highly interesting to the farmers of
the Northern and Middle States. In the country of Qaux and in other parts
of Normandy, the farms and noblemen’s seats are surrounded with Beeches,
and curtains of foliage are here and there seen diversifying the landscape
which always enclose a human habitation. Planted in a straight line, and
breathing an unconfined air, they grow with greater rapidity, and form a
lofty and superb trunk.

The young Beech delights in shady situations and requires a soil unin-
cumbered with herbage.

In France and Germany an oil is extracted from the beech-nut which is
next in fineness to that of the olive. The forests of Eu and of Crécy in the
Department of the Oise have yielded in a single season more than a million
sacks* of this fruit, and in 1779 the forests of Compiegne, near Verberie,

* A sack contains about two bushels.

16

RED BEECH.

Department of the Somme, afforded oil enough to supply the wants of the
district for more than half a century.

The beech-nuts are of a triangular form, with a smooth, tough skin, and
a fine inferior pellicle adhering to the kernel., They are united in pairs
in capsules garnished with soft points, from which they escape about the
1st of October, the season of their maturity.

The oil is abundant only when the fruit is perfectly ripe. The season
for extracting it is from the beginning of December to the end of March ;
if the operation is longer delayed, the nuts are liable to be injured by the
warmth of the season.

The skin is commonly ground with the kernel, but as the product in this
way diminishes a seventh, it would be more advantageous to separate them,
which might be done in a flour-mill properly adjusted. The kernel should
be immediately reduced to a paste by a vertical stone or by a pestle-mill.
As the paste becomes dry in the process, water is added in the proportion
of one pound to fifteen pounds of fruit, to prevent its being impaired by
the heat.

The paste is sufficiently reduced when the oil is discharged by the pres-
sure of the hand. It is submitted to the press in sacks of coarse linen, of
wool or of hair, and the force is gradually applied and long-continued, so
that the oil may be completely distilled: three hours at least are required
in an ordinary press. To prepare the paste for a second pressure, it is
pulverized, a proportion of water being added smaller than at first, and the
whole is warmed by the careful application of a moderate heat. A wedge-
press is commonly employed in the second operation.

With skill in the process the oil is equal to one-sixth of the fruit. Its
quality depends upon the care with which it is made, and upon the purity
of the vessels in which it is preserved. It should be twice drawn off during
the first three months without disturbing the dregs, and a third time at the
end of six months : it arrives at perfection only when it becomes limpid,
several months after its extraction. It improves by age, lasts unimpaired
for ten years, and may be preserved longer than any other oil. d

PLATE CVII.

A branch with leaves and fruit of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A nut.

Pl.joS,

3 es sa de/.

Ga/rriel sculp-

Hornbeam .
Carpiniw vv'c/imaiia

( H )

AMERICAN HORNBEAM.

Carpinus americana. C. foins oblongo-cwalibus, serratis, involucrorum land -
niis acute dentatis.

The American Hornbeam is found as far north as the provinces of
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Lower Canada ; but it is repressed by
the severity of the climate and is less multiplied than in New Jersey,
Pennsylvania and the Southern States. By the Americans it is called
Hornbeam, and by the French of Upper Louisiana, Charmer

The Hornbeam prospers in almost every soil and exposure, except in
places that are too long inundated, or that are absolutely sterile like the
pine-barrens of the Southern States and of the Floridas. Its ordinary
stature is from 12 to 15 feet, and it is sometimes 25 or 30 feet high and 6
inches in diameter ; but as not more than one stock in a hundred attains
these dimensions, it must be considered rather as a large shrub than as a
tree ; I have admitted it among the .tr'èes because it is met with at every
step in the forests.

The leaves of the Hornbeam are oval-acuminate and finely denticulated.
The sexes are united on the same stock, and the fertile flowers are collected
in long, loose, pendulous, leafy aments at the extremity of the branches.
The scales or leaves which surround them are furnished at the base with
a hard, oval seed. The fructification is always abundant, and the aments
remain attached to the tree long after the foliage is shed.

The trunk of the American Hornbeam, like that of the analogous spe-
cies in Europe, is obliquely and irregularly fluted, frequently through all
its length. By its form and the appearance of the bark, which is smooth
and spotted with white, it is easily distinguished when the leaves are fallen.

The wood, like that of the European Hornbeam, is white and exceed-
ingly compact and fine-grained. The dimensions of the tree are so small
as to render it useless even for fuel, but it is employed for hoops in the
District of Maine when better species cannot be procured.

From these particulars it will readily be concluded that we have no
interest in propagating the American Hornbeam in Europe, as our own
species possesses equal strength and solidity, attains the height of 35 or
40 feet, with a diameter of 15 or 18 inches, and is consequently applicable
in the mechanical arts and useful for fuel. The only superiority of the
American species is for trellises ; as it is naturally dwarfish, its growth is
Vol. III.— 4

18

IRON WOOD.

more easily repressed, and as its branches are numerous it has a closer and
more tufted foliage. The Hornbeam of Europe, on the other hand, would
be a valuable acquisition to the forests of America.

PLATE C VIII.

A branch with leaves and fruit of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A seed.

IRON WOOD.

Carpinus ostrya. C. foliis cordato-ovalibus ; amentis fœmineis oblongioribus ;
involucris fructiferis, compresso-vesicariis.

East of the Mississippi the Iron Wood is diffused throughout the United
States and the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Lower Can-
ada. In New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the Southern States,
where it is most abundant, it bears the name which I have adopted ; in
Vermont, New Hampshire, and the District of Maine, it is called Lever
Wood, and by the French of Illinois, Bois dur, hard wood.

Though the Iron Wood is multiplied in the forests, it nowhere constitutes
masses even of inconsiderable extent, but is loosely disseminated, and found
only in cool, fertile, shaded situations. I have nowhere seen it more com-
mon nor more vigorous than in Gennesee, near lake Erie and lake Ontario ;
but it is always a tree of the second or even of the third order, rarely
equaling 35 or 40 feet in height and 12 or 15 inches in diameter, and com-
monly not exceeding half these dimensions.

The leaves are alternate, oval-acuminate, and finely and unequally den-
ticulated. The fertile and barren flowers are borne at the extremity of
different branches of the same tree, and the fruit is in clusters like hops.
The small, hard, triangular sèed is contained in a species of reddish, oval,
inflated bladder, covered at the age of maturity with a fine down, which
causes a violent irritation of the skin if carelessly handled.

PI. log

Æ. J. R edoii/p del-

Trou ^Vood

Carpzruor

ojtrya

JP/. lip

jUIzc/l . t/cZ. 6ra/rtc/ Jc.

Blade Gum .

Nysja sulvatica .

BLACK GUM.

19

In the winter this tree is recognized by a smooth, grayish bark, finely
divided, and detached in strips not more than a line in breadth.

The wood is perfectly white, compact, fine-grained and heavy. The
concentric circles are closely compressed, and their number in a trunk
of only 4 or 5 inches in diameter evinces the length of time necessary to
acquire this inconsiderable size. To its inferior dimensions must be
ascribed the limited use of a tree, the superior properties of whose wood
are attested by its name. In the Northern States, and particularly in the
District of Maine, the Iron Wood is used for the levers with which the
trees felled in clearing the ground are transported to the piles on which
they are consumed. Near New York, brooms and scrubbing-brushes are
made of it, by shredding the end of a stick of suitable dimensions. Though
its uses are unimportant, they might probably by more diversified ; it seems
well adapted for mill-cogs, mallets, etc.

The Iron Wood flourishes in France : several stocks, 15 or 20 feet in
height, fructify annually on the ancient estate of Duhamel-Dumonceau,
and young plants, the produce of self-sown seeds, are found in the vicinity.

This species is among the exotic trees which might be propagated with
advantage in Europe.

PLATE CIX.

A branch with leaves and fruit of the natural size. Fig. 1, A seed.

BLACK GUM.

Polygamia dicecia. Linn. Elæagnoides. Juss,

Nyssa sylvatica. N. foliis ovalibus, integerrimis, petiolo, nervo medio , mar -
gineque villosis; pedunculis femineis longis plerumque 2 -flor is, nuce brevi,
obovatâ, obtusè striata.

In the park of Mr. W. Hamilton, at the Woodlands, near Philadelphia,
I first observed the Black Gum. The river Schuylkill in this vicinity may

20

BLACK GUM.

be assumed as its northern boundary, though it is common in the woods on
the road from Philadelphia to Baltimore. In all the more Southern States,
both east and west of the Alleghany Mountains, it is more or less multiplied
as the soil is more or less favorable to its growth. It is designated by the
names of Black Gum, Yellow Gum and Sour Gum, neither of which is
founded upon any of its characteristic properties ; but as they have become
sanctioned by use, however ill-chosen, I have adopted the first, which is
the most common.

The vegetation of this tree exhibits a remarkable singularity : in Mary-
land, Virginia and the Western States, where it grows on high and level
grounds with the Oaks and the Walnuts, it is distinguished by no peculiar-
ity of form ; in the lower part of the Carolinas and of Georgia, where it is
found only in wet places with the Small Magnolia or White Bay, the Bed
Bay, the Loblolly Bay and the Water Oak, it has a pyramidal base re-
sembling a sugar-loaf. A trunk 18 or 20 feet high and T or 8 inches in
diameter at the surface, is only 2 or 3 inches thick a foot from the ground ;
these proportions, however, vary in different individuals.

The Black Gum is much superior in size to the Tupelo, being frequently
60 or 70 feet high and 18 or 20 inches in diameter. I have observed that
on elevated and fertile lands in the upper part of Virginia, in Kentucky
and Tennessee it is larger than in marshy grounds in the maritime parts of
the Southern States.

The leaves of this species are 5 or 6 inches long, alternate, entire, of an
elongated oval form, and borne by short and downy petioles. The flowers
are small, not conspicuous and collected in bunches. The fruit is of a deep
blue color and of a lengthened oval shape, and contains a slightly convex
stone, longitudinally striated on both sides.

The bark of the trunk is whitish and similar to that of the young White
Oak. The wood is fine-grained but tender, and its fibres are interwoven
and collected in bundles ; an arrangement characteristic of the genus. The
alburnum of stocks growing upon dry and elevated lands' is yellow ; this
complexion is considered by wheel-' wrights as a proof of the superior quality
of the wood, and has, probably, given rise to the name of Yellow Gum,
which is sometimes given to this species. Throughout the greater part of
Virginia, the Black Gum is employed for the nayes of coach and wagon
wheels ; at Biehmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, etc., it is. preferred for
hatters’ blocks, as being less liable to split ; and in the Southern States it
is used in the rice-mills for the cylinder which receives the cogs, by whose
revolution the pestles are lifted and dropped upon the rice to separate it
from the husk. The teeth are driven into mortices formed in the wood,
and are strongly compressed by the reaction of its interwoven fibres. For
its difficulty in splitting, the Black Gum is chosen by ship-wrights for the
cap , or the piece which receives the topmast.

M.m,

AJiù/i.del.

Tup elo .

Nyssa ayuatica .

(ratine/ Jc.

TUPELO.

21

Such are the most important uses of this wood, which are equally well
subserved by that of the Tupelo. Both species support the temperature
of Paris, but they succeed better a few degrees further south.

PLATE CX.

A branch with leaves and fruit of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A stone separated
frpm the pulp.

TUPELO.

Nyssa aquatica. N.foliis ovalibus, integerrimis ; pedunculis femineis biforis ;
drupa brevi, oboroata ; nuce striata.

The Tupelo begins to appear in the lower part of New Hampshire,
where the climate is tempered by the vicinity of the sea, but it is most
abundant in the southern parts of New York, Hew Jersey and Pennsyl-
vania. It is called indiscriminately Tupelo, Gum Tree, Sour Gum, and
Peperidge ; names of whose origin and meaning I am ignorant. The first
of these denominations is the most common, the second is wholly misap-
plied, as no self-condensing fluid distils from the tree, and the third is used
only by the descendants of the Dutch settlers in the neighborhood of New
York.

The Tupelo grows only in wet grounds ; in New Jersey it is constantly
seen on the borders of the swamps with the Sweet Gum, the Swamp White
Oak, the Chesnut White Oak and the White Elm. It rarely exceeds 40
or 45 feet in height, and its limbs, which spring at 5 or 6 feet from the
ground, affect a horizontal direction. I have remarked that the shoots of
the two preceding years are commonly simple, and widely divergent from
the branches. The trunk is of an uniform size from its base : while it is
less than 10 inches in diameter the bark is not remarkable, but on full-
grown and vigorous stocks it is thick, deeply furrowed, and, unlike the

22

TUPELO.

bark of anj other tree, divided into hexagons, which are sometimes nearly
regular.

The leaves are 3 inches long, oboval, smooth, slightly glaucous beneath,
alternate, and often united in bunches at the extremity of the young lateral
shoots. The flowers are small, scarcely apparent, collected in bunches
and supported by petioles 1 or 2 inches in length. The fruit, which is
always abundant, is of a deep blue color, about the size of a pea, and
attached in pairs. It is ripe toward the beginning of November, and per-
sisting after the falling of the leaf, forms a part of the nourishment of the
red-breasts in their autumnal migration to the south. The stone is com-
pressed on one side, a little convex on the other, and longitudinally stri-
ated. Bruised in water this fruit yields an unctuous, greenish juice, of a
slightly bitter taste, which is not easily mingled with the fluid. I do not
know that any attempt has been made to convert it into economical uses,
and I believe it would be difficult to obtain from it a spirituous liquor, or
even to convert it into vinegar.

The Tupelo holds a middle place between trees with soft and those with
hard wood. When perfectly seasoned the sap is of a light reddish tint,
and the heart of a deep brown. Of stocks exceeding 15 or 18 inches in
diameter, more than half the trunk is hollow ; a fact which I have repeat-
edly witnessed.

The ligneous fibres which compose the body of trees in general are
closely united, and usually ascend in a perpendicular direction. By a
caprice of nature which it is impossible to explain, they sometimes pursue
an undulating course, as in the Bed and Sugar Maples, or, as in the last
mentioned species, form ripplings so fine that the curves are only 1, 2 or 3
lines in diameter ; or, lastly, they ascend spirally, as in the Orme tortillard ,
Twisted Elm, following the same bent for 4 or 5 feet. In these species,
however, the deviation is only accidental, and to be sure of obtaining this
form it must be perpetuated by grafting or by transplanting young stocks
from the shade of the parent tree. The genus which we are considering
exhibits, on the contrary, a constant peculiarity of organization ; the fibres
are united in bundles, and are interwoven like a braided cord; hence the
wood is extremely difficult to split, unless cut into short billets. This pro-
perty gives it a decided superiority for certain uses ; in New York, New
Jersey, and particularly at Philadelphia, it is exclusively employed for the
naves of wheels destined for heavy burthens. It must be acknowledged
that, in some parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the White Oak is
preferred, which, as I have already remarked, appears, from its liability
to split, to be little calculated for this object. Erom the difference of
opinion on this subject, we may conclude that the ^Tupelo is esteemed
solely for its difficulty in splitting, and not for its solidity and strength.
The absence of these properties would be a still more essential defect in

PZ.Tii.

Large Tupelo.

JVy,rsci or an dzdentaJzv

LARGE TUPELO.

23

France, Avhere the wheels of heavy vehicles have naves 20 inches in diam-
eter at the insertion of the spokes, with an axle-tree of 350 pounds weight,
and are laden for distant transportation with 9000 pounds, which is twice
the burthen ever laid upon them in America. The Tupelo, therefore,
from its inferiority in size and strength, can never he substituted for the
Twisted Elm. Rut if to its own organization it joined the solidity of the
Elm, a more rapid vegetation and the faculty of growing on dry and ele-
vated lands, and of expanding to three or four times its present dimensions,
it would be the most precious to the mechanical arts of all the forest trees
of Europe and North America. In New Jersey and Pennsylvania, many
farmers prefer the Tupelo for the side-boards and bottom of carts, as ex-
perience has evinced its durability. Wooden bowls are made of it, which
are heavier than those of Poplar} but less liable to split. As a combustible
it is esteemed for consuming slowly and diffusing a great heat : at Phila-
delphia many persons, in making' their provision of wood for the winter,
•select a certain proportion of the Tupelo, which is sold separately for logs.

The preceding remarks will enable the Europeans to appreciate the
value of the Tupelo, while they suggest to the Americans the importance
of introducing the Twisted Elm.

PLATE CXI.

A branch with leaves and fruit of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A stone separated
from the pulp.

LARGE TUPELO,

Nyssa geandidkhtata. N.foliis longe petiolatis, ova, libus, acuminatis ; pedun-
cidis femineis 1 -ftoris ; fructibus cœruleis.

This is the most remarkable species of its genus for height and diameter.
According to my own observations, it is unknown to the Northern and
Middle States, and is found only in the lower part of the Carolinas, of

24

LARGE TUPELO.

Georgia and of East Florida, where it is designated by the name of Large
Tupelo. I have been assured that it abounds, also, in Lower Louisiana on
the hanks of the Mississippi, where it is called Wild Olive. In fine, it
exists in all parts of the United States which produce the Long-leaved
Pine. I am induced also to believe, though with less conclusive evidence
of the fact, that it grows wherever we find the Cypress, and, consequently,
that it extends north beyond the limits of Virginia, hs the Cypress abounds
in the swamps of Maryland, at a little distance from the sea. In South
Carolina and Georgia, I have seen them constantly united, and, with the
Over-cup Oak, Water Locust, CottonWood, Carolinian Poplar and Water
Bitternut Hickory, they compose the dark and impenetrable forests which
cover the miry swamps on the border of the rivers, to the distance of one
or two hundred miles from, the ocean. The extensive swamps still enclosed
in the forests produce the same trees, whose presence is an infallible proof
of the depth and fertility of the soil, and consequently of its fitness for the
culture of rice.

The rivers, at their annual overflowing, sometimes cover these marshes
to the height of 5 or 6 feet, as is shown by the marks left upon the trees
by the retiring waters. Vegetation seems only to acquire new energy
from these inundations, and the Large Tupelo sometimes attains the height
of 70 or 80 feet, with a diameter of 15 or 20 inches immediately above its
conical base, and 6 or 7 feet from the ground. This size continues uni-
form to the height of 25 or 30 feet : at the surface the trunk is 8 or 9 feet
thick, which is a greater disproportion than we observed in the preceding
species.

I cannot attribute this extraordinary swelling of the trunk entirely to
the humidity of the soil ; if such was the cause we would probably witness
the phenomenon in other trees which accompany the Tupelo.

The leaves of the Large Tupelo are commonly 5 or 6 inches long and 2
or 3 inches broad ; on young and thriving stocks they are of twice these
dimensions. They are of an oval shape, and are garnished with two or
three large teeth, irregularly placed, and not opposite, like those of other
leaves. At their unfolding in the spring they are downy, but they become
smooth on both sides as they expand. The flowers are disposed in bunches,
and are succeeded by a fruit of considerable size and of a deep blue com-
plexion, of which the stone is depressed and very distinctly striated.
Bruised in water this fruit yields a fine purple juice of which the color is
tenacious ; but the quantity is too minute to afford resources in dyeing.

The wood of the Large Tupelo is extremely light and softer than that
of any tree of the United States with which I am acquainted. In the
arrangement of its fibres it resembles the other species of the genus. Its
only use is for bowls and trays, for which it is well adapted, as it is wrought
with facility. Its roots, also, are tender and light, and are sometimes

Tl. u3.

JVy<f'<ra capitata .

Tpj'j-a Je/.

Gntrie7 sajlf/.

SOUR TUPELO.

25

employed by fishermen to buoy up their nets : but no part of the tree
affords a substitute for cork.

The only merit of this species consists in its agreeable form and beau-
ful foliage. It endures the temperature of Paris, and does not exact, in
Europe, as moist a soil as it constantly requires in the United States.

PLATE CXII.

A branch with leaves and fruit of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A stone separated
from the pulp.

SOUR TUPELO.

NrssA capitata. N. foins brevissime petiolatis, subcuneato-oblongis, subtus sub -
candicantibus ; pedunculis fæmineis 1-floris ; fructibus rubris.

The Sour Tupelo first makes its appearance on the river Ogeechee, near
the road from Savannah to Sunbury, and in going Southward it is seen
in every favorable situation. I have been told that it exists in Lower
Louisiana, which is probable from the analogy in soil and climate between
the early Southern States and the country watered by the lower part of
the Mississippi.

In Georgia this tree is known by the names of Sour Tupelo and Wild
Lime, the first of which I have preferred, though the last is more common,
because this vegetable bears no resemblance to the Lime Tree in the form
of its leaves or of its flowers.

The leaves are 5 or 6 inches long, oval, rarely denticulated, of a light
green above and glaucous beneath. The flowers are similar to those of
the Large Tupelo, but the sexes are borne by separate stocks, and I have
remarked, as a peculiarity witnessed in no other tree of North America,
that the male and female trees are easily distinguished by their general
appearance when the leaves are fallen. The branches of the male are
more compressed about the trunk, and rise in a direction more nearly
Vol. III.— 5

26

AMERICAN NETTLE TREE.

perpendicular : those of the female diffuse themselves horizontally and
form a larger and rounder summit.

The fruit is supported by long petioles, and is from 15 to 18 lines in
length, of a light red color and of an oval shape. It is thick-skinned,
intensely acid, and contains, like that of the Large Tupelo, a large oblong
stone deeply channelled on both sides. An agreeable acidulous beverage
might he made of it ; but the Lime Tree, which is found in the same
country, is superior in the size and abundance of its fruit, and has, besides,
the advantage of flourishing on barren, sun-beaten lands.

This species is the smallest of the Tupelos, being rarely more than 80
feet high and 7 or 8 inches in diameter. It accompanies the Large Tupelo
in the swamps which are found upon the borders of the rivers, or in the
midst of the forests. As its wood is soft and its dimensions too small to
he applicable in the arts, it falls exclusively within the province of the
/ amateurs of exotic plants.

PLATE CXII1.

A branch with leaves and fruit of the natural size . Fig . 1 , A stone separated
from the pulp.

AMERICAN NETTLE TREE.

Polygamia dicecia. Linn. Âmentaceæ. Juss.

Celtis occidentales. C. foliis ovatis, acuminatis , serratis, basi ineequalibus,
supra scabris, subtus hirtis ; fructibus rubris.

The American Nettle Tree, if not rare, is little multiplied in compari-
son with the Oaks, the Walnuts and the Maples. As it is scattered singly
through the forest, it is difficult to fix the point at which it ceases toward
the north, hut I believe it is not found beyond the river Connecticut. In
the Middle, Western and Southern States, it bears the name which I have

(

Ft. TL 4j .

American Aettle Tree .

Celtir occidmlahi? .

1

AMERICAN NETTLE TREE.

adopted, and among the French of Illinois, that of Bois inconnu , Unknown
wood.

The Nettle Tree prefers a cool and shady situation, with a deep and
fertile soil : I have observed the largest stocks on the banks of the Savan-
nah, some of which were 60 or 70 feet high and 18 or 20 inches in diame-
ter. This species is similar in its foliage and general appearance to the
European Nettle Tree; the branches of both are numerous and slender,
and the limbs take their rise at a small distance from the ground and seek
a horizontal or an inclined direction. The leaves are alternate, about 3
inches long, of a dark green color, oyal-oblique at the base, very acumi-
nate at the summit, denticulated, and somewhat rough. The flowers open
early in the spring, and are small, white, single and axillary : the fruit,
also, is small and single, of a round form, and of a dull red color.

The bark is rough and entire upon the trunk, and smooth and even on
the secondary branches. I have never seen the wood employed in any
part of the United States and cannot speak of its uses ; as the American
and European species are analogous in other respects, they are probably
alike in the properties of their wood.

The European Nettle Tree is a robust vegetable, which endures the most
inclement weather, bears transplanting without injury, and grows with
rapidity in almost every soil. When perfectly seasoned the wood is of a
dark brown color, hard, compact, supple and tenacious : it makes excellent
hoops, whip-stocks and ram-rods, is used by wheel-wrights for shafts and
for other purposes, and is proper for sculpture. The Ancients assert that
it is durable and secure from worms.

PLATE CXIY.

A branch ivith leaves and fruit of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A sprig loith flower s
[See Nuttall’s Supplement, Yol. I, p. 32.]

[Douglas found the Nettle Tree on the banks of the Columbia river, in
places of extreme dryness, and Emerson asserts that he has discovered it
in almost every county of Massachusetts, although everywhere so rare,
that its name is unknown to the inhabitants. It bears so striking a resem-
blance to the Elm as sometimes to be called False Elm. Torrey, who
gives it the name of Beaver Wood and Hoop Ash, says it is to be found
particularly in rocky situations, on the banks of rivers. Loudon says the
root of the European Nettle Tree furnishes a yellow dye, and that an oil
is expressed from the stones of the fruit.]

( 28 )

HACK BERRY.

Celtis crassifolia. C.foliis subcordatis, serratis , acuminatis ; fructibus nigris

The banks of the Delaware, above Philadelphia, may be considered as
the north-eastern limits of the Hack Berry. East of the mountains, it is
restricted within narrow boundaries, and is a stranger to the lower part of
Virginia and to the more Southern States : I have found it abundant only
on the banks of the Susquehannah, and of the Potomac, particularly on
the Susquehannah near Columbia and Harrisburg. It is profusely multi-
plied, on the contrary, in the Western Country in all the valleys that
stretch along the rivers, and wherever the soil is fertile throughout Ken-
tucky and Tennessee. On the Ohio, from Pittsburg to Marietta, it is
called Hoop Ash, and in Kentucky, Hack Berry; a name whose origin I
am unable to trace.

This is one of the finest trees that compose the dusky forests on this part
of the Ohio. It associates with the Button Wood, Black Walnut, Butter-
nut, Bass Wood, Black Sugar Maple, Elm and Sweet Locust, which it
equals in stature but not in bulk, being sometimes more than 80 feet high
with a disproportionate diameter of 18 or 20 inches.

The Hack Berry is easily distinguished by the form of its trunk, which
is straight and undivided to a great height, and by its bark, which is gray-
ish, unbroken and covered with asperities unequally distributed over its
surface. Its leaves are larger than those of any other species of Nettle
Tree, being 6 inches long and 3 or 4 inches broad. They are oval-acum-
inate, denticulated, cor diform at the base, of a thick, substantial texture,
and of a rude surface. The flowers are small, white, and often united in
pairs on a common peduncle. The fruit is round, about as large as a pea,
and black at its maturity. The wood is fine-grained and compact, but not
heavy, and when freshly exposed it is perfectly white : sawn in a direction
parallel or oblique to its concentric circles, it exhibits the fine undulations
that are observed in the Elm and the Locust. On laying open the sap of
this tree in the spring, I have remarked, without being able to account for
the phenomenon, that it changes in a few minutes from pure white to green.
On the Ohio and in Kentucky, where the best opportunity is afforded of
appreciating this wood, it is little esteemed, on account of its weakness and
its speedy decay when exposed to the weather. It is rejected by wheel-

Tl. 110

Jl.J.JlednUe del.

Galnel Je-

Hack Berry.

Cel/u' craxftfifoha .

Jmm Jd. Gdrid So.

Red Mulb erry .

Jforus ruèras.

RED MULBERRY.

29

wrights, but is sometimes employed in building for the covering which
supports the shingles. As it is elastic and easily divided, it is used for the
bottom of common chairs, and by the Indians for baskets. On the banks
of the Ohio, it is frequently taken for the rails of rural fences, and is wrought
with the greatest ease, as it is straight-grained and free from knots ; it is
said also to afford excellent charcoal.

The Hack Berry is certainly one of the most beautiful trees of its genus,
and one of the most remarkable for height and for majesty of form. In rich
soils the luxuriance of its vegetation is shown by sprouts 6, 8 and 10 feet
in length, garnished on each side with large, substantial leaves. In France
it is principally esteemed for the rapidity of its growth, and it is to be
wished that its wood may be found valuable enough to entitle it to a place
in our forests-

PLATE CXY.

A branch with leaves and fruit of the natural size.

[Emerson has found the Hack Berry in Massachusetts, on the banks of
the Connecticut river, but it is rare.]

RED MULBERRY.

Monœcia tetrandria. Linn, Urticeæ. Juss.

Morus rubra, M. foliis cordatis, orbiculatis trilobisve, cequaliter serratis, scabris ;
spicis femineis cylindricis.

The northern extremity of lake Champlain and the banks of the river
Connecticut, which I have assigned as the limits of the Tulip Tree, may
also be assumed as those of the Red Mulberry. As a temperate climate
is- favorable to its increase, it is more multiplied further south ; but in the
Atlantic States it is proportionally less common than many other trees

RED MULBERRY

30

■which still do not constitute the mass of the forests : the Sweet Gum, the
Tulip Tree, the Sassafras!, the Red Beech and the Maples are far more
abundant.

In the lower part of the Southern States this tree is much less frequently
seen than at a distance from the sea, where the soil and vegetable produc-
tions wear *a different character. I have found it -most abundant in- the
States of Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, and on the banks of the Wabash,
the Illinois and the Missouri ; which is attributable to the superior fertility
of the soil. In these, regions, and in the upper part of Pennsylvania and
Virginia, the Red Mulberry often exceeds 60 or 70 feet in height and 2
feet in diameter. Its leaves are large, sometimes entire, and sometimes
divided into 2 or 3 lobes, rounded, cordiform and denticulated, of a dark
green color, a thick texture, and a rough, uneven surface.

The sexes are usually separate, though sometimes they are found upon
the same tree. The male flowers form pendulous, cylindrical aments,
about an inch in length ; the female blossoms are small and scarcely appa-
rent ; the fruit is of a deep red color, an oblong form, and an agreeable,
acidulous, sugary taste ; it is composed by the union of a great number of
small berries, each of which contains a minute seed.

The trunk of the Red Mulberry is covered with a grayish bark, more
furrowed than that of the Oaks and Hickories. The perfect wood is of a
yellowish hue, approaching to lemon color. The concentric circles are dis-
tant and distinct ; the wood is, nevertheless, fine-grained and compact,
though lighter than that of the White Oak. It possesses strength and
solidity, and when perfectly seasoned, it is almost as durable as the Locust,
to which, by many persons, it is esteemed perfectly equal. At Philadel-
phia, Baltimore, and in the more southern ports, as much of it as can be
procured is employed for the upper and lower parts of the frame of ves-
selsj for the knees, the floor-timbers, and, in preference to every other
wood except the Locust for treenails. But it grows more slowly, requires
a richer soil, and is less multiplied than the Locust, and it is found in the
ship-yards in a smaller proportion than any other timber. In South Car-
olina it is selected for the ribs of the large boats in which the productions
of the Upper Districts of both .Carolinas are brought down the Catawba.
Eor posts it is almost as durable and as much esteemed as the Locust.
Such are its most important uses, which should engage Vhe American pro-
prietors to preserve with care the stocks growing naturally on their estates.

It is a common opinion among ship-wrights and carpenters, that the
wood of the male Mulberry is more durable and of a better quality than
that of the female : I must be pardoned for considering this opinion as a
prejudice, till experiments have demonstrated its truth. In America, as
well as in Europe, unlearned people fall into the same error concerning
the Mulberry Tree as concerning Iiemp, of giving the name of male to

RED MULBERRY.

31

the productive and of female to the barren plant, so that if a difference is
shown to exist, it is the female tree which affords the best timber.

The Black Mulberry of Europe, which bears a great resemblance to the
Red Mulberry, and whose fruit is three or four times as large, would be a
valuable acquisition to the Middle, and still more to the Western States,
where it would flourish in perfection. The fruit of the American species,
too, might easily be augmented in size and quantity by careful cultivation ;•
a very sensible improvement is witnessed in trees left standing' in culti-
vated fields.

As the leaves of both these species are thick, rough and hairy while
young, they are improper for the nourishment of silk-worms, which feed
only on the smooth, thin, tender foliage of the White Mulberry. On sev-
eral deserted plantations 15 or 20 miles from Savannah, are seen large
White Mulberries, which were set out a century ago, when attempts were
made'to introduce the raising of silk-worms. Experience quickly detected
the error of the calculation : this branch of industry is adapted only to a
populous country, where there are hands not required for the cultivation
of the earth that may be employed in manufactures so as to afford their
products at moderate prices. In the United States this period is still '
remote ; the extensive and scarcely inhabited regions of Upper Louisiana,
favored with a fertile soil and a genial climate, will offer resources to the
redundant population of the Atlantic and Western States. These regions
will probably produce the finest silk, as their soil and climate are pecu-
liarly adapted to the White Mulberry.

The Red Mulberry has been cultivated for many years in France and
England, where it succeeds perfectly, and is esteemed for its thick and
shady foliage. The excellent properties-'- of its wood should induce the
Europeans to propagate it in their forests.

PLATE CXYI.

A branch with leaves and fruit of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A young shoot with
a barren ament. Fig. 2, A barren flower detached from the ament.

( 32 )

SWEET LEAF.

Polyadelphia polyandria. Lînn. Guaiacanece. Jess.

Hofea tinctoria. IT. foliis lanceolato-ovatis, subserratis, nitidis ; fioribm luteis ;
fructibus cazruleis.

I first observed the Sweet Leaf near Petersburg in Virginia. It is
common in West Tennessee and in the upper part of the Carolinas and of
Georgia; but it is still more abundant within the limits which I have
assigned to the pine-barrens, where the soil is light and the winter less
rigorous than at a greater distance from the sea.

This tree is known only by the name of Sweet Leaf. It varies in size
according to the situation in which it grows ; on the banks of the Savannah
and on the borders of the large swamps, where the soil is deep, loose and
fertile, I have seen it 25 or 30 feet high and 7 or 8 inches in diameter at
the height of 5 feet. Commonly it does not exceed half these dimensions,
and in the pine-barrens, where it is profusely multiplied, it is sometimes
only 3 or 4' feet in height. The sprouts from the trunks consumed in the
annual conflagration of the forests never surpass this height, and, as they
do not fructify, the tree is multiplied by its running roots, which shoot at
the distance of a few feet.

The trunk of the Sweet Leaf is clad in a smooth bark, and, if wounded
in the spring, distils a milky fluid of an unpleasant odor. The wood is
not hard and is totally useless. The leaves are 3 or 4 inches long, smooth,
thick, alternate, of an elongated oval shape, slightly denticulated, and of
a 1 sugary taste. In sheltered situations they persist during two or three
years, but in the pine-barrens they turn yellow with the first frost, and
fall toward the beginning of February. In the meantime they are eagerly
devoured by horses and cows turned loose into the forests after the herbage
has perished.

The flowers spring from the base of the leaves, and appear early in the
season : they are yellowish, sweet-scented, and composed of a great number
of stamina shorter than the petals and united in separate groups at the base.
The fruit is cylindrical, minute, and a deep blue color at its maturity.

Plw

B. J. IteJou/,- M

Sveet Leaf*.

II open tijictona

ûtiirici ircul/j

The foliage is the only part of this tree which promises to be of any
utility ; when dry, it affords, by decoction, a beautiful yellow color, which
is rendered permanent by the addition of a little alum and is used to dye
wool and cotton. But if these leaves had possessed any considerable value,
they would doubtless have found their way into commerce. The first ob-
stacle to their use is the expense, in a country where labor is dear, of col-
lecting them in sufficient quantities. Of this I can judge from the difficulty
I experienced in gathering a few pounds.

PLATE C X Y II.

A branch with leaves and flowers of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A young shoot
with fruit of the natural size.

Vol. III.— 6

( 34 )

ASHES.

Except the Oak, no tree of Europe or of North America is so generally
useful as the Ash. The distinguishing properties of its wood are strength
and elasticity ; and it unites them in so high a degree, that, for many valu-
able purposes, it could be but imperfectly replaced by any other tree.
This remark is particularly applicable to the Common Ash of Europe and
to the White Ash of the United States, which are the largest species, the
most multiplied, and the most useful in the arts.

Eight species of 1 Ash are mentioned by botanists as indigenous to Europe,
and a much greater number exist in America, as I am convinced by my
own observations, and by examples, contained in my father’s herbarium or
cultivated in our gardens and nurseries, of species which escaped my re-
searches in America. Probably more than thirty species will be found
east of the Mississippi.

As a close analogy reigns throughout this genus, each species should be
raised from the seed, in order to study the development of its vegetation as
well as the characters of its flowers and its fruit. By observing them while
young, we shall be able to ascertain the comparative rapidity of their
growth. My residence in the United States was not long enough for the
execution of this interesting task ; I have confined myself, therefore, to the
description of those species which are the most remarkable for their utility
or for thé form of their seeds.

[See Nuttall’s Supplement, Vois. 2 & 3.]

[Soil, Propagation , Sj-c . — The Ash will grow in barren soils, and in the
bleakest and most exposed situations, but in such will hot attain a timber-
like size. If planted by ditch sides, or in low boggy situations, according
to Withering, the roots act as under-drains, and render the ground about
them firm and hard, but Sang observes more correctly that the Ash is
found in the highest perfection on dry loamy soils, and that in moist but
not wet soils, it grows fast, but soon sickens ; retentive clay soils do not
agree with it. In rich soils its wood is short and brittle ; in sandy soils it
is tough and reedy, qualities, which for several purposes much enhance its
-value. In loam mixed with decomposed rocks, at the bottom of a moun-

Fiji 8.

Gaine/ seul

Ft'aaxntier anierica/m

WHITE ASH.

35

tain where it is sheltered, the Ash arrives at a great size. The largest
trees will be found where they have running water within reach of their
roots. Marshall recommends the Ash to be planted alternately with the
Oak, because as the Ash draws its nourishment from the surface and the
Oak from the subsoil, the ground would thus be fully and profitably occupied.
It should undoubtedly be planted either along with its own species, or with
other trees, so as to draw it up with a clear, straight stem, the value of
the timber depending on the closeness and clearness of the grain.

The species is always propagated from seed, and the varieties by graft-
ing or budding on the species. The seeds should be gathered, and taken
to the rotting ground, mixed with light sandy earth, and laid in a heap of
a flat form, not more than 10 inches thick, in order to prevent them from
heating. Here they should be turned over several times in the course of
the winter, and in February they may be removed, freed from the sand by
sifting, and sown in beds in any middling soil, well broken by the rake.
The seeds may be deposited at the distance of half an inch every w T ay, and
covered a quarter of an inch with soil. The plants may be taken up at
the end of the year, and planted in nursery lines ; and at the end of the
second year they may be removed to where 'they are finally to remain.

The Weeping -Ash, .properly treated, is one of the most ornamental
shrubbery trees I have seen abroad. The limbs of a regular tree are pinned
to the ground in a circle, and in a few years form an arbor of great beauty ;
a seat is placed around the stem.

The Golden-barked Ash and many other varieties are also an ornament
to the shubbery not to be neglected by the tasteful planter.]

WHITE ASH.

Polygamia dioecia. Linn,

Jasraineæ. Juss.

Fraxinus americana. F. foliis integerrimis , longé acuminatis, jpetiolutis ,
subtiis glaucis.

The White Ash is one of the most interesting among the American
species for the qualities of its wood, and the most remarkable for the

36

WHITE ASIE

rapidity of its growth and for the beauty of its foliage. It abounds in
New Brunswick and Canada ; in the United States it is most multiplied
north of the river Hudson, and is more common in Gennessee than in the
southern parts of New York, in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. A cold
climate seems most congenial to its nature. It is everywhere called White
Ash, probably from the color of the bark, by which it is easily distinguished.
I have observed, too, that on large stocks the bark is deeply furrowed, and
divided into small squares from 1 to 3 inches in diameter.

The situations most favorable to the White Ash are the banks of rivers
and the edges and surrounding acclivities of swamps. It sometimes attains
the height of 80 feet with a diameter of 3 feet, and is one of the largest
trees of the United States. In the District of Maine and in the upper part
of New Hampshire, it is always accompanied by the White Elm, Yellow
Birch, White Maple, Hemlock Spruce and Black Spruce; and in New
Jersey it is mingled with the Red Maple, Shell-bark Hickory and Button-
wood, in places that are constantly wet and occasionally inundated.

The White Ash is a fine tree, with a trunk perfectly straight and often
undivided to the height of more than 40 feet. The leaves are 12 or 14
inches long, opposite, and composed of three or four pair of leaflets sur-
mounted by an odd one. The leaflets, which are borne by short petioles,
are 3 or 4 inches long, about 2 inches broad, oval-acuminate, rarely denti-
culated, of a delicate texture and an undulated surface. Early in the spring
they are covered with a light down, which gradually disappears, and at the
approach of summer they are perfectly smooth, of a light green color above
and whitish beneath. As the contrast of color between the surfaces is
remarkable, and is peculiar to this species, Dr. Muhlenberg has denomi-
nated it j Fraxinus discolor.

The seeds are 1.8 inches long, cylindrical near the base, and gradually
flattened into a wing, the extremity of which is slightly notched. They
are united in bunches 4 or 5 inches long, and are ripe in the beginning of
autumn. The shoots of the tAvo preceding years are of a bluish gray color
and perfectly smooth : the distance between their buds sufiSciently proves
the vigor of their growth.

In large trees the perfect Wood is reddish and the sap is whitei This
wood is highly esteemed for its strength, suppleness and elasticity, and is
employed with advantage for a great variety of uses, of which I shall men-
tion only the most common. It is always selected by coach-makers for
shafts, for the fellies of Avheels, and at New York and Philadelphia for the
frame of carriage-bodies ; by wheel-wrights it is used for sledges and for
the handle of wheel-barrows ; in the District of Maine it replaces the
White Oak for the circular back of Windsor-chairs ; scythe and rake
handles, the hoops of water-pails, the circular piece of butter-boxes, sieves
and large spinning-wheels, which are manufactured principally at Ilingham,

Green Ask

Fraæi/w<r viridi<r .

WHITE AS II .

37

near Boston, are of White Ash; and in, Connecticut it is usually preferred
for wooden bowls. In the District of Maine it is extensively used for staves,
which are of a quality between those of White and those of Red Oalc, and
are esteemed the best for containing salted provisions. It is admitted also
into the lower frame of vessels, but is considered inferior to the Yellow
Birch and to the heart of the Red Befech. In all the Atlantic States the
blocks used in ships and the pins for attaching the cordage are of Ash, for
which purpose the White Ash is employed in the northern and the Red
Ash in the southern ports. On account of its strength and elasticity, the
White Ash is esteemed superior to every other wood for oars, and second
only to the Hickory for hand-spikes. In these forms it is exported to Eng-
land and to the West Indies. It is also sent to England in planks, and is
acknowledged by Oddy, in his treatise on European Commerce, to be
superior in many respects to the Common Ash.

The White Ash has long been known in Erance, England and Germany,
where it is propagated with success from the seed and by grafting ; I have
even remarked that in moist grounds its vegetation is more rapid than that
of any indigenous species ; its Raves are, at the : same time, less liable to
injury from the Spanish-fly. Besides the beauty of its foliage, in which it
surpasses the Common European Ash, it may be recommended for the
excellence of its wood as a valuable acquisition to the north of Europe.

PLATE CXYIII.

A branch with leaves of half the natural size. Fig. 1, Seeds of the natural size.

[See Nuttall’s Supplement, Yol. 3, p. 64.]

[The leaves and branches of the White Ash are said to be poisonous to
serpents, and the leaf to cure their bite. Ho rattle-snakes are found in
White-Ash swamps. An Ash leaf rubbed upon the swellings caused by
mosquitoes, removes the itching and soreness immediately. The same
effect is produced on the poison occasioned by the sting of the bee.]

( 38 )

GREEN ASH.

Fraxinus juglandifolia. Linn.

Fraxinus viridis.* F. folds septenis, dentatis, petiolaiis, viridibus ; ramulis
petiolisque glabris.

The Green Ash is more common in the western districts of Pennsyl-
vania, Maryland and Virginia than in any other part of the United States;
but even here it is less multiplied than the White Ash and the Black Ash.
Dr. Muhlenberg has particularly observed it on the islands of the Susque-
hanna near Columbia, and I have found it most abundant on the banks of
the Monongahèla and the Ohio, between Brownsville and Wheeling.
Probably this species is of moderate dimensions, for I have seen it laden
with seeds while only 25 or 35 feet high, and 4 or 5 inches in diameter.

The Green Ash is easily recognised by the brilliant color of its young
shoots and of its leaves, of which the two surfaces are nearly alike. Prom
this uniformity, which is rarely observed in the foliage of trees, Dr.
Muhlenberg has given the species the name of Fraxinus concolor, and, for
the same reason, as it has received no popular specific name, I have called
it Green Ash.

The leaves vary in length from 6 to 15 inches, according to the vigor of
the tree and to the coolness of the soil, and are composed of 3, 4 or 5 pair
pair of petiolated, oval-acuminate and distinctly denticulated leaflets, sur-
mounted by an odd one. The seeds are only half as large as those of the
White Ash, but are similar in form. The wood of the Green Ash is dis-
tinguished by jthe same properties with that of the preceding species ; but
as the others are common in the same regions, and are so much superior in
size ; it is only accidentally employed.

This species has been multiplied in France from seeds sent home by my
father in 1785. It supports the inclemency of our winter, and is esteemed

[*Fraxinus juglandifolia. Lam. The Walnut-leaved Ash.]

Red Ask

Frcuvinu <r lomentoj'cv.

(ra7>7 T ie7 scutyj.

*

RED ASH.

19

by amateurs for the singular tint of its foliage, which is strikingly con-
trasted with that of the surrounding trees.

PLATE CXX.

A branch with leaves of half the natural size. Fig. 1 , Seeds of the natural
size.

RED ASH,

Fraxinus pubescens. Linn.

Fraxinus tomentosa. F. foliolis subnovcnis, dentatis, petiolatis ; ramulis petio-
Usque pubescenti-tomentosis.

Of all the Ashes this species is the most multiplied in Pennsylvania,
Maryland and Virginia. It is commonly called Red Ash, and frequently
Ash. Like the White Ash it prefers swamps and places frequently inun-
dated or liable to be covered with water by copious rains, and in these
situations it is accompanied by the Shell-bark Hickory, Bitternut Hickory,
Swamp White Oak, Red Maple, Sweet Gum and Tupelo.

The Red Ash is a beautiful tree, rising perpendicularly to the height of
60 feet with a diameter of 15 or 18 inches. It is inferior to the White
Ash not only in size but in the rapidity of its growth ; the length of the
annual shoots and the distance of the buds are but half as great as in the
preceding species.

The leaves are from 12 to 15 inches long, and are composed of three or
four pair of very acuminate, denticulated leaflets, with an odd one. Their
lower surface, as well as the shoots of the same season to which they are
attached, is covered with a thick down : on insulated trees this down is
red at the approach of autumn, whence, probably, is derived the name of
Red Ash. The seeds are shorter than those of the White Ash, but simi-
lar in form and arrangement.

The bark upon the trunk is of a deep brown, and the perfect wood is of
a brighter red than that of the White Ash. The wood of this species pos-

40

COMMON EUROPEAN ASIE

sesses all the properties for which the other is esteemed, and in the ports
of the Middle and Northern States they are indifferently applied to the
same diversified uses ; that of the Red Ash, however, is somewhat harder,
and consequently less elastic. Notwithstanding its inferiority of size, the
Red Ash is perhaps more valuable for the regions' to which it has been
assigned by nature ; of this the Americans will he able to judge by expe-
rience ; both species are of such general utility that the utmost pains
should be bestowed upon their preservation and increase.

PLATE CXIX.

A branch with leaves of half the natural size. Fig. 1 , Seeds of the natural
size.

COMMON EUROPEAN ASH.

Fraxinus excelsior. F. foliis subsessilibus, lanceolato-oblongis, attenuatis,
serratis ; floribus nudis ; seminibus apice emarginatis.

The Ash is the most common and the most useful species of its genus
upon the Old Continent. Like the Common Oak and the White Oak, it
is found throughout Europe and the north of Asia, and as it is less sensible
to cold, would probably he more multiplied than the Oaks were it not re-
stricted to certain soils. It is found almost exclusively on the borders of
rivers and swamps, and in places constantly cool and shaded, without being
exposed to inundation ; in a word, in situations analogous to those which,
in the United States, produce the White Ash and the Red Ash.

The Common Ash is ranked among trees of the first order. It is some-
times 90 feet high and 9 or 10 feet in circumference; hut when 60 or TO
feet in height, it is in perfection for all the uses to which it is applied.
The trunk is straight and well-proportioned ; the branches are opposite,
covered, while young, with a smooth, greenish bark, and garnished with

PI 1X1.

C ommon European A six

Fraœinus eæcelnoj. •.

Gaürwl fculf}

41

COMMON EUROPEAN ASH.

short, round buds, nearly black, like those of the Black Ash. The leaves,
which consist of 4 or 5 pair of leaflets with an odd one, are opposite like
the branches, of a dark green color, smooth, acuminate and slightly toothed.
The flowers are not conspicuous and are united in bunches ; barren, fertile
and hermaphrodite flowers are found 'upon the same tree. The seeds are
of a lanceolate oval shape, and terminated by a flat wing, which is usually
notched at the end : they are ripe toward the beginning of autumn.

In the properties and uses of its wood the European Ash resembles the
White Ash of America. In France handsome articles of furniture are
made with the pieces immediately below the first ramification, and with
the Knobs from the trunk of old trees, which exhibit more varied and more
agreeable accidents in the direction of the fibres. The Common Ash is
subject to be worm-eaten, and is rarely employed in building houses. It
burns better than any other wood before it is seasoned, and affords excel-
lent coal.

In the Department of the Cantal, and in some other parts of France,
the branches of the Ash are given both dry and green to sheep and cows,
without imparting a disagreeable taste to the milk and butter.

Spanish flies are very fond of the leaves of this tree, upon which they
sometimes swarm in such numbers as to diffuse an offensive odor.

The ancients, as we are informed by Pliny, believed that serpents had
an antipathy to the Ash, and that they never approached it : this prejudice,
which is still entertained, has given rise to the belief that a decoction of
its roots or leaves in milk is an antidote for the poison of reptiles.

The general utility of its wood causes great attention to be bestowed, in
every part of Europe, upon the propagation of the Ash. For this purpose,
nurseries are formed from the seed, and the young plants, at the age of 2
or 3 years, are set out wherever the soil is cool and moist enough for their
reception : they succeed well on uplands which are not too dry and sandy,
or composed of too great a proportion of clay.

There are several varieties of the European Ash, the most remarkable
of which is the Drooping Ash ; its branches decline toward the earth, and
the effect is peculiarly picturesque in solitary trees which have been formed
by grafting this variety upon the Common Ash.

Many medicinal properties have been ascribed to the Ash, and more
accurate observations lead me to believe that if these virtues exist they can
reside only in the inner bark, which is bitter and astringent.

The White Ash and the Blue Ash of the United States are superior to
the Common European Ash in the very properties for which this species is
most esteemed ; there is no motive, therefore, for introducing it into the
American woods : that it would flourish there is evinced by a beautiful
example in the garden of Mr. W. Bartram in the vicinity of Philadelphia.
Yol. III.— 7

42

BLAQK ASII.

PLATE CXXI.

A leaf of half the natural size. Fig. 1 , Seeds of the natural size.

BLACK ASH.

Fkaxinus sambucifolia. F. foliolis sessilibus, acuminatis , serratis ; ramis
punctatis.

In the extensive country comprising the Northern Section of the United
States, and the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the White
Ash and the Black Ash, sometimes called Water Ash, are the most'
abundant in the forests and the most accurately known by the inhabi-
tants.

The Black Ash is GO or 70 feet in height and about 2 feet in diameter.
It requires a moister soil exposed to longer inundations than the White
Ash, and is usually accompanied by the Red-flowering Maple, the Yellow
Birch, the Black Spruce and the Arbor Yitæ ; in the middle States it
prefers the company of the Red-flowering Maple and Red Ash.

The buds of the Black Ash are of a deep blue, and the young shoots of
a bright green sprinkled with dots of the same color, which disappear as
the season advances. The leaves at their unfolding are accompanied by
stipulæ which fall after two or three weeks : they are 12 or 15 inches long
when fully developed, and composed of 3 or 4 pair of leaflets with an odd
one. The leaflets are sessile, oval-acuminate, denticulated, of a deep green
color, smooth on the upper surface, and coated with red down upon the
main ribs beneath : when bruised they emit an odor like that of Elder
leaves. The seeds, which are disposed in bunches 4 or 5 inches long, are
flat, and like those of the Blue Ash, are nearly as broad at the base as at
the summit.

The Black Ash is easily distinguished from the White Ash by its bark,
which is of a duller hue, less deeply furrowed, and has the layers of the
epidermis applied in broad sheets. The perfect wood is of a brown com-

PI. 122.

-Bessa del.

Black Asli.

Fra.rmU'j' .rambi/ci/o/m J

(radrriel sculp.

BLACK ASH.

43

plexion and fine texture ; it is tougher and more elastic than that of the
White Ash, hut less durable when exposed to the vicissitudes of dryness
and moisture, and for this reason it is less extensively used. Coach-
makers do not employ it, and it is never wrought into oars, handspikes
and pullies. In the District of Main® it is preferred to the White Ash for
hoops, which are made of saplings from 6 to 10 feet in length, split in the
middle. As this wood may be separated into thin, narrow strips, it is
selected in the country for chair-bottoms and riddles.

The Black Ash is more liable than any other species to be disfigured
with knobs, which are sometimes of considerable size and are detached
from the body of the tree to make bowls. The wood of these excrescences
has the advantage of superior solidity, and, when carefully polished, exhi-
bits singular undulations of the fibre ; divided into thin layers it might be
employed to embellish mahogany.

In Vermont and Hew Hampshire, which furnish great quantities of pot-
ash, I have been informed that the ashes of this tree are singularly rich in
alkali.

Such are the principal uses of the Black Ash, from which a general idea
may be formed of its properties. It deserves a place in the forests of the
north of Europe, and by employing its wood we shall learn to estimate its
value with greater precision.

Observation . — Another lofty species of Ash exists in Kentucky which is
also called Black Ash ; but I am too imperfectly acquainted with it to
attempt a description.

PLATE CXXII.

A Branch with leaves of half the natural size. Fig. 1 , Seeds of the natural size.

( 44 )

BLUE ASH.

Fraxinus atiADRANGULATA. F. ramulis quadrangulatis, foliolis ad summum
A-jugis, subsessilibus, ovali-lanceolatis , argute serratis, subtus pubescentibus,
capsulis utrinque obtusis.

The Blue Ash is unknown in the Atlantic parts of the United States,
and is found only in Tennessee, Kentucky and the Southern part of Ohio.
The climate of these countries is mild, and the soil in some places so
fertile, that it is difficult, without haying witnessed them, to form an idea
of the luxuriance of vegetation and the productiveness of agriculture. The
richness of the soil proves a substitute for that degree of moisture which,
in the Atlantic states, seems indispensable to the Ash. In Kentucky and
West Tennessee, the forests upon dry and uneven lands, at a distance
from the rivers, are composed of the Walnuts, the Red Maple, the Moose
Wood, the Hackberry, the American Nettle and the Oaks, several species
of which, east of the mountains, grow only in the most humid soils.

The Blue Ash frequently exceeds 60 or 70 feet in height and 18 or 20
inches in diameter. Its leaves are from 12 to 18 inches long, and are
composed of 2, 3 or 4 pair of leaflets, with an odd one. The leaflets are
large, smooth, oval-acuminate, distinctly toothed and supported by short
petioles. The young shoots to which the leaves are attached are distin-
guished by 4 opposite membranes, 3 or 4 lines broad and of a greenish
color, extending through their whole length : this character disappears the
third or fourth year, leaving only the the traces of its existence. The
seeds are flat from one extremity to the other, and a little narrowed
towards the base.

The wood of the Blue Ash possesses the characteristic properties of the
genus, and of all the species of the Western states, it is the most exten-
sively employed and the most, highly esteemed. Besides the habitual use
that is made of it for the frame of carriages and for the fellies of wheels,
it is generally selected for the flooring of houses, frequently for the exte-
rior coverings and sometimes for the shingles of the roof ; but for the last
purpose the Tulip Tree is preferred. I have been told that a blue color is
extracted from the inner bark of this tree ; but I have never seen it em-
ployed, and do not know by what process it is obtained. Milk in which
the leaves have been boiled is said to be an unfailing 'remedy for the bite

FI.J23.

(ratrxel j-aJf.

Fini.

JL. J ■ Redout? c/e J

Carolinian Ash.

Fraæmuj' p/aticarpa .

Gairùl .rcu/y ,

CAROLINIAN ASH.

45

of the rattle-snake ; we may be allowed, however, to doubt its efficacy till
it is attested by enlightened physicians.

My father first described the Blue Ash in his Flora Boreali- Americana,
and from the seeds which he sent home have sprung the beautiful stocks
that are now growing in Europe : but they are still too young to yield
fruit, and they are propagated by grafting upon the Common Ash.

The various uses to which the wood of the Blue Ash is appropriated in
America, should induce the Europeans to multiply it in their forests, till
they are enabled to appreciate its comparative value.

PLATE CXXXII.

A branch, with leaves of half the natural size. Fig. 1, Seeds of the natural
size.

CAROLINIAN ASH.

Fhaxinus tlaticarpa. F. foliolis petiolatis, ovalibus, serratis ; capsulis lato
lanceolatis.

This species of Ash, which is very distinctly characterised by the form
of its leaves and seeds, is confined to the Southern States. It abounds
particularly on the river Cape Fear, in North Carolina, and upon the
Ashley and the Cooper, in South Carolina. As it has received no specific
name from the inhabitant I have given it that of Carolinian Ash.

The marshy borders of eeks and rivers, and all places exposed to long
inundations, are congenial ) this Ash, which delights in more abundant
moisture than the other species. Its vegetation is beautiful, but its stature
rarely exceeds 30 feet, and it fructifies at half this height. In the spring
the lower side of the leaves and young shoots is covered with thick down,

46

BLACK WILLOW.

which disappears at the approach of summer. The leaves commonly con-
sist of 2 pair of leaflets with a terminal odd one. The leaflets are large,
nearly round, petiolated and distinctly toothed. The flowers, as in the
other species, are small and not very conspicuous; the seeds, unlike those
of any Ash with which we are acquainted, are flat, oval, and broader than
they are long.

From its inferior dimensions the Carolinian Ash is totally neglected ; hut
accurate experiments on the nature of different species of wood in America
will perhaps evince that this tree, as well as others that are regarded as
worthless, possesses properties of eminent utility.

PLATE C XXI Y.

A branch of half the natural size. Fig. 1, Seeds of the natural size.

BLACK WILLOW-

Amentaceæ. Juss.

Salix nigra. S.foliis lanceolatis, acuminatis , serratis , glabris ; petiolis pubes-
centibus.

This species is the most common of the American Willows, and the most
analogous to that of Europe. It is less multiplied in the Northern and
Southern than in the Middle and especially in the Western States. It is
found on the banks of the great rivers, such as the Susquehanna and the
Ohio, and is called Black Willow, or simply Willow.

The Black Willow is rarely more than 30 or 35 feet high and 12 or 15
inches in diameter. It divides at a small height into several divergent but
not pendent limbs, and forms a spacious summit. The leaves are long,
narrow, finely denticulated, of a light green, and destitute of stipulæ. In
the uniformity of its coloring the foliage of this species differs from that of
the European Willow, the lower surface of which is glaucous.

Tll2Ô'.

A.jRsdcute de/

Ga&rûl s./tlr

i . Black Willow
Sahæ niarcu.

2. Champlain Willow

S a ha? ligu^fnna ■

3. S l u n i n o' Willow

Sah<v lucida .

CHAMPLAIN WILLOW.

47

Upon the trunk the bark is grayish and finely chapped; upon the roots
it is of a dark brown,, whence may have been derived the specific name of
the tree. The roots afford an intensely bitter decoction, which is consid-
ered in the country as a purifier of the blood, and as a preventive and
remedy for intermittent fevers.

The wood is white and soft, and the branches are easily broken from the
tree. Neither the wood nor the twigs are applied to any useful purpose.

PLATE CXXV.

Fig. 1 , Leaves of the natural size.

[See Nuttall’s Supplement, Vol. 1, for a great number of Willows found
in the countries bordering on our Pacific coast. See also Emerson’s Trees
and Shrubs of Massachusetts.

The Black Willow is known to basket-makers as the “ Wicker Willow.”]

CHAMPLAIN WILLOW,

Salix ligustrina. S. foliis lanceolato-linearihus , acuminatis , serratis ; stipulis
incequaliter cordatis *; petiolis villosis.

I have found this Willow on the shores of Lake Champlain, particularly
near the village of Skeensborough. It is about 25 feet high and 7 or 8
inches in diameter: its first aspect resembles that of the Black Willow,
but its leaves are longer, narrower, and accompanied at the base by cordi-
form, serrate stipulæ. Its wood and branches are appropriated to no use.

PLATE CXXV.

Fig. 2, Leaves of the natural size.

( 48 )

/

SHINING WILLOW,

Salix lucida. S.foliis oblongis , cuspidato-acuminatis, nitidis; argute serra-
tis ; serraturis glandulosis.

I have observed the Shining Willow, which is so called by some persons
on account of the brilliancy of its foliage, only in the Northern and Mid-
dle States. It is found in moist but open grounds, and is more common
on the edges of the salt meadows, than in the interior of the forests ; it is
also seen on the islands, not covered with woods, in the rivers and near the
shores of the lakes.

This species is easily distinguished by the superior size of its leaves,
which are oval-acuminate, denticulated, and sometimes 4 inches in length.

The Shining Willow attains the height of 18 or 20 feet ; but its ordi-
nary elevation is 9 or 10 feet. Baskets are made of its branches, when
those of the European Willow, which are preferable, cannot be obtained ;
but it possesses no property that recommends it to attention.

Observation . — 'Many species of Willow are found in the United States
and in Canada, the greater part of which are susceptible of no useful ap-
plication. The three species which I have described, are distinguished
only by their superior height ; but even these are greatly inferior to the
European Willow in size and in the properties of their wood. In the
Northern and Middle States, particularly in Pennsylvania and in some
townships in the lower part of New Jersey, great numbers of the European
Willow have been planted, of which light baskets are fabricated for the
market of Philadelphia. This tree furnishes the charcoal for the manu-
facture of gunpowder.

PLATE CXXV.

Fig. 3, A leaf of the natural size.

Pl.12.6 .

Bers cl del.

&ûL&7~iel Pc.

Win l e Elm.

ZTlmiij' Americana

( 49 )

WHITE ELM.

Pentandria digynia. Linn. Amentaceæ. Juss.

Ulmus Americana. U. ramis lævibus, pendulis ; foliis subuniformiter serratis ;
floribus manifesté pedicellalis ; fructibus densissimo fimbriatis.

This tree, which is known throughout the United States by the name
of White Elm, is found over an extensive tract of the North American
Continent. Toward the north, my father indicates its first appearance in
the latitude of about 48° 20', 18 miles from the mouth of the river Mistas-
sin, which empties into Lake St. John, in Canada. I have myself observed
it from Nova Scotia to the extremity of Georgia, a distafice of 1200 miles.
It abounds in all the Western States, and I have learned that it is common
in the neighborhood of the great rivers that water Upper Louisiana and
empty into the Mississippi. But it appeared to be the most multiplied and
of the loftiest height between the 42d and 46th degrees of latitude, which
comprise the provinces of Lower Canada, New Brunswick and Nova
Scotia, the north-eastern Section of the United States, and Gennessee, in
the State of New York.

The leaves of the White Elm are 4 or 5 inches long, borne by short
petioles, alternate, unequal at the base, oval-acuminate and doubly denti-
culated. They are generally smaller than those of the Red Elm, of a
thinner texture and a smoother surface, with more regular and prominent
ribs.

This species differs, also, essentially from the Red Elm and the European
Elm in its flowers and seeds ; the flowers appear before the leaves, and are
very small, of a purple color, supported by short, slender footstalks, and
united in bunches at the extremity of the branches. The seeds are con-
tained in a flat, oval, fringed capsule, notched at the base : the season of
their maturity is from the 15th of May to the 1st of June.

The White Elm delights in low, humid, substantial soils, such as in the
Northern States are called interval lands. In the Middle States it grows
in similar situations, and on the borders of swamps, where it is usually ac-
companied by the White Oak, the Sweet Gum, the Tupelo, the Red Maple

Ÿ0L. III.— 8

50

WHITE ELM.

and the Shag-bark Hickory. West of the mountains it abounds in all the
fertile bottoms watered by the great rivers that feed the Ohio and the
Mississippi. I have constantly observed it on their banks with the White
Maple and the Buttonwood, where its base is inundated at the rising of
the waters in the spring. On the margins of these rivers it is sometimes 4
feet in diameter. In the Middle States it stretches to a great height, but
does not approach the magnificence of vegetation which it displays in the
countries peculiarly adapted to its growth. In clearing the primitive forests
a few stocks are sometimes left standing ; insulated in this manner, it appears
in all its majesty, towering to the height of 80 or 100 feet, with a trunk 4
or 5 feet in diameter, regularly shaped, naked, and insensibly diminishing
to the height of 60 or 70 feet, where it divides into two or three primary
limbs. The limbs, not widely divergent near the base, approach and cross
each other 8 or 10 feet higher, and diffuse on all sides long, flexible, pen-
dulous branches, bending into regular arches and floating lightly in the air.
A singularity is observed in this tree which Ï have witnessed in no other ;
two small limbs 4 or 5 feet long grow in a reversed position near the first
ramification, and descend along the trunk.

The Buttonwood astonishes the eye by the size of its trunk and the am-
plitude of its head ; but the White Elm has a more majestic appearance,
which is owing to its great elevation, to the disposition of its principal
limbs, and the extreme elegance of its summit. In New Hampshire, be-
tween Portsmouth and Portland, a great number of young White Elms are
seen detached in the middle of the pastures ; they ramify at the height, of
8, 10 or 12 feet, and their limbs, springing at the same point, cross each
other and rise with an uniform inclination, so as to form of the summit a
sheaf of regular proportions and admirable beauty.

The trunk of this Elm is covered with a white, tender bark, very deeply
furrowed. The wood, like that of the Common European Elm, is of a dark
brown, and, cut transversely or obliquely to the longitudinal fibres, it ex-
hibits the same numerous and fine undulations ; but it splits more easily,
and has less compactness, hardness and strength. This opinion was given
me by several English wheel-wrights established in the United States, and
I have since proved its" correctness by a comparison of the two species.
The White Elm is used, however, at New York and further north for the
naves of coach-wheels, because it is difficult to procure the Black Gum,
which at Philadelphia is preferred for this purpose. It is not admitted
into the construction of houses or of vessels, except occasionally, in the
District of Maine, for keels, for which it is adapted only by its size. Its
bark is said to be very easily detached during eight months of the year ;
soaked in water and suppled by pounding, it is used in the Northern States
for the bottom of common chairs.

Such are the few and unimportant uses of the White Elm in the United

WHITE ELM.

51

States ; it is far inferior to the European Elm, which is a tree of very ex-
tensive utility, and it deserves attention in the Old World only as the most
magnificent vegetable of the temperate zone.

PLATE CXXYI.

A branch with leaves of the natural Size. Fig. 1, Flowers. Fig. 2, Seeds.
[See Nuttall’s Supplement, Yol. I., p. 35.]

[N<n7, Propagation , $c. The suckers produced by the Common Elm,
both near and at a distance from the stem, afford a ready mode of propa-
gation adopted throughout Europe ; the suckers are procured from the
roots of grown-up trees, in hedgerows, or plantations. Layers from stools,
and grafting on the U. Montana may also be employed ; the layers are
made in autumn, or the winter, and are rooted, or fit to be taken off, in a
year. The seeds fall from the tree as soon as they are ripe; and being
swept up are sown immediately in beds of rich, light soil ; the seeds being
placed about one inch apart every way, and covered to the depth of an
eighth of an inch. The plants come up the same season, and are fit for
transplanting into nursery lines in the autumn.

The Elm is not a brittle tree, and not liable to be injured by high winds.
It is however subject to many diseases, and attacked by many kinds of
insects. As a noble ornamental tree its value is widely appreciated, and
its importance in this respect does not require to be enforced. In New
England, particularly, fine avenues are to be met with. In France the
Elm is subjected to being trimmed in artificial forms, flat surfaces, and for
hedges ; it is very patient of the knife ; at the town of Versailles, near
Paris, and at other places on the continent, the traveller is struck with the
formal avenues of Elm trees of very considerable size which have been
subjected to an annual shearing; they then present a flat surface on each
side of the street.]

( 52 )

WA II 00.

Ulmus pumila. Walter.

Ulmus alata. U. ramis passim ex utroque latere in alam suberosam corticalem
dilatatis ; foliis oblongo-ovalibus, sensim acutis, basi subœqualibus ; fructu pub-
escente et confertius cilioso.

The Wahoo is a stranger to tHe Northern and Middle States, and to
the mountainous regions of the Alleghanies ; it is found only in the lower
part of Virginia, in the maritime districts of the Carolinas and Georgia, in
West Tennessee and in some parts of Kentucky. Probably it grows also
in the two Floridas and in Lower Louisiana, of which the soil and climate
are analogous to those of the maritime parts of the Southern States, and of
which the vegetable productions, with some exceptions, are the same.

The name of Wahoo, given to this species of Elm in South Carolina and
Georgia, is derived from the Indians ; but I am ignorant of its meaning.

The Wahoo grows of preference on the banks of rivers and in the great
swamps enclosed in the pine-barrens : it has always appeared to me to be
less multiplied than the trees by which it is accompanied. It is of a mid-
dling stature, commonly hot exceeding 30 feet, with a diameter of 9 or 10
inches ; the two largest stocks that I have seen were at Wilmington, N. C. ;
they were perhaps 40 or 45 feet high, 15 inches in diameter, and seem-
ingly very old.

The flowers, like those of other Elms, open before the leaves. The seeds
are fringed, and differ from those of the White Elm only by a little inferi-
ority of size. The leaves are borne by short petioles, and are oval, denti-
culated, and smaller than those of the White and Red Elms.

The branches are furnished throughout their whole length, on two oppo-
site sides, with a fungous appendage, 2 or 3 lines wide, from which the
name of alata, winged, has been given to the species.

The wood of the Wahoo is fine-grained, more compact, heavier, and, I
believe, stronger than that of the White Elm. The heart is of a dull red
approaching to chocolate-color, and always bears a large proportion to the
sap. At Charleston, S. C., and in some other towns of the Southern
States, it is employed for the naves of coach- wheels, and is even preferred,
for this object, to the Tupelo, as being harder and tougher ; but it is
appropriated to no other use.

£1227

JSej'j'a del >

Walioo.

Ubruur Alata.

- ?î. is 8 . :

Red Elm.

Uùmi+r Jial> r a .

RED ELM.

58

For economical purposes, this species is uninteresting to the Europeans,
as the Common Elm is greatly superior in size and in the quality of its
wood: these advantages should engage the Americans to introduce the
European species into their forests.

PLATE C X X V 1 1.

A branch with leaves of the natural size. Fig. 1 , Seeds of the natural size.

RED ELM.

Ulmus rubra. U. foliis pier unique ovalibus oblongis, rarius cordato-ovalibus,
utrinque rugosis ; gemmis sub explicatione densâ fulvàque land tomentosis ;
ûaribus sessilibus.

Except the maritime districts of the Carolinas and Georgia, this species
of Elm is found in all parts of the United States and of Canada. It bears
the names of Red Elm, Slippery Elm and Moose Elm, of which the first is
the most common : the French of Canada and Upper Louisiana call it
Orme gras.

The Red Elm, though not rare, is less common than the Oaks, the
Maples, the Sweet Gum and the Sassafras ; it is also less multiplied than
the White Elm, and the two species are rarely found together, as the Red
Elm requires a substantial soil free from moisture, and even delights in
elevated and open situations, such as the steep banks of rivers, particularly
of the Hudson and the Susquehanna. In Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee,
it is more multiplied than east of the mountains, and with the Hickories,
the Wild Cherry Tree, the Red Mulberry, the Sweet Locust, the Coffee
Tree and some other species, constitutes the growth upon the richest lands
of an uneven surface.

This tree is 50 or 60 feet high and 15 or 20 inches in diameter. In the
winter it is distinguished from the White Elm by its buds, which are larger

54

RED ELM.

and rounder, and which, a fortnight before their development, are covered
with a russet down.

The flowers are aggregated at the extremity of the young shoots. The
scales which surround the bunches of flowers are downy like the buds.
The flowers and seeds differ from those of the preceding species ; the calyx
is downy and sessile, and the stamina are short and of a pale rose color ;
the seeds are larger, destitute of fringe, round, and very similar to those
of the European Elm ; they are ripe toward the end of May. The leaves
are oval-acuminate, doubly denticulated, and larger, thicker and rougher
than those of the White Elm.

The bark upon the trunk is brown ; the heart is coarser-grained and less
compact than that of the White Elm, and of a dull red tinge. I have
remarked that the wood, even in branches of 1 or 2 inches in diameter,
consists principally of perfect wood. This species is stronger, more dura-
ble when exposed to the weather, and of a better quality than the White
Elm ; hence in the Western States it is employed with greater advantage
in the construction of houses, and sometimes of vessels on the banks of the
Ohio. It is the best wood of the United States for blocks, and its scarce-
ness in the Atlantic States is the only cause of its limited consumption in
the ports. It makes excellent rails, which are of long duration and are
formed with little labor, as the trunk splits easily and regularly ; this is
probably the reason that it is never employed for the naves of wheels.

The Red Elm bears a strong likeness to a species or a variety in Europe
known by the name of Dutch Elm. The leaves and the bark of the
branches, macerated in water, yield, like those of the Dutch Elm, a thick
and abundant mucilage, which is used for a refreshing drink in colds, and
for emollient plasters in place of the marsh mallow root, which does not
grow in the United States.

Though the Red Elm is superior to the White Elm, it is not equal to
our European species, and its culture cannot be generally recommended.

Observation . — In the District of Maine and on the banks of Lake Cham-
plain, I have found another Elm which I judged to be a distinct species.
Its leaves were oval-acuminate, rough and deeply toothed, but I have not
seen its flowers or its seeds. The length of its young shoots announced a
vigorous vegetation. It is confounded in use with the White Elm, to which
it is perhaps superior ; it is found in the nurseries of France, and probably
it came originally from Canada.

PLATE CXXVIII.

A branch with leaves and seeds of the natural size.

( 55 )

COMMON EUROPEAN ELM.

Ulmus campestris. 77. foliis duplicato-serratis , basi incequalibus ; floribus
subsessilibus, conglomerate, pentandris ; fructibus glabris.

Upon the Old Continent one of the most useful trees in the mechanical
arts is the Elm, which is indigenous to the centre of Europe and to the
north of Asia. It was formerly most abundant in Germany, and the town
of Ulm, in Suabia, is said to derive its name from the vast forests of Elm
that existed in its vicinity.

This tree was cultivated by the Ancients, and highly esteemed for the
excellence of its wood : it is frequently mentioned by Virgil, Pliny and
Theophrastus.

No forests consisting wholly of Elm are found in England, Germany,
France or Italy ; hut the habitual use and superior fitness of its wood for
certain valuable purposes, cause it to be propagated on private estates, by
the sides of high-ways, and in the large forests which in different countries
are protected by government. Thus cultivated and artificially multiplied
it has produced numerous varieties, like the fruit trees, which are distin-
guished principally by their foliage : in some of them the leaves are small,
shining and coriaceous ; in others, large, downy and supple. To this dif-
ference must be added that of the bark : upon a trunk 6 inches in diame-
ter, in some varieties, the bark is smooth; in others it is rough and scaly
upon saplings less than 2 inches thick. Distinctions are also founded upon
the rapidity of vegetation and the quality of the wood. Nurserymen
assure us that new varieties are constantly appearing among the young
plants reared from the seed ; hence it becomes impossible to compose inva-
riable definitions, or to harmonize the confusion of botanical writers.

But all these varieties may be referred to two types, in which remark-
able differences are found and constantly reproduced. One of these is the
Common Elm, under which are ranged all the ordinary varieties ; the other
is the Large-leaved or Dutch Elm.

The Common Elm is one of the tallest and finest trees of the temperate
zone of Europe ; several stocks yet survive in France which were planted
in the reign of Henry IV., about the year 1580, by the orders of Sully, and
which are 25 or 30 feet iu circumference, and 80 or 90 feet high.

56

COMMON EUROPEAN ELM.

The leaves of the Common Elm are oblong, pointed, doubly serrate and
unequal at the base. The flowers appear in the beginning of March, about
three weeks before the leaves ; they are small, reddish, not conspicuous,
and are united in clusters on the shoots of the preceding year ; they are
succeeded by oval, bordered capsules, containing a single flat, roundish
seed, which varies in size in different varieties, and is ripe toward the end
of April.

The wood of the Elm has less strength than the Oak, and less elasticity
than the Ash, but it is tougher and less liable to split. In France, it is
usually employed for mounting artillery, and for this purpose is selected
with the greatest care. The trees are cut according to the use to which
they 'are destined, and the pieces are stored under shelter to dry during
six or seven years ; the precaution is even observed of turning them every
six months, that the seasoning may proceed more uniformly. Thus per-
fected the wood is used for the carriages of cannon, and for the gunwale,
the blocks, etc., of ships. It is everywhere preferred by wheel-wrights for
the naves and fellies of wheels and for other objects.

The quality of this wood depends in a singular degree on the situation
in which it grows : high ground and a strong soil are necessary to its per-
fection ; and when planted in such a soil on the side of roads, or on the
ramparts of fortified towns, where it is vexed by the winds and exposed to
all the influences of the seasons, it is firmer and more solid.

The knobs which grow upon old trunks are divided into thin plates by
cabinet-makers, and when polished they exhibit very diversified accidents
in the arrangements of the fibre, and form beautiful articles of furniture.

Well-cords are made of the bark of the Elm; the wood is an excellent
combustible, and in some countries the leaves are given for food to sheep
and larger cattle.

In fertile and humid soils the Elm is subject to a species of ulceration
which appears on the body of the tree at the height of 3 or 4 feet, and
which discharges a great quantity of sap. The disease penetrates gradu-
ally into the interior of the tree and corrupts its substance. Many attempts
have been made to cure it in the beginning or to arrest its progress, but
hitherto without success : the best treatment is to pierce the tree to the
depth of 2 or 3 inches with an auger, in the very heart of the malady,
which is declared by the flowing of the sap.*

The English writers on forest trees, Evelyn, Miller, Marshall, etc., men-
tion twenty varieties of the Elm, seven of which are particularly remarkable
and may serve as types of the rest ; these are the true English Elm, the
narrow-leaved Cornish Elm, the Dutch Elm, the black Worcestershire Elm,

* [Another mode of treatment recommended is to pierce the ulcer, and then dress the wound
with powdered charcoal, or a mixture of cow-dung and clay.]

COMMON EUROPEAN ELM.

57

the narrow-leaved Witch. Elm, the broad-leaved Witch Elm, and the up-
right Witch Elm. On the Continent we possess these principal varieties,
and those that are referred to them ; but we consider the Dutch Elm as a
distinct species, not derived, like the others, from the Common Elm.

In England the true English Elm is recognized as the best wood ; and
to avoid mistake, in forming plantations, grafted stocks are procured from
the nurseries ; for neither the foliage nor the wood offers any peculiar ap-
pearance by which it may be certainly distinguished.

In the description of the Tupelo particular mention has been made of
a precious variety of the Common Elm, the Tivisted JElm, omitted by the
German and English writers, which is propagated in the Departments about
Paris, in that of the North, and in Belgium.

It is an object of importance to multiply this invaluable variety, which
can be done only by grafting or by transplanting suckers. It is reared
with the greatest care at Meaux and Mendes, a few leagues from Paris,
and thence it is procured with the greatest certainty.

The Curled Maples, till they are 7 or 8 inches in diameter, exhibit no
undulations of the fibre, and a similar fact is observed in the Twisted Elm ;
the fibres do not assume the spiral direction till the trunk is 9 or 10 inches
thick. In comparing attentively young Twisted Elms less than 8 inches
in diameter with other varieties planted at the same time in the same soil,
the only difference I observed was that the 'vegetation of the Twisted Elm
was more vigorous, its foliage of a lighter green, and its bark'perfectly
smooth, while that of the other stocks, even when only 2 inches in diame-
ter, was thick and chapped.

In Erance, Belgium, and some parts of Germany, many of the high- ways,
as well as the public walks in the neighborhood of large towns, are planted
with the Elm, which, besides the value of its wood, has a tufted foliage,
and suffers 'the pruning-hook without injury. The trees destined for this
purpose are reared in nurseries, and when about 2 inches in diameter are
set out, in the autumn, at the distance of 24 feet. During the first years
the ground is kept loose, that the rain may penetrate more easily to their
roots.

PLATE CXXIX.

Plate 1, Leaves of the natural size. Fig. 1, Flowers of the natural size. Fig.
2, Seeds of the natural size.

VOL. III.— 9

( 58 )

DUTCH ELM.

Ulmtis suberosa. U. foliis duplicato-serratis, rugosis ; floribm subsessilibus,
conglomerate, tetrandris ;fructibus glabris ; cortice ramulorum suberoso-alato •

This species is easily distinguished from the Common European Elm
by its leaves, which are larger, thicker, rugged on both surfaces, and borne
by short petioles. The flowers, also, are of a lighter tint and the seeds
are larger. In the winter, when stript of its foliage, the Dutch Elm is
recognized by its round buds, and by the thickness of its shoots of the
preceding year.

The bark of its young branches, as in the Red Elm, is full of mucilage,
which, thirty years ago, was celebrated in cutaneous affections. It was
preserved and given in decoction, in doses of 2 ounces, steeped in a quart
of river water, reduced by boiling to a pint. This practice was long pre-
valent ; but notwithstanding some authentic attestations of its success, it
has fallen into disuse.

The Dutch Elm so nearly resembles the Red Elm of the United States
in its flowers, foliage and fruit, that it is not always easy to’ distinguish
them : the most striking difference is in the buds ; those of the Red Elm
are covered in the spring with a thick, reddish down ; those of the Dutch
Elm, on the contrary, are smooth, or, at most, are lightly powdered on the
edges of the scales. This European species attains a very lofty height and
a considerable diameter. Its wood is softer than that of the common Elm ;
but the writers on forest trees speak variously of its qualities, and I have
consulted wheel-wrights without obtaining satisfactory information ; on
the most favorable supposition, it is greatly inferior to the Twisted Elm.

PLATE CXXIX.

Plate 2, A branch with a leaf of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A seed of the natu-
ral size.

*

PU3o

Gabriel scufr-

Jiy JUdoute del.

Planer Tree

Planera ülmi/u/ia .

( 59 )

PLANER TREE.

Planera ulmifoija. P. foliis petiolatis, oblongo-ovalibus , sensim angustcitis,
acutis, basi obtusis, œqualiter serratis ; capsula scabrâ.

Kentucky, Tennessee, the banks of the Mississippi and the Southern
States, are the only parts of the American Republic where my father and
myself have found the Planer Tree. Its wood is not used, and probably
for this reason the tree has attracted no attention from the inhabitants,
and has received no distinctive denomination ; to supply the deficiency, I
have adopted the botanical name.

I have more particularly observed the Planer Tree in the large swamps
on the borders of the river Savannah, in Georgia. It is a tree of the
second order, and is rarely more than 35 or 40 feet high and 12 or 15
inches in diameter. Its bloom is early and not conspicuous. Its minute
seeds are contained in small, oval, inflated, uneven capsules. The leaves
are about an inch and a half long, oval-acuminate, denticulated, of a lively
green, and a little like those of the European Elm, to which this species
bears the greatest analogy.

The wood of the Planer Tree is hard, strong, and seemingly proper for
various uses ; it is probably similar in its characters to the analogous spe-
cies in the north of Asia, the Siberian Elm ; but, as I have already re-
marked, thé tree is rare and the wood neglected.

PLATE CXXX.

A branch with leaves and seeds. Fig. 1, A small shoot with male flowers.

( 60 )

AMERICAN LIME' oa BASS WOOD,

Polyandria monogynia. Linn. Tiliacese. Joss.

Tima ameeicawa. T.foliis suborbiculato-cordaiis, abrupte acuminatis, argute
serratis, glabris ; petalis apice truncatis ; nuce ovatâ.

Among- the Lime Trees of North America, east of the Mississippi, this
species is the most multiplied. It exists in Canada, but is more common
in the northern parts of the United States, where it is usually called Bass
Wood: it becomes less frequent toward the south, and in 'Virginia, the
Carolinas and Georgia, it is found only on the Alleghany Mountains.

I found this species of Lime Tree most abundant in Gennessee, which
borders on làke Erie and lake Ontario. In some districts, particularly
between Batavia and New Amsterdam, it frequently constitutes two-thirds,
and sometimes the whole, of the forests. The Sugar Maple, the White
Elm and the White Oak, are the trees with which it most frequently
associates.

In newly cleared lands, the remains of the Lime Trees are distinguished
by the numerous sprouts which cover the stumps and the large roots, whose
growth can be prevented only by stripping off the bark or by the operation
of fire. The stumps of other large trees, the Elm, the Sugar Maple and
the Ash, left at the same height of 3 feet, do not produce shoots.

The presence of the Lime Tree indicates a loose, deep and fertile soil.
It is sometimes more than 80 feet high and 4 feet in diameter, and its
straight, uniform trunk, crowned with an ample and tufted summit, forms
a beautiful tree. The leaves are alternate, large, nearly round, finely
denticulated, heart-shaped at the base, and abruptly terminated in a point
at the summit. The flowers are borne by long peduncles, pendulous, sub-
divided at the extremity, and garnished with a long, narrow, floral leaf.
The seeds, which are ripe about the first of October, are round and of a
gray color. The flowers of the American Lime Tree are probably'
endowed with the same antispasmodic and cephalic properties which are
ascribed to those of the European species. ,

The trunk is covered with a very thick bark : the cellular tissue, separated
from the epidermis and macerated in water, is formed into ropes, which

P, J .Hedouéé del

Bass YVoocL
Tilia Americana .

Gabriel scu/jP .

5 >

AMERICAN LIME ok BASS WOOD.

61

are used only in the country ; in Europe they are sold for certain purposes
in the cities, particularly for well-cords.

The wood is white and tender ; in the Northern States, where the Tulip
Tree does not grow, it is used for the panels of carriage-bodies and the
seats of Windsor-chairs ; hut as it is softer and splits more easily, it is less
proper for these objects ; in Boston and the more northern towns I have
observed the Lime Tree beginning to be substituted for the Tulip Tree.
On the Ohio, the images affixed to the prow of vessels are made of this
wood instead of the White Pine.

The American Limé Tree has long been cultivated in Europe, and it is
distinguished from our native species by the superior size of its leaves.

PLATE CXXXI.

A branch with leaves diminished one half, and ivith floivers of the natural size.

[Soil, Propagation, c. — This tree may be propagated by shoots or by
seed. The seeds may be beaten down with a pole and received on a sheet,
spread in a dry place for a few days, and planted in a rich garden mould,
covering them an inch deep. When the plants make their appearance
in the spring, they should be constantly kept clean from weeds, and
gently watered in dry weather ; in two years removed to a nursery,
shortening the roots, and the young side-branches, digging between the
rows every winter and removing them when of sufficient size. The Erench
gardeners cut an old tree near the ground, which soon sends up numerous
shoots. Among these a quantity of soil is thrown, and after two years the
shoots are found well rooted and ready for removal. Layering is also
practised.

The American Lime Tree grows vigorously in sandy and exposed situa-
tions, and being little affected by the sea-breeze, might be advantageously
employed among the sands of the sea-shore.

The wood of the European tree forms excellent charcoal : the bark
separated by maceration into fibres is used for binding packages, and by
gardeners for confining plants or bundles. Where a great mass of foliage
and a deep shade are required, the American Lime, which is not so liable
to be infested with insects as the European, is -recommended. It trans-
plants readily, especially to a rich, rather moist, loam. It attains by age
to a great size, and often presents a weeping character. Its flowers are
great favorites with bees.]

( 62 )

WHITE LIME TREE.

Tima alba. T. foliis majoribus , ovatis, argute serratis ; basi oblique aut aqua-
liter truncatis ; subtus incams.

1 have not met with the White Lime Tree east of the river Delaware,
hut it is abundant in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and the Western
States. It does not grow, like the preceding species, in elevated places,
nor amidst other trees in the forests, and is rarely seen except on the
banks of rivers ; I have particularly observed it on those of the Susque-
hanna, the Ohio, and the streams which empty into them.

The height of the White Lime Tree rarely exceeds 40 feet, and its diam-
eter 12 or 18 inches. Its young branches are covered with a smooth,
silver-gray bark, by which it is recognized in the winter. The leaves are
very large, denticulated, obliquely heart-shaped and pointed, of a dark
green on the upper surface and white beneath, with small reddish tufts on
the angles of the principal nerves. This whitish tint is most striking on
solitary trees exposed to the sun.

The flowers come out in June, and, as well as the floral leaf, are larger
than those of any other Lime Tree with which I am acquainted. The
petals are larger and whiter, and are impregnated with an agreeable odor.
The seeds are round, or rather oval, and downy.

The wood of this tree is white and tender, and I believe it is never em-
ployed in the arts.

This and the following species have received no popular specific names,
but are both called Lime Tree and Bass Wood ; that of White Lime, which
I have given to the subject of the present article on account of the color
of its foliage, is peculiarly appropriate.

PLATE CXXXII.

A branch with leaves and flowers of the natural size. Fig. 1 , Seeds.

WJntc Lime .

Mia Albas.

TU32

\

'

*

.

Ma 33.

J*. J > Redouté del.

Downy lime Tree .
Jilia/ jput&rce/kr.

GaJr/nel sculp ■

( 63 )

DOWNY LIME TREE,

Tibia pubescens. T . foliis basi truncatis, obliquis , denticulato-serratis, subtus
pubescentibus ; petalis emarginatis , nuce globosà.

The Downy Lime Tree belongs to the southern parts of the United
States and to the Floridas. It grows of preference on the borders of
rivers and large marshes, where the soil is cool and fertile, but not exposed
to inundation. It is little multiplied, and consequently is not taken notice
of by the inhabitants ; for this reason, and because it is the only species of
its kind in the maritime parts of the Carolinas and of Georgia, it has
received no specific denomination, and is called simply Lime Tree, to
which I have added the epithet downy , derived from a character of its
foliage, not observed in the preceding species.

This tree is 40 or 50 feet in height, with a proportional diameter. In
its general appearance it resembles the American Lime Tree, which grows
further north, more than the White Lime Tree, which belongs to the Mid-
dle and Western States. Its leaves differ widely in size according to the
exposure in which they have grown ; in dry and open places they are only
2 inches in diameter, and are twice as large in cool and shaded situations.
They are rounded, pointed at the summit, very obliquely truncated at the
base, edged with fewer and more remote teeth than than those of the other
Lime Trees, and very downy beneath. The flowers, also, are more
numerous, and form larger bunches, and the seeds are round and downy.

, The wood is very similar to that of the other species, and I do not know
that it is ever employed.

This tree was introduced long since into France ; its vegetation is vigor-
ous, and is uninjured by the severest winters of Paris, which leads me to
believe that it exists in upper Louisiana and in the Western States.

PLATE CXXXIIL

A branch with leaves and fruit of the natural size.

( 64 )

PINES.

The Pines are evergreen trees, and are generally of elevated stature.
They form a most interesting genus, and are highly valuable for the resin-
ous matter which they afford, as well as for the excellent properties of their
wood. The most stinking difference between the Pine and the Spruce is
in the arrangement of their foliage ; the leaves of the Pines, which resemble
pieces of coarse thread, vary in length in different species, and are united
to the number of two, three or five in the same sheath; those of the
Spruces, on the contrary, are only a few lines long, and are attached singly
round the circumference of the branch or upon its opposite sides.

To facilitate the distinction of these trees, of which the species are more
numerous in the United States than in Europe, I have grouped the Pines
according to the roughness of their cones and to the number of leaves
united in the same sheath, and the Spruces according to the disposition of
their foliage.

[See Nuttall’s Supplement, Yol. 3, p. 106 ; et seq., for a variety of new
and valuable Pines.]

\_Soil, Propagation , $c . — The debris of granitic rocks may be considered
as the universal soil suited to the Pine and Fir tribe, and a dry subsoil an
essential condition for their entire prosperity, but they will grow on all
soils whatever, that are not surcharged with water. The roots are near
the surface, and hence do not require a deep soil ; and as their needlè-like
leaves do not carry off much moisture by evaporation, their soil may be
drier than that required for any other kind of tree. Nevertheless, a soil
somewhat loamy, and a cool subsoil, are necessary to bring the timber of
the Pine to its greatest perfection. Wherever the Abietinæ are to be ex-
posed to high winds, they require to be planted in masses, so as to shelter
one another, but none of the species become ornamental when so planted ;
because they necessarily lose their side branches.

The only mode of propagating the Pine and Fir tribe on a large scale
is by seeds ; but all the species will succeed by layers, by inarching on closely

PINES.

65

allied kinds, and by herbaceous grafting ; and many, if not all, may be
propagated by cuttings. The seeds are sown at the end of March, or in
April. The ground ought to be in good condition, light and sandy, rather
than loamy, and prepared as finely as possible. The seeds may be sown
in beds, and after being gently beaten down with the back of a spade,
they should be covered with light soil or leaf mould, to the depth of a
sixteenth, an eighth, or at most a quarter of an inch, according to the size
of the seeds, and covered with branches of trees or shrubs, &c., to shade
the soil from the sun, and protect the seeds from birds. The plants of the
greater part of the species come up in from 30 to 50 days, though some do
not appear till the second year. Great care must be taken when the plants
are coming through the ground, to raise sufficiently above them the material
employed in shading ,the beds, and also to remove it by degrees. The
young plants, in most of the species grow slowly the first two or three
years, and all grow most rapidly between their fifth and tenth years. For
a further account of the mode of culture of this interesting family, the
reader may consult Loudon’s Arboretum. It is a curious fact, and not
without its moral, that the young plants of many American species are
now imported to our principal sea-ports from England, where they are
grown in great numbers and sold at a rate by the thousand with which the
American gardener cannot compete.]

Vol. III.— 10

66 )

METHODICAL DISPOSITION

OF THE

PINES AND SPRUCES

OF

NORTH AMERICA.

INCLUDING THREE EUROPEAN SPECIES.

Monoecia monadelphia. Linn. Conifères. Joss.

TWO-LEAVED PINES.

Cones smooth.

1. Red (Norway) Pine Pinus rubra.

2. Stone Pine Pinus pinea.

3. Gray Pine Pinus rupestris.

4. Yellow Pine Pinus mitis.

5. Wild Pine, or Scotch Fir. . . Pinus sylvestris.

Cones thorny.

6. Jersey Pine Pinus inops.

7. Table Mountain Pine. . . . Pinus pungens.

THREE-LEAVED PINES.

Cones smooth or with small thorns.

8. Long-leaved Pine Pinus australis.

9. Pond Pine. .

Cones very thorny.

10. Pitch Pine.

. . . . . . Pinus rigida.

11. Loblolly Pine

FIVE-LEAVED PINES.

12. White Pine.

SPRUCES.

Leaves short and disposed singly round the branches.

13. Norway Spruce Fir. . . .

Abies picea.

14. Black or Double Spruce. . .

Abies nigra.

15. White or Single Spruce. . .

Abies alba.

Leaves lateral.

16. Hemlock Spruce

Abies canadensis.

17. American Silver Fir. . . .

Abies balsamifera.

\

PlaS4.

Pt/iKif rul)7'a .

v

( 67 )

RED PINE, or NORWAY PINE,

Pinus eubra. P. arbor maxima ; cortice rubente ; foliis binis 4-5 uncialibus ;
vaginis ferè uncidlibus ; strobilis ovato-conicis , basi rotundatis, folio dimidio-
brevioribus, squamis medio dilatatis, inermibus.

Pinus resinosa, Ait. Hort. Kew.

This tree is called by tbe French inhabitants of Canada Pin rouge , Red
Pine, and the name has been preserved bj the English colonists. In the
northern parts of the United States, it is called Norway Pine, though dif-
fering totally from that tree, which is a species of Spruce. The first of
these denominations should be adopted by the Americans, especially as it
is founded on a distinguishing character of the species, which will be taken
notice of in its place.

In a journey made by my father in 1792 to Hudson’s Bay, for the pur-
pose of remarking as he returned the points at which the vegetables of this
northern region appear and disappear, he first observed the Red Pine near
Lake St. John in Canada, in the A8th degree of latitude. Toward the
south I have not seen it beyond Wilkesbarre, in Pennsylvania, in latitude
41° 30' ; and it is rare in all the country south of the river Hudson. It
is found in Nova Scotia, w'here it bears the same name as in Canada, and
also that of Yellow Pine. Mackenzie, in the narrative of his journey to
the Pacific Ocean, mentions it as existing beyond Lake Superior.

But the Red Pine does not, line the Black Spruce, the Hemlock Spruce,
and the White Pine, constitute a large proportion of the extensive forests
which cover these regions, but occupies small tracts of a few hundred acres,
alone or mingled only with the White Pine. Like most species of this
genus, it grows in dry and sandy soils, by which the luxuriance of its vege-
tation is not checked, for it is 70 or 80 feet in height and 2 feet in diameter.
It is chiefly remarkable for the uniform size of its trunk for two thirds of
its length.

The bark upon the body of the tree is of a clearer red than upon that
of any other species in the United States : hence is derived its popular
name, and hence I have substituted the specific epithet rubra for that of
resinosa , employed by Aiton, and adopted by Sir A. B. Lambert. Another

68

RED PINE, OR NORWAY PINE.

motive for the change was to prevent a mistake to which many persons
would be liable, of supposing that this species affords the resinous matter
so extensively used in ship-building.

The leaves are of a dark green, 5 or 6 inches long, united in pairs and
collected in bunches at the extremity of the branches, like those of the
Long-leaved Pine and Maritime Pine, Pinus niaritima, instead of being
dispersed like those of the Jersey and Wild Pines. The female flowers
are bluish during the first months after their appearance, and the cones,
which are destitute of thorns' and which shed their seeds the first year, are
about 2 inches long, rounded at the base and abruptly pointed.

The concentric circles are crowded in, the Red Pine, and the wood, when
wrought, exhibits a fine compact grain. It is rendered heavy by the resin-
ous matter with which it is impregnated, and in Canada, Nova Scotia and
the District of Maine, it is highly esteemed for strength and durability,
and is frequently employed in naval architecture, especially for the deck
of vessels, for which it furnishes planks 40 feet long without knots. Stript
of the sap, it makes very lasting pumps. The main-mast of the St. Law-
rence, a ship of fifty guns, built by the French at Quebec, was of this Pine,
which confirms my observation concerning its stature.

The Red Pine is exported to England in planks from the District of
Maine and the shores of Lake Champlain. I have lately learned that this
commerce is diminished, because the timber is said to consist in too great
a proportion of sap : but the objection appears to me unfounded : several
trunks a foot in diameter, that I have examined, contained only one inch
of sap.

While young, the Red Pine has a beautiful aspect, and its vegetation is
always vigorous ; it would doubtless succeed in France and throughout the
north of Europe, and the useful properties of its wood and the resinous
matter that might be extracted from it, are sufficient inducements to its
cultivation. I by no means agree with Sir A. B. Lambert, that its wood
is always of an inferior quality.

PLATE CXXXIV.

A branch with a cone of the natural size ; Fig. 1 , A leaf. Fig. 2, A seed.

[The Norway Pine grows as rapidly as the Pitch Pine, whose wood it
resembles, but it is more free from resin and softer.]

Fl. iM.

Punis Pine a.

S ton e jj me .

( 69 )

STONE PINE.

Pinus PîNEA. P. foliis geminis ; strobilis ovatis, obtusis , subinermibus ; foliis
longioribus ; nucibus duris.

The Isles of the Mediterranean Sea, the shores of European Turkey,
and the south of Europe in general, produce this species of Pine. It grows
with difficulty in more northern climates, and requires to be protected from
the cold while young ; in this manner have been reared the stocks that
exist in the botanical garden of Paris, which support a winter as rigorous
as that of Richmond in Virginia.

The Stone Pine attains the height of 55 or 60 feet, with a diameter of
15 or 20 inches, and is easily distinguished by its wide and depressed s um -
mit. The leaves are about 5 inches in length, united in pairs, and of a
bright green. The cones are 5 inches long, 4 inches broad, and very
obtuse. On the inner side of each scale, at the base, are two pits contain-
ing a hard seed of a deep blue color, surmounted by a short wing. The
seeds enclose a white kernel, of an agreeable taste when fresh, which is
served upon the table ; but there is a Pine known in Portugal by the name
of Pinhao molar, and in Naples by that of Piniolo molese, of which the
kernel is tender and in every respect preferable.

The Stone Pine is a conquest of civilised man from savage nature, and
a long course of uninterrupted cultivation has been necessary to perfect its
fruit. To assign the period at which this process was begun is perhaps
impossible ; it must, however, be remote, for these cones are found, as an
architectural ornament in the Greek and Roman antiquities.

Though this tree can be of little value to the United States, it deserved
to be mentioned, as it grows in the poorest soils, has a picturesque appear-
ance, and is associated with recollections that are cherished by every lover
of the arts and sciences.

PLATE CXXXV.

A branch with a cone of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A leaf. Fig. 2, A seed.

( 70 )

GRAY PINE.

Pinus kttpestris. P. arbor humilis ; foliis binis , rigidis, uncialibus ; strobilis
cinereis, recurvis, insigniter incur vato-tortis ; squamis inermibus, ramulo ad -
pres sis.

Pinus Banksiana. Lambert.

This species is found farther northward than any other American Pine.
In Nova Scotia and the District of Maine, where it is rare, it is called
Scrub Pine , and in Canada, Gtray Pine. I cannot impart a juster idea of
its nature than by an extract from my father’s notes upon Canada. u In
the environs of Hudson’s Bay and of the Great Mistassin lakes, the trees
which compose the forests a few degrees further south disappear almost
entirely, in consequence of the severity of the winter and the sterility of
the soil. The face of the country is almost everywhere broken by innum-
erable lakes, and ^covered with large rocks piled upon each other and
usually overgrown with large black lichens, which deepen the gloomy
aspect of these desolate and almost uninhabited regions. Here and there,
in the intervals of the rocks, are seen a few individuals of this species of
Pine, which fructify and even exhibit the appearances of decrepitude at the
height of 3 feet. One hundred and fifty miles farther south its vegetation
is more vigorous, but it is still not more than 8 or 10 feet high, and in Nova
Scotia, where it is confined to the summit of the rocks, it rarely exceeds
this stature.”

The leaves of the Gray Pine are united in pairs in the same sheath, but
they are disseminated over the branches instead of being collected at the
extremity, and are about an inch long, flat on the interior, and rounded on
the exterior face. The cones are commonly in pairs, and are of a gray or
ashy color, which has probably lent its name to the tree ; they are about
2 inches long, and have the peculiarity of always < pointing in the same
direction with the branches : they are, besides, remarkable for naturally
assuming an arching shape, which gives them the appearance of small
horns. They are extremely hard, and do not open to release the seeds
before the second or third year. The Canadians find a speedy cure for
obstinate colds in a diet-drink made by boiling these cones in water. If
this property, which is said to belong also to the fruit of the Black Spruce,

/Y z3ô’

Grey Pine
jPmus j'up&rtrif.

YELLOW PINE.

71

is proved to exist, it forms the only merit of a tree too diminutive to be of
any other utility ; in my opinion Sir A. B. Lambert mistakes, in supposing
it capable of furnishing turpentine or tar as an article of commerce.

PLATE CXXXYI.

A branch with a cone of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A leaf. Fig. 2, A seed.

YELLOW PINE.

Pinus mitis. jP. arbor maxima ; foliis prælongis, tenuoribus , caniculatis ; stro-
bilis parvis, scepe solitariis, conoideo-ovatis ; tessularum mucrone minutissimo .

Pinus mitis. Mich. Flor. Bor. Am.

This tree is widely diffused in North America, and is known in different
places by different names : in the Middle States, where it is abundant and
in common use, it is called Yellow Pine ; in the Carolinas and Georgia,
Spruce Pine, and more frequently Short-leaved Pine.

Toward the north, this species is not found beyond certain districts of
Connecticut and Massachusetts ; it is multiplied in the lower part of New
Jersey, and still more on the eastern shore of Maryland and in the lower
parts of Virginia, where it is seen only upon arid soils. I have, also, met
with it on the right bank of the river Hudson, at a little distance from
Albany, at Chambersburg in Pennsylvania, near Mudlick in Kentucky,
on the Cumberland Mountains and in the vicinity of Knoxville in East
Tennessee, at Edgefield Court-house in the upper part of South Carolina,
and on the river Oconee in the upper part of Georgia. In all these places
it is united with other trees, and enters in a greater or less proportion into
the composition of the forests, according to the nature of the soil. It
abounds on the poorest lands ; on those of a certain degree of fertility,
which is indicated by the flourishing appearance of the Oaks and Walnuts,

72

YELLOW PINE.

it is more rare, though it still surpasses the surrounding trees in bulk and
elevation. The Yellow Pine is, also occasionally seen in the lower part of
the Carolinas, in the Floridas, and probably in Louisiana ; but in these
regions it grows only in spots consisting of beds of red clay mingled with
gravel, which here and there pierce the light covering of sand which forms
the surface of the country to the distance of 1,20 miles from the sea.

The Yellow Pine is a beautiful tree, and this advantage it owes to the
disposition of its limbs, which are less divergent the higher they are placed
upon the stock, and which are bent towards the body so as to form a sum-
mit regularly pyramidal, but not spacious in proportion to the dimensions
of the trunk. Its regularity has perhaps given rise to the name of Spruce
Pine.

In New Jersey and in Maryland, this tree is 50 or 60 feet high, and is
commonly of an uniform diameter of 15 or 18 inches for two-thircis of this
distance ; in Virginia and the upper part of the Carolinas, there are stocks
of nearly the same height and of twice this diameter ; I have measured
several that were between 5 and 6 feet in circumference.

The leaves are 4 or 5 inches long, fine, flexible, hollowed on the inner
face, of a dark green, and united in pairs ; sometimes, from the luxuriancy
of vegetation, three are found together on the shoots of the season, but
never upon the older branches ; there is, therefore, an inaccuracy in the
description of this species as a Pine with two or three leaves, and in the
specific epithet variabilis.

The cones are oval, armed with fine spines, and smaller than those of
any other American Pine, since they scarcely exceed an inch and a half in
length upon old trees. The seeds are cast the first year.

The concentric circles of the wood are six times as numerous in a given
space as those of the Pitch and Loblolly Pines. In trunks 15 or 18 inches
in diameter there are only 2 inches, or 2è, of sap, and still less in such as
exceed this size. The heart is fine-grained and moderately resinous, which
renders it compact without great weight. Long experience has proved its
excellence and durability. In the Northern and Middle States, and in
Virginia, to the distance of 150 miles from the sea, nine-tenths of the houses
are built entirely of wood, and the floors, the casings of the doors and
wainscots, the sashes of the windows, etc., are made of this species, as more
solid and lasting than any other indigenous wood. In the upper part of
the Carolinas, where the Cypress and White Cedar do not grow, the houses
are constructed wholly of Yellow Pine, and are even covered with it. But
for whatever purpose it is employed it should be completely freed from the
sap, which speedily decays. This precaution is sometimes neglected in
order to procure wider boards, especially near the ports, where, from the
constant consumption, the tree is becoming rare. Immense quantities are
used in the dock-yards of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, etc., for the

. w

Pi M,

Wild Pine or Scotcli Fir.

Pinuj syhyejfriiS .

WILD PINE OR SCOTCH FIR.

73

decks, masts, yards, beams and cabins of vessels, and it is considered as next
in durability to tbe Long-leaved Pine. The wood from New Jersey and 1
Maryland is finer grained, more compact, and stronger than that from the
river Delaware, which grows upon richer lands.

The Yellow Pine, in boards from 1 inch to 2J inches thick, forms a con-
siderable article of exportation to the West Indies and Great Britain; in
the advertisements of Liverpool it is designated by the name of New York
JPine , and In those of Jamaica by that of Yellow Pine; in both places it
is sold at a lower price than the Long-leaved Pine of the Southern States,
but much higher -than the White Pine.

Though this species yields turpentine and tar, their extraction demands
too much labor, as it is always mingled in the forests with other trees.

The value of its wood alone renders it, for the middle and north of Europe,
the most interesting, except the Red Pine, of the American species. Sir
A. B. Lambert begins his Latin description of it thus : Arbor mediocris ,
etc. and adds that “ it does not exceed 25 or 30 feet in height, is of a
spongy consistence, and unfit for building.”

PLATE CXXXVII.

A branch with a cone of the natural size. Fig. 1, A leaf. Fig. 2, A seed.

WILD PINE or SCOTCH EIR.

Pinus sylvestris, P. foins geminis rigidis, strobilis ovato-conicis, longitudine
foliorum ; squamis echinatis.

The Pines of the Old Continent are less numerous than those already
observed in North America. Among them the Wild Pine is the most
valuable for the properties pf its wood ; it is, besides, extensively diffused,
and grows in the most dissimilar soils.

VOL. III.— 11

74

WILD PINE OR SCOTCH FIR.

In that part of Europe which lies above the 55th degree of latitude, are
found immense forests of resinous trees, in general composed entirely of
this species ; below this parallel the leafy trees begin to mingle with them,
and soon exclude them from the forests. In the centre of Europe the
Wild Pine abounds only in the coldest and most elevated situations, such
as the Pyrenees j the Tyrolian, Swiss and Yosgian Mountains. In Scotland
it is so common as to leave no doubt of its being indigenous to that king-
dom, though some authors believe it to have come originally from the
Continent.

This tree arrives at perfection only in the north of Europe, where it is
more than 80 feet high and 4 or 5 feet in diameter. The full-grown trunk
is covered with a thick and deeply furrowed bark ; the leaves are in pairs,
of a pale green, stiff, twisted, and about 3 inches long : the flowers are of
a yellowish tint, and the cones are grayish, of a middling thickness and a
little shorter than the leaves. Each scale is surmounted by a retorted
spine ; the seeds are small, black, and garnished with a reddish wing ; they
ripen the second year.

The great elevation of the Wild Pine, its uniform diameter, and the
excellent quality of its wood, resulting from a just proportion of resinous
fluid, render it peculiarly proper for the masts of large ships, and for an
infinite variety of secondary uses. A considerable exportation takes place
from the north of Europe, especially from Riga, Memel and Dantzick, to
the maritime states, particularly to England, where, according to Sir A. 11.
Lambert, it is known by the name of red deal , and in London by that of
yellow deal. In Poland and Russia, the houses in the country are generally
constructed of it. This species furnishes four-fifths of the tar consumed
in the dock-yards of Europe, which is imported from Archangel, Riga, and
other ports of Russia and Norway.

In the north of Europe, great ravages are committed in the forests com-
posed of the Wild Pine and Norway Spruce Fir by several insects, of which
the most destructive is the Bostrichus piniperda. This little animal intro-
duces itself into the cellular tissue of the bark, and succeeds in dividing
it from the trunk. The separation of the bark prevents the circulation of
the sap, and hence results the inevitable death of the tree. It is impossi-
ble to oppose an effectual resistance to this winged enemy ; but I have
been informed by a Polish gentleman that its progress is sometimes arrested
by felling all the trees, for a space of fifty yards in breadth, between the
part of the forest which it already occupies and that which it threatens to
assail.

The faculty which I have ascribed to the Wild Pine of growing in cli-
mates, soils and exposures extremely different, is of inestimable value, and
its cultivation has been successfully attempted on lands abandoned during
ages of hopeless sterility. Plantations may be formed from the seed, or

WILD PINE OR SCOTCH FIR,

75

with, young stocks from the nursery : of all the Pines this species hears
transplanting with, the least injury. It is seen flourishing on sandy wastes
exposed to the saline vapors of the sea, and, which is more remarkable, on
calcareous lands, a large tract of which in the Department of the Marne,
called la Champagne pouilleuse , has begun within 40 years to be covered
with it, after lying desert from time immemorial. The proprietors who
first conceived this fortunate plan have already seen their barren grounds
acquire a tenfold value. The oldest plantations yield seeds, which are
disseminated by the winds and spring up spontaneously. After the first
growth of evergreen trees, the soil becomes capable of sustaining the Birch,
the Hornbeam, the Oaks, etc., which in time renders it proper for the
production of cereal plants. In Belgium, large heaths have in this way
been transformed into rich arable land.

The culture of the Wild Pine has been found so profitable that seeds or
young plants may everywhere be obtained at a moderate price. April is
the most favorable season for sowing the seeds or removing the young
stocks : 6 or 8 pounds of seed should be scattered upon an acre of ground
previously sown with half the usual quantity of oats ; the roller suffices to
cover them. The oats preserve a degree of coolness in the soil, and shelter
the young Pines from the ardor of the sun ; but great care must be taken
not to injure them in the harvest.

The Wild Pine is so different from the White Pine in its foliage, the
form of its cones and the quality of its wood, that no comparison can be
instituted between them': it is more analogous to the Yellow Pine, to which
however, it is superior. It might be most profitably cultivated on waste
lands in the northern section of the United States.

PLATE CXXXVIII.

A branch with a cone of the natural size. Fig. 1, A leaf. Fig. 2, A seed.
Fig. 3, Bostrichus piniperda, or Dermestes typographus, of the' natural size.
Fig. 4, The same insect enlarged.

( 76 )

NEW JERSEY PINE.

Pinus inops. P. arbor mediocris, ramosa ; foliis binis, brevibus ; strobilis ovato-
acuminatis, solitariis, fuscis ; mucronibus tessularum rigidis ; deorsum sub-
inclinatis.

Obs. Truncus et ramuli obscure et squalide fusci.

The Jersey Pine has probably been so named from its abounding in the
lower part of New Jersey, where the soil is meager and sandy, and where
it is often accompanied by the Yellow Pine. It is not, however, confined
to this State, for I have seen it in Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky, in
Pennsylvania beyond Chambersburg, near the Juniata, and on the scrubby
ridges beyond Bedford, at the distance of about 200 miles from Philadel-
phia. In this part of Pennsylvania it is called Scrub Pine , and is seen
wherever the soil is composed of argillaceous schist and is consequently
poor. The leanness of the land on which it grows' is attested by the
decrepid appearance of the Scarlet, Red, Black, White and Rock Chesnut
Oaks, with which it is mingled. I have never met with it northward of
the river Hudson, nor in the Carolinas and Georgia.

This tree is sometimes 30 or 40 feet high and 12 or 15 inches in diame-
ter, but it rarely attains these dimensions. The trunk, which is clad in a
blackish bark, tapers sensibly from the base to the summit, and half its
length is occupied by limbs remote from each other. The leaves are united
in pairs and are of a dark green, 1 or 2 inches long, flat on the inner face,
Stiff and scattered over the young branches, which are very flexible and
smooth, while those of the other species are scaly. The wood of the annual
shoots is observed to be of a violet tint, which is a character peculiar to
this species and to the Yellow Pine.

The cones are a little larger than those of the preceding species, or about
2 inches long and an inch in diameter at the base : they are attached by
short, thick peduncles, and are armed with long, firm spines, pointed and
bent backwards ; they are usually single and directed towards the earth.
The seeds are shed the first year of their maturity.

The size of this species of Pine forbids the useful employment of its
wood, not to mention the disadvantage under which it labors of containing
a large proportion of sap. Near Mudlick, in Kentucky, a small quantity

Mj4o.

fable Mountain Pine
Pmzar punyerw.

TABLE MOUNTAIN PINE.

77

of tar is obtained from the heart and consumed in the vicinity. I must
again dissent from the opinion of Sir A. B. Lambert, who thinks that the
flexible branches of the Jersey Pine might serve for hoops ; they are too
knotty, and would decay in less than six months. Next to the Gray Pine,,
this is the most uninteresting species of the United States.

PLATE CXXXIX.

A branch with a cone of the natural size. Fig. 1, A leaf. Fig. 2, A seed.

TABLE MOUNTAIN PINE,

Pintjs pungens. P. arbor 45-50 pedalis ; foliis binis, brevibus et crassis ; stro-
bilis turbinatis, prcemagnis,flavis , squamis echinatis, spinis luteis , durissimis
et basi latioribus.

The Table Mountain, in North Carolina, one of the highest points of
the Alleghanies, at the distance of nearly 300 miles from the sea, has given
its name to this species of Pine, which covers it almost exclusively, though
it is rare on the neighboring summits. Nor is it found in any other part
of the United States, as my father and myself have become assured by
extensive researches. Of all the forest trees of America this species alone
is restricted to such narrow limits, and it will probably be among the first
to become extinct, as the mountains which produce it are easy of access,
are favored with a salubrious air and a fertile soil, and are rapidly peopling ;
besides which, their forests are frequently ravaged by fire.

The Table Mountain Pine is 40 or 50 feet in height with a proportional
diameter. The buds are resinous, and the leaves, which grow in pairs, are
thick, stiff, and about 2J inches in length. The cones are about 3 inches
long and 2 inches in diameter at the base, of a regular form and a light
yellow color: they are sessile, and often united to the number of four.

78

LONG-LEAVED PINE.

Each scale is armed with a strong, ligneous spine, 2 lines in length, widened
at the base, and bent toward the summit of the cone.

This tree divides itself in numerous ramifications. It is appropriated to
no particular uSe, but in the mountains of North Carolina its turpentine is
preferred to every other as a dressing for wounds. I cannot discover the
slightest difference between this resin and that of the Pitch Pine > and it is
a remai kable fact that all the Pines, though differing widely from each
other, yield a resin so analogous as often to be ^distinguishable by the
taste and smell.

The Table Mountain Pine has no valuable properties to recommend it
to notice in Europe ; it will serve only to complete botanical collections
and to diversify pleasure grounds.

PLATE C XL.

A branch with a cone of the natural size.

LONG-LEAVED PINE.

Pinus australis. P. arbor maxima ; foliis ternis longissimis ; amentis mascu-
lis longo-cylindraceis, fusco-glaucis, diver gentibus ; strobilis longissime conoi-
deis, tessularum tuberculo tumido , mucrone minutissimo terminato.

Pinus palustris. Linn.

This invaluable tree is known both in the countries which produce it,
and in those to which it is exported, by different names ; in the first it is
called Long-leaved Pine, Yellow Pine, Pitch Pine and Broom Pine ; in the
Northern States, Southern Pine and Red Pine; and in England and the
West Indies, Georgia Pitch Pine. I have preferred the first denomination,
because this species has longer leaves than any other eastward of the Mis-

Lon o* Leaded Pine.
ftnzur aUiffralts.

LONG-LEAVED PINE.

79

sissippi, and because the names of Yellow Pine and Pitch Pine, which are
more commonly employed, serve in the Middle States to designate two
species entirely distinct and extensively diffused. The specific epithet
australis is more appropriate than that of palustris, which has hitherto
been applied to it by botanists, but which suggests an erroneous idea of
the situations in which it grows.

Toward the north, the Long-leaved Pine first makes its appearance near
Norfolk, in Virginia, where the pine-barrens begin. It seems to be espe-
cially assigned to dry, sandy soils, and it is found almost without interrup-
tion in the, lower part of the Carolinas, Georgia and the Floridas, over a
tract more than 600 miles long from north-east to south-west, and more than
100 miles broad from the sea toward the mountains of the Carolinas and
Georgia. I have ascertained three points, about 100 miles apart, where
it does not grow : the first, 8 miles from the river Neuse, in North Carolina,
on the road from Louisburgh to Raleigh ; the second, between Chester and
Winesborough, in South Carolina ; the third, 12 miles north of Augusta, in
Georgia. Where it begins to show itself towards the river Neuse, it is
united with the Loblolly Pine, the Yellow Pine, the Pond Pine, the Black
Jack Oak and the Scrub Oak ; but immediately beyond Raleigh it holds
almost exclusive possession of the soil, and is seen in company-with the
Pines just mentioned only on the edges of the swamps enclosed in the
barrens ; even there not more than one stock in a hundred is of another
species. With this exception, the Long-leaved Pine forms the unbroken
mass of woods which covers this extensive country. But between Fayette-
ville and Wilmington, in North Carolina, the Scrub Oak is found in some
districts disseminated in the barrens, and, except this species of Pine, it is
the only tree capable of subsisting in so dry and sterile a soil.

The mean stature of the Long-leaved Pine is 60 or 70 feet, with an uni-
form diameter of 15 or 18 inches for two-thirds of this height. Some stocks,
favored by local circumstances, attain much larger dimensions, particularly
in East Florida. The bark is somewhat furrowed, and the epidermis de-
taches itself in thin transparent sheets. The leaves are about a foot long,
of a beautiful brilliant green, united to the number of three in the same
sheath, and collected in bunches at the extremity of the branches : they
are longer and more numerous on the young stocks, which are sometimes
cut by the negroes for brooms. The buds are very large, white, fringed,
and not resinous.

The bloom takes place in April ; the male flowers form masses of diver-
gent violet-colored aments about 2 inches long; in drying they shed great
quantities of yellowish pollen, which is diffused by the wind and forms a
momentary covering on the surface of the land and water. The cones are
very large, being 7 or 8 inches long, and four inches thick when open, and
are armed with small retorted spines. In the fruitful year they are ripe

80

LONG-LEAVED PINE.

about the 15th of October, and shed their seeds the same month. The
kernel is of an agreeable taste, and is contained in a thin white shell, sur-
mounted by a membrane ; in every other species of American Pine the
shell is black. Sometimes the seeds are very abundant, and are voraci-
ously eaten by wild turkies, squirrels, and the swine that live almost wholly
in the woods. But in the unfruitful year, a forest of a hundred miles in
extent maybe ransacked without finding a single cone; this probably occa-
sioned the mistake of the French who, in 1567, attempted a settlement in
Florida, that “ the woods were filled with superb Pines that never yielded
seed.”

The Long-leaved Pine contains but little sap ; several trunks 15 inches
in diameter at the height of 3 feet, which I have myself measured, had 10
inches of perfect wood. Many stocks of this size are felled for commerce,
and none are received for exportation of which the heart is not 10 inches in
diameter when squared. The concentric circles in a trunk fully developed
are close and at equal distances, and the resinous matter, which is abundant,
is more uniformly distributed than in the other species ; hence the wood is
stronger, more compact and more durable : it is, besides, fine-grained, and
susceptible of a bright polish. These advantages give it a preference over
every other Pine : but its quality is modified by the nature of the soil in
which it grows ; in the neighborhood of the sea, where only a thin layer
of mould reposes on the sand, it is more resinous than where the mould is
5 or 6 inches thick ; the stocks that grow upon the first mentioned soil are
called Pitch Pine, and the others Yellow Pine, as if they were distinct
species.

This wood subserves a great variety of uses ; in the Carolinas, Georgia,
and the Floridas, four-fifths of the houses are built of it, except the roof,
which is covered with shingles of Cypress ; but in the country the roof is
also of Pine, and is renewed after 15 or 18 years, a considerable interval
in a climate so warm and humid. A vast consumption takes place for the
enclosure of cultivated fields. In naval architecture this is the most
esteemed of the Pines : in the Southern States, the keel, the beams, the
side-planks, and the pins by which they are attached to the ribs, are of
this tree. For the deck it is preferred to the true Yellow Pine, and is
exported for that purpose to Philadelphia, New York, etc., where it is in
request also for the flooring of houses.

In certain soils its wood contracts a reddish hue, and it is for that rea-
son known in the dock yards of the Northern States by the name of Red
Pine. Wood of this tint is considered the best, and in the opinion of some
shipwrights it is more durable on the sides of vessels, and less liable to
injury from worms, than the Oak.

The Long-leaved Pine is the only species exported from the Southern
States to the West Indies. A numerous fleet of small vessels is employed

LONG-LEAVED PINE.

81

in this traffic, particularly from Wilmington, in North Carolina, and Savan-
nah, in Georgia. The stuff destined for the Colonial market is cut into
every form required in the construction of houses and of vessels ; what is
sent to England is in planks from 15 to 30 feet long and 10 or 12 inches
broad ; they are called ranging timbers. The vessels freighted with this
timber repair chiefly to Liverpool, where it is said to be employed in the
building of ships and of wet-docks : it is called Georgia Pitch Pine, and
is sold 25 or 30 per cent.'higher than any other Pine imported from the
United States.

From the diversified uses of this wood an idea may be formed of the
consumption ; to which must be added a waste of a more disastrous kind,
which it seems impossible to arrest. Since the year 1804, extensive tracts
of the finest Pines are seen covered only with dead trees. In 1802, I re-
marked a similar phenomenon among the Yellow Pines, in East Tennessee.
This catastrophe is felt among the Scotch Firs which people the forests of
the north of Europe, and is wrought by swarms of small, insects, which
lodge in different parts of the stock, insinuate themselves under the bark,
penetrate into the body of the tree, and cause it to perish in the course of
the year.

The value of the Long-leaved Pine does not reside exclusively in its
wood : it supplies nearly all the resinous matter used in the United States
in ship-building, and a large residue for exportation to the West Indies
and Great Britain. In this view, its place can be supplied by no other
species : those which afford the same product being dispersed through the
woods or collected in inaccessible places. In the Northern States, the
lands which, at the commencement of their settlement, were covered with
the Pitch Pine, were exhausted in 25 or 30 years, and for more than half
a century have ceased to furnish tar.

The pine barrens are of vast extent, and are covered with trees of the
finest growth ; but they cannot all be rendered profitable from the diffi-
culty of communication with the sea. Formerly tar was made in all the
lower parts of the Carolinas and Georgia, and throughout the Floridas ves-
tiges are everywhere seen of kilns that have served in the combustion of
resinous wood. At present, this branch of industry is confined to the
lower districts of North Carolina, which furnish almost all the tar and tur-
pentine exported from Wilmington and other ports.

The resinous product of the Pine is of six sorts, viz : turpentine, scrap-
ings, spirit of turpentine, rosin, tar and pitch. The two last are delivered
in their natural state ; the others are modified by the agency of fire in cer-
tain modes of preparation. More particularly : turpentine is the sap of
the tree obtained by making incisions in its trunk. It begins to distil
about the middle of March, when the circulation commences, and flows with
increasing abundance as the weather becomes warmer, so that July and
Vgl. III.— 12

LONG-LEAVED PINE.

August are the most productive months. When the circulation is slack
ened b j the chills of autumn, the , operation is discontinued, and the
remainder of the year is occupied in preparatory labors for the following
seaèons, which consist — first, Jn making the boxes. This is done in Janu-
ary and February : in the base of each tree, about 3 or 4 inches from the
ground, and of preference on the south side, a cavity is formed, commonly
of the capacity of three pints, but proportioned to the size of the trunk, of
which it should occupy a quarter of the diameter ; on stocks more than 6
feet in circumference, two, and sometimes four boxes are made on opposite
sides. Next comes the raking, or the clearing of the ground at the foot of
the trees fi;om leaves and herbage, by which means they are secured
against the fires that are often kindled in the woods by the carelessness
of travellers and wagoners. If the flames gain the boxes already impreg-
nated with turpentine, they are rendered useless, and others must be made.
Notching is merely making at the sides of the box two oblique gutters,
about 3 inches long, to conduct into it the sap that exudes from the edges
of the wound. In the interval of a fortnight, which is employed in this
operation, the first boxes become filled with sap. A wooden shovel is used
to transfer it to pails, which in turn are emptied into casks placed at con-
venient distances. To increase the product, the upper edge of the box is
chipped once a week, the bark and a portion of the alburnum being
removed to the depth of four concentric circles. The boxes fill every
three weeks. The turpentine thus procured is the best, and is called pure
dipping.

The chippings extend the first year a foot above the box, and as the dis-
tance increases, the operation is more frequently repeated, to remove the
sap coagulated on the surface of the wound. , The closing of the pores, oc-
casioned by continued rains, requires the same remedy ; and it is remarked
that the produce is less abundant in moist and cool seasons. After 5 or 6
years the tree is abandoned; the upper edge of the wound becfomes cica-
trized, but the bark is never restored sufficiently for the renewal of the
process.

It is reckoned that 250 boxes yield a barrel containing 320 lbs. Some
persons charge a single negro with the care of 4,000 or 4,500 trees of one
box; others, of only 3,000, which is an easy task. In general, 3,000 trees
yield, in ordinary years, 75 barrels of turpentine and 25 of scraping, which
supposes the boxes to be emptied five or six times in the season. The
scraping is a coating of sap which becomes solid before it reaches the
boxes, and which is taken off in the fall and added to the last runnings.
In November, 1807, the pure dipping was sold at Wilmington at three
dollars a barrel, and the scraping a quarter less.

In 1804, the exportation to the Northern States and to the English pos-
sessions amounted to 77,827 barrels. During peace it comes even to Paris,

LONG. -LEAVED PINE.

83

where it is called Boston turpentine. Throughout the United States it is
used to make yellow soap of a good quality. The consumption in England
is great, and, in the official statements, the value imported in 1807 is
465,828 dollars : in 1805, Liverpool alone received 40,294 barrels, and in
1807, 18,924 barrels. It sold there in August, 1807, at three dollars a
hundred pounds, and after the American embargo, in 1808, at eight or
nine dollars. Oddy omits, in his list of articles exported from Archangel
and Stockholm to Great Britain, the resinous product of the Pine, which
has amounted to 100,000 barrels of tar in a year.

A great deal of spirits of turpentine is made in North Carolina : it is
obtained by distilling the turpentine in large copper retorts, which are of
an imperfect shape, being so narrow at the mouth as to retard the opera-
tion. Six barrels of turpentine .are said to afford one cask, or 122 quarts
of the spirit. It is sent to all parts of the United States, even to the
Western Country by the Way of Philadelphia, to England, and to France,
where it is preferred, as less odorous, to that made near Bordeaux. In
1804, 19,526 gallons were exported from North Carolina. The residuum
of the distillation is rosin , which is sold at one-third of the price of tur-
pentine. The exportation of this substance, in 1804, was 4,675 barrels.

All the tar of the Southern States is made from dead wood of the Long-
leaved Pine, consisting of trees prostrated by time or by the fire kindled
annually in the forests, of the summits of those that are felled for timber,
and of limbs broken off by the ice which sometimes overloads the leaves.*

It is worthy of remark that the branches of resinous trees consist almo'st
wholly of wood , of w'hich- the organization is even more perfect than in
the body of the tree; the reverse is observed in trees with deciduous
leaves: the explanation of the phenomenon I leave to persons skilled in
vegetable physiology. As soon as vegetation ceases in any part of the
tree, its consistence speedily changes; the sap decays, and the heart,
already impregnated with resinous juice, becomes surcharged to such a
degree as to double its -weight in a year : the accumulation is said to be
much greater after 4 or 5 years: the general fact may be proved by com-
paring the wood of trees recently felled, and of others long since dead.

To procure the tar, a kiln is formed in a part of the forest abounding
in dead wood : this is first collected, stripped of the sap, and cut into billets
2 or 3 feet long and about 3 inches thick ; a task which is rendered long
and difficult by the knots. The next step is to prepare a place for piling
it : for this purpose, a circular mound is raised, slightly declining from the
circumference to the centre, and surrounded with a shallow ditch. The
diameter of the pile is proportioned to the quantity of wood which it is to
receive ; to obtain 100 barrels of tar, it should be 18 or 20 feet wide.’ In

* See Travels West of the Alleghanies, by F. A. Michaux. Paris, 1803.

: 84

LONG-LEAVED PINE.

the middle is a hole with a conduit leading to the ditch, in which is formed
a receptacle for the resin as it flows out. Upon the surface of the mound,
beaten hard and coated with clay, the wood is laid round in a circle like
rays.

The pile, when finished, may he compared to a cone truncated at two-
thirds of its height and reversed, being 20 feet in diameter below, 25 or
30 feet above, and 10 or 12 feet high. It is then strewed with pine-leaves,
t covered with earth, and contained at the sides with a slight cincture of
wood. This covering is necessary in order that the fire kindled at the top
may penetrate to the bottom with a slow and gradual combustion; if the
whole mass was rapidly inflamed, the operation would fail and the labor
in part be lost ; in fine, nearly the same precautions are exacted in this
process as are observed in Europe in making charcoal. A kiln which is
to afford 100 or 130 barrels of tar, is eight or mine days in burning.

As the tar flows off into the ditch, it is emptied into casks of 30 gallons,
which are made of the same species of wocfd.

Pitch is tar reduced by evaporation : it should not be diminished beyond
half its bulk to be of a good quality.

In 1807, tar and pitch were exported to England from the United States
to the amount of $265,000 ; the tar was sold at Liverpool, in August of
the same year, at $4 67c. a barrel, and when the embargo became known,
at $5 56c. : from which inferences may be drawn to the advantage of the
United States. At Wilmington, the ordinary price is from $1 75c. to
$2 20c. a barrel.

Oddy informs us that the tar brought to England between 1786 and ’99,
came in equal proportions from Russia, Sweden and the United States ; only
a very small quantity was drawn from Denmark. The Swedish tar is the
most highly esteemed in commerce, and next, that of Archangel ; that of
the United States is considered inferior to both, which is owing to its being
made from dead wood, while that of Europe is extracted from trees recently
felled : I shall speak more particularly of the difference arising from this
cause in the description of the Pitch Pine. The tar of Carolina is said
also to contain earth ; this can be attributable only to the want of care in
preparing the receptacles ; if the same pains were taken in its preparation,
it would probably equal that of Europe, though it must be considered that
the tar of Russia and Sweden is produced by a different tree, a native of
the north of Europe. It has already been remarked that in the United
States this manufacture is confined to the maritime part of North Carolina,
and to a small tract of Virginia : but, according to the rate of consump-
tion in America and Great Britain, the product would not long suffice if
all the extensive regions covered with the Long-leaved Pine were made to
contribute to this object ; for the dead wood is said not to be renewed upon
a tract that has been cleared, in less than ten or twelve years. It might

LONG-LEAVED PINE.

85

be advantageous to make use of green wood, or purposely to strip the
trees of their bark ; and perhaps in this way supplies might be obtained
equivalent to the demands of commerce.

Great benefit would result from stripping the Pines of a certain diameter
of their bark ; they would pass completely into the resinous state in fifteen
months, and would be proper for posts and many other uses which require
strong and lasting wood. This experiment, which I should have tried
when I was last in South Carolina if the season had not been too far
advanced, should be made in April or the beginning of May, while the
sap is in active circulation, and the liber or inner bark should be exactly
removed.

I cannot conclude this protracted article without expressing a wish that
the Long-leaved Pine should be introduced upon the wastes near Bordeaux ;
the soil and climate are perfectly congenial to it, and it would succeed
better than in the more northern departments. It would be a valuable
addition to our domestic resources, for its wood is superior to that of any
Pine of North America, and, as I have proved by Comparison, to that of
the Bordeaux and Riga Pines. The Red and Yellow Pines, also, are
shown to be superior to these European species, by samples which I
brought from America.

The figure of the Long-leaved Pine, in Sir A. B. Lambert’s work, is
correct in the leaves and fruit, but defective in the male flowers. TTi s
description is wholly inconsistent with my own observations. The Latin
phrase begins thus : u Pinus palustris , arbor, mediocris, in paludosis, etc.
The wood is of a reddish white color, soft, light, and very sparingly
impregnated with resin. It soon decays, burns badly, and is so little
esteemed that it is not used while any other species of wood can be
procured.”

PLATE CXLI.

Fig. 1, A leaf. Fig. 2, A bud. Fig. 3, A seed.

( 86 )

POND PINE.

Pinüs SEROTINA. P. arbor 40-45 pedalis ; foliis terni s prœlongis ; amentis mas-

culis erecto-incumhentihus ; strobilis ovatis, tessularum mucrone minutissimo.

The Pond Pine frequently recurs in the maritime parts of the Southern
States, hut is lost as it were among the Long-leaved Pines which cover
these regions, and as it is appropriated to no use, and bears a strong family
likeness to the rest of the genus, it has received no popular specific name ;
that which I have given it seems sufficiently appropriate, since it grows
principally on the borders of ponds covered with the Pond Bush, Laurus
æstivalis, and in the small SAvamps, whose black and miry sôil is shaded by
the Loblolly Bay, B,ed Bay, Tupelo, and Small Magnolia or White Bay.

The leaves united to the number of 8, are 5 or 6 inches in length, and
a little more upon young stocks. The aments are straight, and 6 or 8 lines
long ; the cones are commonly opposite and in pairs, 2 J inches in length,
5f inches in circumference, and in form like an egg ; their scales are
rounded at the extremity, and armed with fine short spines which are
easily broken off, so that in some instances no vestige is left of their exist-
ence. The cones arrive at maturity the second year, hut do not release
their seeds before the third or fourth.

The ordinary size of the tree, which it rarely exceeds, is 35 or 40 feet
in height and 15 or 18 inches in diameter. It is remarkable for the
remoteness of its branches, which begin to spring upon the lower half of
the' stock ; and more than half of the largest trunks consist of sap ; for
these reasons the species is useless at home and deservedly neglected
abroad.

Observation. — The Pond Pine sometimes grows with the Long-leaved
Pine in abandoned fields near the swamps. The dryness of the soil
occasions no difference in its form. This observation is important, as the
species under consideration is frequently confounded with the Pitch Pine,
which it strikingly resembles.

PLATE CXLXI.

A branch with a cone of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A leaf. Fig. 2, A seed.

Pond Pine.

JPznuj' serotnia

PUl

Pit cli Pme.

Punts /'loida .

( 8T )

PITCH PINE.

Pinus rigida. P. arbor ramosa ; cortice scabro-rvnosa ; gemmis resinosis ;
foliis ternis; amentis masculis erecto-incunibentibus ; strobilis sparsis vél
aggregates ; squamis echinatis ; spinis rigidis.

This species is known in all the United States by the name of Pitch
Pine , and sometimes in Virginia by that of Black Pine , but no where by
that of Three-leaved Virginian Pine , which is used by Sir A. B. Lambert.

Except the maritime parts of the Atlantic States, and the fertile regions
west of the Alleghany mountains, it is found throughout the United States,
but most abundantly upon the Atlantic coast, where the soil is diversified
but generally meager. The vicinity of Brunswick in the District of Maine,
and of Burlington on Lake Champlain, in the State of Vermont, are the
most northern points at which I have observed it ; in these places it com-
monly grows in light, even, friable, sandy soils, which it occupies almost
exclusively. It does not exceed 12 or 15 feet in height, and its slender
branches, laden with puny cones, evince the feebleness of its vegetation.

In Pennsylvania and Virginia, the ridges of the Alleghanies are some-
times covered with it, as I have remarked in travelling from Philadelphia
to Pittsburg, and particularly in traversing the South Mountains, on the
ridge called Saddle Hill, 30 miles from Bedford. Here the soil is a little
more generous, consisting of clay thickly sown with stones, and the Pitch
Pine is 35 or 40 feet high, and 12 or 15 inches in diameter.

In the lower part of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, it is fre-
quently seen in the large swamps filled with the Red Cedar, which are
constantly miry or covered with water; in such situations it is 70 or 80
feet high, and from 20 to 28 inches in diameter, and exceeds the sur-
rounding trees both in bulk and elevation. It supports a long time the
presence of sea-water, which in spring-tides overflows the salt-meadows,
where it is sometimes found alone of its genus.

The buds of the Pitch Pine are always resinous, and its triple leaves
vary in length from an inch and a half to 7 inches, according to the degree
of moisture in the soil. The aments are an inch long, straight and winged
like those of the Pond Pine. The size of the cones depends upon the
nature of the soil, and varies from less than an inch to more than 3 inches

88

PITCH PINE.

in length ; they are of a pyramidal shape, and each scale is pointed 'with
an acute spine about 2 inches long. Wherever these trees grow in masses
the cones are dispersed singly over the branches, and, as I have learned
by constant' observation, they release the seeds the first autumn after their
maturity ; but on solitary stocks, exposed to the buffeting of the winds',
the cones are collected in groups of 4, 5, or even a larger number, and
remain closed for several years. This clustering of the cones serves, also,
to distinguish the Jersey and Table Mountain Pines.

The Pitch Pine has a thick, blackish, deeply furrowed bark. It is
remarkable for the number of its branches, which occupy two-thirds of its
trunk and render the wood extremely knotty. The concentric circles are
widely distant, and three-fourths of the larger stocks consist of sap. On
mountains and gravelly lands the wood is compact, heavy, and surcharged
with resin, whence is derived the name of Pitch Pine : in swamps, on the
contrary, it is light, soft, and composed almost wholly of sap ; it is then
called Sap Pine. These essential defects place it below the Yellow Pine,
but as that species is daily dwindling by the vast consumption in civil and
naval architecture, it is partially replaced by the Pitch Pine, the poorer
variety of which is used for the boxes employed in packing certain sorts of
merchandize, such as soap, candles, etc.

On some parts of the Alleghanies, where this tree abounds, houses are
built of it, and the wood, if it is not covered with paint, is recognized by
its numerous knots. It is thought better than the Yellow Pine for floors
that are frequently washed, as the resin with which it is impregnated ren-
ders it firmer and more durable. It serves perfectly well for ship-pumps,
for which purpose trees with very little heart are preferred. The bakers
of New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, and the brick-makers in the
vicinity of these cities, consume it in prodigious quantities. From the
most resinous stocks is procured the lamp-black of commerce.

The Pitch Pine seems to have formerly abounded in Connecticut, Mas-
sachusetts and New Hampshire ; for, since the beginning of the seven-
teenth century till 1776, they have furnished a certain quantity of tar.
About the year 1705, upon a misunderstanding with Sweden, whenee^she
had drawn her supplies, Great Britain encouraged this branch of industry
in the northern part of America by a premium of one pound sterling for
eight barrels of tar made from dead wood, and of two pounds for the same
quantity extracted from green trees. The method of depriving the trees
of their bark and felling them the following year, the excellence of which
has since been proved by Buffon’s experiments on the conversion of albur-
num into perfect wood, and which might be profitably applied in the United
States, was published and disseminated. In consequence of this encou-
ragement, or from other causes, the destruction has been so rapid that the
Northern States no longer furnish turpentine or tar for their own consump-

PITCH PINE.

8'9

tion. The little tar that is made on the shores of Lake Champlain is used on
the small vessels that ply upon its surface, or is sent to Quebec. A few of the
poorer inhabitants in the maritime part of New Jersey live by this resource,
and the product of their industry is sent to Philadelphia, where it is less
esteemed than the tar of the Southern States^ What is required for the
few vessels that are annually launched on the Ohio, is obtained at an
exorbitant price from the Alleghany Mountains, and from the borders of
Tar Creek, which empties into the Ohio 20 miles below Pittsburg. The
essence of turpentine used in the Western country in painting is brought
from Philadelphia and Baltimore.

Such is the sum of my information concerning Pitch Pine ; I have
already remarked that on dry gravelly soils its wood is knotty, and on
moist lands, of so poor a quality as to be unfit for works that require
strength and durability. Several other species are preferable to this, such
as' the Yellow and Red Pines, which grow in the same soils, and are some-
times associated with it in the forests.

PLATE CXLIII.

A branch with a cone of the natural size. Fig . 1, A leaf. Fig. 2, A seed.

[This tree is of extreme value, and may be cultivated with facility, and
transplanted without any difficulty. Emerson recommends that sandy soils
be sown with the seeds of the Pitch Pine along with the sweet fern (• Comp -
tonia ) or the broom ( Grenista scoparia ,) to protect the young trees, and
cover the surface sown with branches from the nearest Pine forest; not
being injured by salt water, there are enormous tracts near the sea-shores
of America that may be rendered profitable by this process, furnishing
fine fuel for steam-engines, and tar and lampblack; perhaps also ship
timber may be grown on land now utterly valueless.

It is free from the stiffness of other pines, and sometimes attains the
height of 100 feet and 4 or 5 feet in diameter. The trunk in dense woods
is erect; in more open situations, it is often tortuous or angled. When
self-planted, on the poorest land it increases at the rate of an inch in
diameter in 3 or 4 years, for the first 25 years, and after that at the rate
of one in 5 or 6. It differs from other trees of this family, its stump
throwing up sprouts the spring after the stem has been felled, but these do
not attain any considerable height. The fallen trunk throws 'out sprouts in
the succeeding summer ; and the bundles of leaves of both are remarkable
Vol. Ill— 13

90

LOBLOLLY PINR.

for issuing from the axil of a single leaf, in the same manner as in the
young plant. The tree is found from the Penobscot river in Maine to the
mountains of Carolina.]

i

LOBLOLLY PINE.

Pinus tæda. P. arbor maxima, svpernè patula ; foliis ternis, prœlongis ; amen-
lis masculis diver gentibus ; strobilis 4 uncialibus ; tessulis mucrone sursum
rigide uncinato ; frucliferis sub-rhomboideis.

Throughout the lower part of the Southern States this species is called
Loblolly Pine , and sometimes White Pine about Petersburg and Richmond
in Virginia. I observed it for the first time near Fredericksburg, 230
miles south of Philadelphia, and I believe it does not exist much further
north ; it certainly is not found in Pennsylvania, as Sir A. B. Lambert
erroneously asserts after Vanghenheim.

In the lower part of Virginia, and in the districts of North Carolina
situated north-east of the river Cape Fear, over an extent of nearly 200
miles, it grows wherever the soil is dry and sandy; on spots consisting of
red clay mingled with gravel, it is supplanted by the Yellow Pine and by
different species of Oak: the two Pines are regularly alternated according
to the variations in the soil, and frequently vanish and reappear at intervals
of 4 or 5 miles.

In the same parts of Virginia, this species exclusively occupies lands
that have been exhausted by cultivation, and amid forests of Oak, tracts of
100 or 200 acres are not unfrequently seen covered with thriving young
Pines. In the more Southern States it is the most common species after
the Long-leaved Pine, but it grows only in the branch-swamps; or long
narrow marshes that intersect the pine-barrens , and near the creeks and
rivers, where the soil is of middling fertility and susceptible of improve-
ment : such is the vicinity of Charleston, S. C., which is covered to the
distance of 5 or 6 miles with Loblolly Pines.

The leaves are fine, of a light green, 6 inches long, and united to the
number of 3, and sometimes of 4 on young and vigorous stocks. The

Loblolly Pine

-Pmus: tœcùr .

LOBLOLLY PINE.

91

bloom takes place in the beginning of April ; the aments are nearly an
inch long, and are bent and intermingled like those of the Long-leaved
Pine. The cones are about 4 inches in length, and armed with strong
spines ; while closed they have the form of an elongated pyramid, and
when open, of a rhombus more or less perfect : the .seeds are cast the first
year.

The tree exceeds 80 feet in height, with a diameter of 2 or 8 feet and a
wide-spreading summit. The tallest stocks in proportion to their diameter
I observed near Richmond, on a light, arid soil ; from several of them
cylinders might have been formed, 12 or 15 inches in diameter and 50
feet in length, perfectly regular and free from knots.

This wood has a still greater proportion of sap than that of the Pond
and Pitch Pines : in trunks 8 feet in diameter I have constantly found 30
inches of alburnum ; and in those of a foot in diameter and 30 or 35 feet
in height, not more than an inch of heart. The concentric circles are
widely distant, as might be supposed from the rapidity of its growth in
the more Southern States, in Virginia, where it vegetates more slowly, its
texture is closer and the proportion of sap less considerable, as I have
particularly observed £,t the saw-mills of Petersburg.

Three-fourths of the houses in this part of Virginia are built of the
Loblolly Pine, which is even used in the absence of the Yellow Pine
for the ground floors ; but the boards, though only 4 inches wide and
strongly nailed, shrink and become uneven. This inconvenience is attri-’
butable to its spongy consistence, and is not experienced in the Long-
leaved Pine, whose concentric circles are twelve times as numerous in the
same space.

In the ports of the Southern States this species is used, like the Pitch
Pine in those of the North, for the pumps of ships; at Charleston the
wharfs are built with logs of the Loblolly Pine, consolidated with earth;
bakers consume it in their ovens, and it is sold a third cheaper than the
more resinous wood of the Long-leaved Pine.

This species is applied only to secondary uses : it decays rapidly when
exposed to the air, and is regarded as one of the least valuable of the
Pines. It speedily possesses itself of deserted lands, and renders a long
labor necessary to clear them ahew for cultivation. Though little esteemed
in America, it would be an important acquisition to the south of Europe,
where a tree of fine appearance and rapid vegetation is an invaluable
treasure. It might be employed in joinery for objects concealed from
sight, for packing-cases, etc. It remains to be proved whether it would
not grow more rapidily than the Maritime Pine on the plains of Bordeaux.
It supports a more northern climate, and even fructifies at Paris, but
prçbably does not attain its perfect development.

It affords turpentine in abundance, but in a less fluid state than that of

92

WHITE PINE.

the Long-leaved Pine : as it contains more alburnum, from which the tur-
pentine distils, perhaps by making deeper incisions it would yield a greater
product.

The figure of this species in Sir A. B. Lambert’s work is correct; hut
he mistakes in describing it as of little stature : arbor Tiumilis, etc. ; it is,
on the contrary, next to the White Pine, the tallest tree of its genus in the
United States.

PLATE CXLIV.

A branch with a cone of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A leaf. Fig. 2, A seed.

WHITE PINE.,

Pinus STROBUS. P. arbor excelsa ; cortice Icevi, cinereo estate ; foliis qüinis, graci-
libus, vaginis nullis ; amentis masculis parvis, rufis ; strobilis Icevigatis pen-
dulis longo-cylindraceis.

This species, one of the most interesting of the American Pines, is known
in Canada and the United States by the name of White Pine, from the
perfect whiteness of its wood when freshly exposed, and in New Hamp-
shire and Maine, by the secondary denominations of Pumpkin Pine ,
Apple Pine , and Sapling Pine , which are derived from certain accidental
peculiarities.

The leaves of the White Pine are five-fold, 4 inches long, numerous,
slender, and of a bluish green : to the lightness and delicacy of the foliage
is owing the elegant appearance of the young trees. The male aments
are 4 or 5 lines long, united to the number of 5 or 6, and arranged like
those of the Loblolly and Long-leaved Pines : they turn reddish before
they are cast. The cones are 4 or 5 inches long, 10 lines in diameter in
the middle, pedunculated, pendulous, somewhat arched, and composed of
thin, smooth scales, rounded at the base. They open about the first of

Wlnle Pine

Punis if fro bus.

I

WHITE PINE.

91

October to release the seeds, of which a part are left adhering to the
turpentine that exudes from, the scales.

This tree is diffused, though not uniformly, over a vast extent of country ;
it is incapable of supporting intense cold, and still less extreme heat. My
father, in returning from Hudson’s Bay, after traversing three hundred
miles without perceiving a vestige of it, first observed it about forty leagues
from the mouth of the Mistassin, which discharges itself into Lake St.
John, in Canada, in the latitude of 48° 50'. Two degrees further south
he found it common, which was doubtless owing rather to a difference of
soil than of climate. From his observations and my own, it appears to be
most abundant between the 43d and 47th degrees of latitude; further
south it is found in the valleys and on the declivities of the Alleghanies
to their termination, but at a distance from the mountains on either side
its growth is forbidden by the warmth of the climate. It is said, with
great probability, to be multiplied near the source of the Mississippi, which
is in the same latitude with the District of Maine, the upper part of New
Hampshire, the State of Vermont and the commencement of the St. Law-
rence, where it attains its greatest dimensions. In these countries I have
seen it in very different situations, and it seems to accommodate itself to
all varieties of soil, except such as consist wholly of sand and such as are
almost constantly submerged. But I have seen the largest stocks in the
bottom of soft, friable and fertile valleys, on the banks of rivers composed
of deep, cool, black sand, and in swamps filled with the White Cedar and
covered with a thick and constantly humid carpet of sphagnum. Near
Norridgewock, on the river Kennebeck, in one of these swamps, which is
accessible only in midsummer, I measured two trunks felled for canoes, of
which one was 154 feet long and 54 inches in diameter, and the other 142
feet long and 44 inches in diameter, at 3 feet from the ground.- Mention
is made in Belknap’s History of New Hampshire, of a White Pine felled
near the river Merrimack, 7 feet 8 inches in diameter, and near Hallowel
I saw a stump exceeding 6 feet ; these enormous stocks had probably
reached the greatest height attained by the species, which is about 180
feet: I have been assured by persons worthy of belief, that in a few
instances they had felled individual trees of nearly this stature. Hence
we must conclude that the authors who have stated its height at 260 feet
have been misled by incorrect reports.

But this ancient and majestic inhabitant of the North American forests
is still the loftiest and most valuable of their productions, and its summit
is seen at an immense distance aspiring toward heaven, far above the heads
of the surrounding trees. The trunk is simple for two-thirds pr three-
fourths of its height, and the limbs are short and verticillate, or disposed
in stages one above another to the top of the tree, which is formed by
three or four upright branches, seemingly detached and unsupported. In

94

WHITE PINE.

forests composed of the Sugar Maple, the Beeches or the Oaks, where the
soil is strong and proper for the culture of corn, as for example on the
shores of Lake Champlain, it is arrested at a lower height, and diffused
into a spacious summit ; but it is still taller and more vigorous than the
neighboring trees.

In the District of Maine and the province of Nova Scotia, I have con-
stantly remarked that the White Pine is the foremost tree in taking pos-
session of barren deserted lands, and the most hardy in resisting the'
impetuous gales from the ocean.

On young stocks not exceeding 40 feet in height, the bark of the trunk
and branches is smooth and even polished ; as the tree advances in age it
splits and becomes rugged and gray, but does not fall off in scales like that
of the other Pines. The White Pine is, also, distinguished by the sensible
diminution of its trunk from the base to thé summit, in consequence of
which it is more difficult to procure sticks of great length and uniform
diameter ; this disadvantage, however, js compensated by its hulk and by
the small proportion of its alburnum ; a trunk of one foot in diameter con-
tains 11 inches of perfect wood.

The wood of this species is employed in greater quantities and far more
diversified uses than that of any other American Pine ; yet it is not with-
out essential defects ; it has little strength, gives a feeble hold to nails,
and sometimes swells by the humidity of the atmosphere. These proper-
ties are compensated however by others which give it a decided superior-
ity ; it is soft, light, free from knots and easily wrought, is more durable,
and less liable to split when exposed to the sun, furnishes boards of a great
width, and timber of large dimensions, in fine, it is still abundant and
cheap.

I have constantly observed the influence of soil to he greater upon resi-
nous than upon leafy trees. The qualities of the White Pine, in particu-
lar, are strikingly affected by it. In loose, deep, humid soils, it unites in
the highest degree all the valuable properties by which it is characterized,
especially lightness and fineness of texture, so that it may be smoothly cut
in every direction ; and hence, perhaps, is derived the name of Pumpkin
Pine. On dry, elevated lands, its wood is firmer and more resinous, with
a coarser grain and more distant concentric circles, and it is then called
Sapling, Pine.

Throughout the Northern States, except in the larger capitals, seven-
tenths of the houses are of wood, of Avhich three quarters, estimated at
about 500,000, are almost wholly of White Pine : even the suburbs of the
cities are built of wood. The principal beams of churches and the other
large edifices are of White Pine.

The ornamental work of outer doors, the cornices and friezes of apart-
ments, and the mouldings of fire-places, which in America are elegantly

WHITE PINE.

95

wrought, are of this wood. It receives gilding well, and is therefore
selected for looking-glass and picture frames. Sculptors employ it exclu-
sively for the images that adorn the bows of vessels, for which they prefer
the varièty called Pumpkin Pine.

At Boston, and in other towns of the Northern States, the inside of
Mahogany' furniture, and of trunks, the bottom of Windsor chairs of an
inferior quality, water-pails, a great part of the boxes used for packing
goods, the shelves of shops, and an endless variety of other objects, are
made of White Pine.

In the District of Maine it is employed for barrels to contain salted fish,
especially the variety called Sapling Pine , which is of a stronger consis-
tence- For the magnificent wooden bridges over the Schuylkill at Phila-
delphia and the Delaware at Trenton ; and for those which unite Cambridge
and Charlestown with Boston, of which the first is 1,500, and the second
3,000 feet in length, the White Pine has been chosen for its durability.
It serves exclusively for the masts of the numerous vessels constructed in
the Northern and Middle States, and for this purpose it would be difficult
to replace it in North America. Before the war of Independence, England
is said to have furnished herself with masts from the United States, and
she still completes from America the demand which cannot be fully sup-
plied from the north of Europe : the finest timber of this species is brought
from Maine, and particularly from the river Kennebeck.

Soon after the establishment of the Colonies, England became sensible
of the value of this resource, and solicitous for its preservation. In 1711
and 1721, severe ordinances were enacted, prohibiting the cutting of any
trees proper for masts on the possessions of the crown. The order com-
prised the vast countries bounded on the south by New Jersey and on the
north by the upper limit of Nova Scotia: I am unable to say with what
degree of rigor it was enforced before the American revolution, but for a
space of 600 miles, from Philadelphia to a distance beyond Boston, I did
not observe a single stock of the White Pine large enough for the mast of
a vessel of 600 tons.

The principal superiority of the White Pine masts over those brought
from Riga is their lightness ; but they have less strength, and are said to
decay more rapidly between decks and at the point of intersection of the
yards ; this renders the Long-leaved Pine superior to the White Pine in the
opinion of the greater part of American ship-builders. But some of them
are of opinion that the White Pine would be equally durable if the end
was carefully protected from the weather. With this view an experiment
has been imagined of a hole several feet deep made in the top of the mast,
filled with oil, and hermetically sealed ; the oil is said to be absorbed in a
few months. The bowsprits and yards of ships of war are of this species.

The wood is not resinous enough to furnish turpentine for commerce,

96 WHITE PINE.

nor would the labor of extracting it be easy, since the White Pine occupies
exclusively tracts of only a few hundred acres, and is usually mingled in
different proportions with the leafy trees.

The vast consumption of this tree for domestic use, and for exportation
to the West Indies and to Europe, renders it necessary every year to
penetrate further into the country, and inroads are already made, in quest
of this species only, upon forests which probably will not be cleared for
cultivation in 25 or 30 years.

The persons engaged in this branch of industry are in general emigrants
from Hew Hampshire, led by inconstancy of character or by the desire of
amassing rapidly the means of purchasing a hundred acres of land* for
the establishment of their families. In the summer they unite in small
companies, and traverse these vast solitudes in every direction to ascertain
the places in which the Pines abound. After cutting the grass and con-
verting it into hay for the nourishment of the cattle to be employed in
their labor, they return home. In the beginning of winter they enter the
forests again, establish themselves in huts covered with the hark of the
Canoe Birch or the Arbor Vitæ, and though the cold is so intense that
the mercury sometimes remains for several weeks from 40 to 45 degrees
of Eahrenheit, below the point of congelation, they persevere with unabated
courage in thir work. When the trees are felled they cut them into logs
from 14 to 18 feet long, and by means of their cattle, which they employ
with great dexterity, drag them to the river, and, after stamping on them
a mark of property, roll them upon its frozen bosom. At the breaking
up of the ice in the spring, they float down with the current. All the
logs fhat come down the Kennebec are stopped at Winslow, about 120 miles
from the sea, where each person selects his own, and forms them into rafts
with the intention of selling them to the proprietors of the numerous saw-
mills between that place and the sea, or of having them sawn for his own
benefit at the price of a half or even of three quarters of the product in
abundant years.

When I was at Winslow in August, 1806, the river was still covered
with thousands of logs, of which the diameter of the greater part was 15
or 16 inches, and that of the remainder (perhaps one-fiftieth of the whole)
20 inches. The Blue Ash and the Bed Pine were the only species mingled
with them, and these not in the proportion of one to a, hundred. The logs
which are not sawn the first year are attacked by large worms, which form
in every direction holes about two lines in diameter ; but if stripped of the
bark they remain uninjured for thirty years: the same remark is applicable
to the stumps, which resist the influences of heat and moisture during a
great length of time, and it has passed into a proverb, that the man who

The price of land in the County of Kennebock, in 1807, was five or six dollars an acre.

WHITE PINE.

97

cuts down a Pine never lives to see it decay. In Hallowel, nèar the
Kennebeek, I saw several stumps unchanged after an exposure of forty
years. Next to the District of Maine, which furnishes three-quarters of
the White Pine exported from the United States, including what comes
from New Hampshire by the Merrimack and is brought to Boston, the
shores of' Lake Champlain appeared to be the most abundantly peopled
with this species, and to be not unfavorably situated for its transportation.
All that is cut beyond Ticonderoga, comprising about three-fourths of the
length of the lake, which is 160 miles from north to south, is carried to
Quebec, 270 miles , distant, by the Sorel and the St. Lawrence. What is
furnished’ by the southern part of the lake is sawn at Skeensborough,
transported 7 0 miles in the winter on sledges to Albany, and, with all the
lumber of the North river, brought down in the spring to New York in
sloops of 80 or 100 tons, to be afterwards exported in great part to Europe
the West Indies and the Southern States.

By an extract from the custom-house register of Port St. John, the
quantity of this wood that passed down the Sorel for Quebec, between the
1st of May, 1807, and the 30th of July following, was 132,720 cubic feet
of square timber, 160,000 feet of common boards, 67,000 feet of planks 2
inches thick, 20 masts, and 4,545 logs of the same dimensions as are
brought from the District of Maine.

The upper part of Pennsylvania, near the source of the Delaware and
Susquehanna, which is mountainous and cold, possesses large forests of
this Pine, and in the spring the timber floats down these streams for the
internal consumption of the State. It enters into the construction of
houses both in the country and in the towns, and is sawn into planks for
exportation from Philadelphia to the West Indies. The masts of vessels
built at Philadelphia are also obtained from the Delaware.

Beyond the mountains, near the springs of the river Alleghany, from
150 to 180 miles from its junction with the Ohio, is cut all the White Pine
destined for the market of New Orleans, which is 2,900 miles distant. In
the spring, immense quantities descend the river for the consumption of
the ' country. Three quarters of the houses of Wheeling, Marietta and
Pittsburg, and of Washington in Kentucky, are built with White Pine
boards.

Boston is the principal emporium of this commerce in the Northern
States. The White Pine is found there in the following forms : — In square
pieces from 12 to 25 feet long, and of different diameters ; in scantling , or
square pieces 6 inches in diameter, for the lighter part of frames ; and in
boards, which are divided into merchantable or common , and into clear or
picked* boards. The merchantable boards are three-fourths of an inch

Vol. III.— 14

Called also Panel boards.

98

WHITE PINE.

thick, from 10 to 15 inches wide, from 10 to 15 feet long, and frequently
deformed with knots : at New York they are called Albany boards, and
are sold at the same price as at Boston. The clear boards, formed from
the largest stocks of the Pumpkin Pines, are of the same length and thick-
ness as the first, and 20, 24 and 30 inches wide. They should be perfectly
clear, hut they are admitted if they have only two knots small enough to
be covered with the thumb : they are employed for all light and delicate
works of joinery, particularly for the panels of doors and the mouldings of
apartments : at Philadelphia, they are called White Pine panels.

This wood is also formed into clap-boards and shingles. The clap-boards
are of an indeterminate length, 6 inches wide, 3 lines thick at one edge,
and thinner at the other : they form the exterior covering of houses, and
are placed horizontally lapping one upon another, so that the thinner edge
is covered. The shingles are commonly 18 inches long, from 3 to 6 inches
wide, 3 lines thick at one end, and 1 line at the other : they should be free
from knots, and made only of the perfect wood. They are packed in
square bundles, and sustained by two cross pieces of wood confined by
withes. The bundles sometimes consist of 500, but oftener of 250 shin-
gles : the price at Hallowel, in 1807, was three dollars a thousand : two
men can make 1600 or 1800 in a day.

East of the river Hudson, the houses are almost invariably covered with
these shingles, which last only twelve or fifteen years. They are exported
in great quantities to the West Indies, and in the French islands they are
called essentes blanches.

From these details an estimate may be formed of the consumption of the
White Pine in the United States : that of Europe and the West Indies is
also considerable. In a table of importation from the United States, pre-
sented to the Parliament of Great Britain, the timber introduced in 1807
is reckoned at §1,302,980, of which I suppose the White Pine to have
formed a fifth. In 1808 it was sold at Liverpool at about 60 cents the
cubic foot. Planks 2 inches thick and 12 wide were worth 4 cents a foot,
and common planks 6 cents.

In this statement the wood imported from New Brunswick is not includ-
ed, nor the vast quantities sent from the United States to the West India
Islands not dependent upon Great Britain.

The precious qualities and varied uses of this tree are sufficient motives
for propagating it in Europe. It flourishes in the centre ofFrance, but it
would succeed better on the borders of the Bhine, in the valleys of the
Alps and Pyrenees, and in the cold and humid climates of Germany,
Poland and Russia : its vegetation appeared to me more vigorous in Bel-
gium than in the neighborhood of Paris. When the forests of Wild Pine
and of Norway Spruce Fir are renewed in those countries, ( the White Pine
should be introduced ; it will be easy to decide whether it can be success-
fully naturalized.

WHITE PINE.

9.9

PLATE CXLV.

A branch with a cone of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A leaf. Fig. 2, A seed.

[In England this tree is called the Weymouth Pine, a name which is
gradually becoming .common in America. Dr. Dwight says that formerly
they were seen in the forest 250 feet in height ; and fifty or sixty years
since, one was cut down in Lancaster, New Hampshire, which measured
223 feet. Where it has been cultivated in England and France, it has
been found to increase in height at the rate of from 15 inches to 3 feet
each .year, for fifty or sixty years. Emerson says, that in 1846, the
exportation, from the growth of Massachusetts had almost ceased, and from
New Hampshire and the southern parts of Maine it had much diminished,
and the lumber had become of an inferior quality. From the Penobscot
and other great rivers of the northern parts of the latter state, the expor-
tation is still large ; but the lumberers have to go every year to a greater
distance from the great water courses, and to ascend smaller streams and
more remote lakes. The same, is occurring in New York, and the day is
evidently not far distant when New England even, will have to depend on
Canada for this wood, unless measures are taken to restore the pine forests
on the great tracts fitted for no other use.

It is not uncommon to see old Pines standing, deformed by the loss of
the leading shoot, a loss which old trees never recover, though nature
makes an effort to throw up an erect stem from one of the horizontal limbs,
distant from the centre. It is. liable to lose its limbs and be injured in
appearance by the weight of snow lodged on its branches.

[See Nuttall’s Supplement, Vol. III., p. 118.]

( 100 )

NORWAY SPRUCE FIR.

Abies picea. A . arbor excelsa ; foliis solitariiS, subtetr agonis, subulatis , strobilis
cylindraceis, pendulis ; squamis rhombeis, plants ; margine répandis , erosis.

The Norway Spruce Fir, like the Wild Pine, is indigenous to the
northern climates of Europe and Asia, and becomes rare in descending
toward the south. In France, Italy and Spain, it abounds only among
the mountains, in deep valleys, and on declivities exposed to the north.

This is one of the tallest trees of the Old Continent : it is straight-hodied,
from 120 to 150 feet in height, and from 3 to 5 feet in diameter, and is a
hundred years in acquiring its growth. Its dark foliage gives it a funereal
aspect, which is rendered more gloomy by the declining of its branches
towards the earth. The limbs, as in the American Spruces, are verticillate,
and spring from a common centre. The leaves are longer, but less
numerous, than those of the American species, and are slightly arched,
firm and acute. The flowers form red aments at the extremity of the
upper branches, and are succeeded by reddish, cylindrical cones, 5 or 6
inches long and 15 or 18 lines in diameter, containing small winged seeds,
which are ripe toward the end of November.

The wood is essentially different from that of the Wild Pine, being
whiter, far less impregnated with resin, and consequently lighter, to which
is added greater elasticity. The union of these qualities renders it pecu-
liarly proper for the yards of large ships. Besides this important use, it
is much employed in England in joinery, and is called among workmen
white deal. It is brought principally from Norway, and forms a large
proportion of the commerce of that country in wood, which exceeds a
million and a half of dollars annually. In the north of Europe its bark
is frequently substituted for that of the Oak in tanning. A resinous sub-
stance, less fluid than that of the Pines, distils between the bark and the
trunk, which is mixed with lamp-black and used by shoe-makers.

The Norway Spruce Fir is attacked, like the Wild Pine, by the insect
Bostrichus piniperda , which makes such havoc of the resinous trees.

The extensive use of this wood in Germany has caused great attention
to be paid to the forming and preserving of forests. The plantation is
begun by thoroughly loosening the ground in the month of March, and the
seed is mixed, in the proportion of one-sixth, with oats.

PI. 14.6.

Norway Spruce Fir.

Abies pice a, .

Gabriel feuty

Black ('"double) Spruce

ncara

BLACK OR DOUBLE SPRUCE.

101

The wood of the Norway Spruce is not superior to that of the Black
Spruce, but in my opinion the European species would be preferable for
the northern parts of America.

Observation. — A variety of this species is said to exist, called Long
Cornish Fir, of which the cones are much larger.

PLATE CXLYI.

A branch with a cone of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A seed.

[As an ornamental evergreen this tree is unsurpassed. See Nuttall’s
Supplement, Yol. 3, for a number of new species.]

[No tree is better adapted than the Norway Fir for planting in narrow
strips for shelter or seclusion. The tree bears the shears, and as it is of
rapid growth, it makes excellent hedges for shelter in nursery gardens.
Such are not unfrequent in Switzerland and in Bavaria and Baden. In
1814, there were fir hedges in the neighborhood of Moscow between 30
and 40 feet high. The whole hedge may be cut down to 5 feet and after-
wards trimmed into ornamental shapes : every portion will thus become
beautiful and green ; the annual growths are then very short, giving the
surface of the hedge a fine healthy appearance. Loudon .]

BLACK or DOUBLE SPRUCE.

Abies nigra. A. arbor maxima ; foliis solitariis undique circa ramos erectis ,
brevioribus , subtetragonis ; strobilis ovatis, pendulis ; squamis subundulatis,
apice crenulatis aut divisis.

This tree, which appertains to the coldest regions of North America, is
called Epinette noire and Epinette à la bière in Canada, Double Spruce, in

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

BLACK OR DOUBLE SPRUCE.

103

is found in the same countries on the declivities of mountains, where the
soil is stony, dry, and covered only with a thin bed of moss ; but as this
soil is less favorable, its growth is less luxuriant and its stature less com-
manding. The same observation is applicable to other tracts, designated
by the name of poor black lands , which are meager spots covered with the
Black Spruce. In these situations it has shorter, thicker leaves, of a still
darker color, with cones only half as large, but similar in form, and ripé
at the same period.

I shall frequently have occasion to observe, that the inhabitants of the
country, and mechanics who work in wood, take notice only of certain
striking appearances in forest trees, such as the quality of the wood, its
color and that of the bark ; and that, from ignorance of botanical charac-
ters, they give different names, to thè same tree, according to certain varia-
tions in these respects arising from local circumstances. To this cause
must be attributed the popular distinction of Black and Red Spruce. Sir
A. B. Lambert, misled by the remarkable size of the cones of the last
variety which have been sent to England, and by incorrect information,
determined, with some hesitation, to describe and figure it under the name
of Abies rubra: he represents it as inferior in every réspect to the Black
Spruce, though, according to my own observations in the country where it
grows, it unites in the highest degree all the good qualities which charac-
terize the species. Samples of the heart would probably have confirmed
his opinion that they are distinct species ; for that of the Black Spruce is
white, and that of the other variety reddish-. But I repeat, that this dif-
ference in the wood of trees of the same species is produced only by the
influence of soil.

The distinguishing properties of the Black Spruce are strength, lightness
and elasticity. Josselyn, in his History of Hew England, published in
London in 1672, informs us that it was considered at that period as fur-
nishing the best yards and topmasts in the world. Besides possessing
these qualities, as we have already observed, in a higher degree, the Red
Spruce is superior in size to the other variety, which grows in a poorer
soil, and is less supple and more liable to be crooked.

In the dock-yards of the United States, the spars are usually of Black
Spruce from the District of Maine, and for the same purpose it is exported
in great quantities from Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to the
West Indies and to Liverpool.

Oddy says that in England it is preferred to the Norway Pine, Abies
picea, but that it does not afford pieces of sufficient dimensions for the
yards of men-of-war, which are made of the Norway Pine or of the White
Pine.

The knees of vessels are frequently of Black Spruce, in the District of
Maine, and sometimes at Boston, where the Oak is becoming rare. When

104

BLACK OR DOUBLE SPRUCE.

these pieces are of Oak, they are formed of two limbs united at the hase ;
hut when of Spruce, they are made from the base of the trunk and one of
the principal roots. From its strength and durability, this species is the
most proper substitute for the Oak and the Larch, which is also rare in th®
northern parts of the United States. In Maine and at Boston, it is often
employed for the rafters of houses, and is more esteemed than the Hem-
lock Spruce, which was formerly preferred. Some persons select it for
floors ; it is tougher than the White Pine, but more liable to crack.

In all these regions, and particularly in Maine and New Brunswick, the
Black Spruce is sawn into boards of considerable width, which are sold a
fourth cheaper than those of White Pine. They are exported to the West
Indies and to England, and I have been informed that a large part of
them are consumed at Manchester and Birmingham in packing goods. The
supply, I doubt not, will long be abundant, for the species is a hundred
times more multiplied than the White Pine. In Nova Scotia, the Red
Spruce, which is straight grained and more easily wrought, is employed
for barrels to contain salted fish. This species is not resinous enough to
afford turpentine as an article of commerce. The wood is filled with air,
and snaps in burning like Chesnut.

With the young branches, especially those of the Black Spruce, is made
the salutary drink known by the name of spruce beer, which in long voy-
ages is found an efficacious preventive of the scurvy. The twigs are boiled
in water, a certain quantity of mêlasses or maple sugar is added, and the
mixture is left to ferment. Tl^e essence'of spruce is obtained by evapora-
ting, to the consistence of an extract, water in which the summits of the
young branches have been boiled. As I have never seen the operation
performed, I cannot describe its details ; but I have often witnessed the
process of making the beer in the country about Halifax and in Maine, and
can affirm with confidence that it is not, as Sir A. B. Lambert asserts, the
White Spruce which is used for this purpose.

If the wood of this species has in fact been proved in England to be
superior to that of the Norway Pine, it would be useful to propagate it on
the Old Continent ; but in my opinion it would flourish only in the coldest
and most humid countries of the north of Europe, and on some parts of the
Alps, the Pyrenees, and the Highlands of Scotland.

PLATE CXLVII.

A branch with a cone of the natural size. Fig. 1 r A leaf. Fig . 2, A seed.

White ( Single ) Spruce.
A6ie<r alba .

PI./48.

( 105 )

WHITE or SINGLE SPRUCE.

Abies alba. A. arbor 45-50 pedalis ; foliis subglaucis undique circa ramos
erectis, tetragonis ; strobilis oblongo-cylindraceis, pendulis , lazis ; squamis
margine integerrimis.

This species is indigenous to the same countries as the preceding. In
Canada it is called JEpinette blanche , in Nova Scotia White Spruce , and in
New Brunswick and the District of Maine Single Spruce. As the two last
denominations are generally known, I have adopted that which appeared
to me the best.

The White Spruce commences a few degrees further south than the
species just described. In my father’s notes it is first mentioned near
Lake St. John, between the 48th and 49th degrees of latitude. In the
District of Maine, at least in the parts which I have visited, it is much
less common than the Black Spruce, and the comparison is easily made,
as they are readily distinguished, especially young and insulated stocks.
Though the leaves of both encompass the branches, they are marked by
several characteristic differences: those of the White Spruce are less
numerous, longer, more pointed, at a more open angle with the branches,
and of a pale, bluish green ; whence is derived the specific name of alba.
The cones are also peculiar, being of a lengthened oval form, about 2 inches
in one direction, and 6 or 8 lines in the other : the dimensions vary accord-
ing to the vigor of the tree, but the form is unchangeable. The scales are
loose and thin, with entire edges, unlike those of the Black Spruce. The
seeds, also, are rather smaller, and are. ripe a month earlier.

This species grows in nearly the same situations as the preceding, but
it has a more tapering trunk, and is inferior in stature, rarely exceeding
50 feet in height and 12 or 16 inches in diameter, at 8 feet from the
ground. Its summit, like that of the Black Spruce, is a regular pyramid,
but less branching and tufted. The bark is lighter colored, and the
difference is more striking upon the young shoots.

The wood is employed for the same uses as the other ; it is, however,
inferior in quality, and snaps more frequently in burning. The fibres of
the roots, macerated in water, are very flexible and tough ; being deprived
in the operation of their pellicle, they are used in Canada to stitch 1 together
Vol. III. — 15

106

HEMLOCK SPRUCE.

the canoes of Birch bark, the seams of which are afterwards smeared with
a resin, improperly called gum , that distils from the tree.

Sir A. B. Lambert asserts that the hark is employed in tanning; this
may possibly he true in Lower Canada and Newfoundland, which I have
not visited, hut it is never done in Maine, New Brunswick and Nova
Scotia. ' The branches are not used -for beer, because the leaves when
bruised diffuse an unpleasant odor, which they are said to communicate to
the liquid.

This species is much more common in France than the Black Spruce.
It is an elegant tree while young, and as it forms an agreeable contrast
with the darker foliage of the other Spruces, it is esteemed a valuable
ornament for parks and gardens.

Nurserymen in France and Germany distinguish two varieties, the White
or Silver Spruce and the Blue Spruce.

PLATE ÇXLVIII.

A branch with a cone of the natural size. Fig. 1, A leaf. Fig . 2, A seed.

HEMLOCK SPRUCE.

Abies canadensis. A. arbor maxima ; ramis gracilibus ; ramulis novellis mb
losissimis ; foliis solitariis, planis , subdistichis ; strobilis terminalibus , mini-
mis. , ovatis , despicientibus.

The Hemlock Spruce is known only by this name throughout the United
States, and by that of Ferusse among the French inhabitants of Canada.
It is natural to the coldest regions of the New World, and begins to appear
about Hudson’s Bay, in latitude 51°; near Lake St. John, and in the
neighborhood of Quebec, it fills the forests, and in Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, the District of Maine, the State of Vermont and the upper
part of New Hampshire, where I have observed it, it forms three quarters

/

Hemlock Spruce.

Abies canadensis.

HEMLOCK SPRUCE.

10T

of the T evergreen woods, of which the remainder' consists of the Black
Spruce. Further south it is less common, and in the Middle and Southern
States is seen only on the Alleghanies ; even there it is often confined to
the sides of torrents and to the most humid and gloomy exposures.

In the country east and north of Massachusetts, which, without embrac-
ing Canada, is more than 750 miles long and about 250 miles broad, the
resinous trees are constantly found at the foot of the hills, and constitute
nearly half of the unbroken forests which cover these regions. Hence we
may conceive how extensively this species is multiplied.

Moist grounds appear not to be in general, the most favourable to its
growth ; when mingled with the Black Spruce it predominates less as the
soil is more humid, and I have often seen large stocks among the Beeches
and Sugar Maples on soils proper for corn.

The Hemlock Spruce is always larger and taller than the Black Spruce ;
it attains the height of 70 or 80 feet, with a circumference from 6 to 9
feet, and uniform for two-thirds of its length. But if the number and dis-
tance of the concentric circles afford a certain criterion of the longevity of
trees and the rapidity of their vegetation, it must be nearly two centuries
in acquiring such dimensions.

The leaves are 6 or 8 lines long, flat, numerous, irregularly disposed in
two ranks, and downy at their unfolding. The cones are a little longer
than the leaves, oval, pendulous, and situated at the extremity of the
branches. In a favorable soil this tree has an elegant appearance while
less than 30 feet high, owing to the symmetrical arrangement of its
branches and to its tufted foliage, and at this age it is employed in land-
scape gardening. When arrived at its full growth, the large limbs are
usually broken off 4 or 5 feet from the trunk, and the dried extremities
are seen staring out through the little twigs which spring around them.
In this mutilated state, by which it is easily recognized, it has a disagree-
able aspect, and presents, while in full vigor, an image of decrepitude.
This accident, which is attributed to the snow lodging upon the close,
horizontal, tufted branches, never happens to the young trees, whose fibres
are more flexible. The woods are also filled with dead stocks, but I am
unable to say whether their destruction is occasioned by an insect which
attaches itself of preference to the Bines, or to some other cause. The
dead moss-grown trees, which stand mouldering for twenty or thirty years,
deform the forests of this part of the United States, and give them a
gloomy and desolate appearance.

The Hemlock Spruce is distinguished by the peculiarity of sometimes
ceasing to grow at the height of 24 or 30 inches. In this state it has a
pyramidical shape, and its compact, tufted branches, adhere to the ground.
It might be employed to form hedges and to decorate gardens in place of
the Yew, to which it is preferable for the superior rapidity of its growth

108

HEMLOCK SPRUCE.

and the sprightlier tint of its foliage, while it hears the pruning-hook with
equal patience : this remark I made while observing the Spruces upon an
open, dry, stony spot between Portland and York.

Unhappily the properties of its wood are such as to give this species
only a secondary importance, notwithstanding its abundant diffusion : it is
the least valuable in this respect of all the large resinous trees of North
America.- But the regret which we should experience to see it occupying
so extensively the place of more useful species, is forbidden by a property
of its bark inestimable to the country where it grows, that of being appli-
cable in tanning.

It is esteemed an excellence in wood to split in a straight line, which it
does when the fibre is vertical : that of the Hemlock Spruce is so oblique
that it makes the circuit of stocks 15 or 20 inches in diameter in ascending
5 or 6 feet. Besides this defect which is essential, and which renders it
unfit for rural fence, the old trees frequently have the concentric circles
separated at intervals, or, in the language of the country, are shaky, which
greatly impairs their strength. This effect is produced by the winds, which
have a powerful hold upon a large, compact summit, exposed above the
heads of the surrounding trees. It is found to decay rapidly when open to
the atmosphere, and is therefore improper for the external covering of
houses, which is another important defect in a country where nearly all
the houses are of wood. But as thA White Pine becomes rarer this species
is substituted for it as extensively as possible : it is firmer, though coarser
grained, affords a tighter hold to nails, and offers more resistance to the
impression of other bodies ; for this reason it is employed in the District of
Maine, in the form of two-inch planks, for threshing floors. But the most
common use, in which great quantities of it are consumed in the Northern
States, is for the first sheathing of wooden houses, which are afterwards
covered with clap-boards of White Pine. For economy the interior frame
is sometimes made of Hemlock Spruce, and it is found, when guarded from
humidity, to be as durable as any other species. It is always chosen for
the laths of the interior walls, and is exported in this form to England.
In the District of Maine, it is usually taken for the posts of rural fences
which last about fifteen years, and are preferable to those of Gray and
Red Oak. It contains little resin, and I have found the trunk but slightly
coated with turpentine where large pieces of bark had been removed long
before.

I have already observed that this bark is a substitute for that of the
Oaks in the preparation of leather. It is taken from the tree in the month
of June, and half the epidermis is shaved off with a plane before it is
thrown into the mill. From the District of Maine it is exported to Boston,
Providence, etc., and is almost exclusively employed in the tan-yards. It
is brought to New York from the upper parts of the Hudson, and is some-

HEMLOCK SPRUCE.

109

times carried to Baltimore. Its deep red color is imparted to the leather,
and I have been informed by tanners that it is inferior to Oak bark, but
that the two species united are better than either of them alone. Hemlock
Spruce bark was once exported to England, but thé commerce has ceased
with the demand. The Indians are said to use it in dyeing their light
baskets made of Red Maple.

This species yields seed in many gardens of France, England and Ger-
many ; but in France its vegetation is not luxuriant, because it is usually
planted in situations too open and dry. It offers no inducement to propa-
gate it in Europe.

The figure in Sir A. B. Lambert’s woi’k is correct, but he repeatedly
errs in the brief description annexed, and takes no notice of the peculiar
property of the bark.

PLATE CXLIX.

A branch with a cone of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A seed.

[This is one of the most beautiful trees of the family; its tufted foliage,
tapering branchlets, and the smoothness of its limbs, and its small delicate
terminal cones, and the majestic gracefulness of full grown specimens,
should strongly recommend it to those who are unselfish enough to plant
for posterity. The cones are mature in the autumn, and shed their seeds
then and during the winter. The Hemlock is patient of the knife, and con-
sequently makes a highly ornamental hedge. By being planted in double
or triple rows, it forms in a few years an impenetrable evergreen wall,
which would be invaluable for shelter from north-west winds. I have seen
hedges of this kind in America quite equal if not superior to any other
in ornamental appearance. In the beginning of summer the delicate
green branches, surmounted with a tuft of yellowish-green recent leaves,
have an effect of peculiar beauty.]

( no )

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

T/.Joo.

American Silver Fir, or 1> ai m of Gilead Fir .
A/*uw /w/<ramf/er<r .

AMERICAN SILVER FIR.

Ill

in packing fish ; but for this purpose the White Pine and Yellow Spruce
are commonly preferred.

The resin of the Pines is extracted by means of incisions in the body of
the tree, at which it exudes from the pores of the bark and from the sap-
vessels of the alburnum : in the American and European Silver Firs, this
substance is naturally deposited in vesicles on the trunk and limbs, and is
collected by bursting these tumors and receiving their contents in a bottle ;
only a few bottles are annually obtained in Canada, the District of Maine
and the adjacent countries. It is sold in England and the United States
under the name of balm of Crilead, though every body knows that the true
balm of Gilead is produced by the Amyris gileadensis, a very different
vegetable and a native of Asia : perhaps the name has been borrowed in
consequence of some resemblance between the substances in taste and
smell. The fresh turpentine is a greenish transparent fluid, of an acrid
penetrating taste ; given inconsiderately it produces heat in the bladder,
and applied to wounds it causes inflammation and acute pain. It has been
highly celebrated in England, and is recommended in certain stages of the
pulmonary consumption; in these cases it is preferred to the resin of .the
European Silver Fir, which is collected in a similar manner in Switzerland
and in some parts of Germany.

This tree has been long cultivated in Europe, but it must be reserved
for the embellishment of pleasure grounds, where its regular form and
agreeable foliage give it a distinguished place among evergreen trees.

The Silver Fir of Europe is so analogous to that of America, that it is
unnecessary to describe it ; the only difference is that it has longer leaves
and bigger cones, and attains a much greater elevation ; according to M.
Burgsdorf, grand-forester of Prussia, it is sometimes 150 feet high and 6
feet in diameter. The wood of the two species is similar in its general
character, and though the advantage is on the side of the Silver Fir of
Europe, it is still inferior to the Norway Spruce Fir, which is the more to
be regretted on account of its size.

PLATE CL.

A branch with a cone of the natural size. Fig. 1, A seed.

[As an ornamental tree the Balm of Gilead retains its beauty for only
the first 15 or 20 years of its existence, during which period, when in
health and vigor, it is extremely beautiful both in color and form. After
this period it loses its lower branches, has a sickly hue, and should then be
dismissed from the pleasure grounds.]

( 112 )

CYPRESSES.

The researches of botanists have made us acquainted -with only seven
species of Cypress, of which two belong to the New Continent and are
indigenous to the United States. Among the exotic species, the Pyramidi-
cal Cypress, Cupressus fastigiata, deserves attention in the Southern
States. This tree has been celebrated from antiquity for the excellence
of its wood and the singularity of its form. From the gloomy appearance
of its tufted branches, compressed about the trunk and charged with dark,
impenetrable foliage, it was consecrated to funeral solemnities, and planted
about temples and tombs.

“ The Pyramidical Cypress, originally from Crete, is 30 or 40 feet in
height, smooth, and free from the defect observed in the Virginian Cedar,
of cracking at the insertion of the limbs. The wood is hard, odoriferous,
of an uniform texture and a brilliant red complexion. Pliny affirms that
it is very durable, and that its color is unchangeable : Cariem vetustatemque

noh sentit Cupressus Materia s nitor maximè valet seternus. Plin :

lib. 16, cap. 40. Formerly the rarest and most precious objects were
preserved in boxes of Cypress, and we are informed that the doors of St.
Peter’s at Rome which had lasted 1200 years, from Constantine to Eugene
IV., were of this wood. It is also employed for tables, musical instru-
ments and the tubes of organs. The fruit, which is known by the name
of Cypress nut , is employed in medicine as an astringent : and Pliny
assures us that the leaves pounded and mingled with seeds preserve them
from worms.

“ The Cypress is multiplied from the seed, which is the best method ; by
layers and by slips. In the beginning of spring the seeds are sown and
lightly covered in vessels filled with mould and sand. The young plants
must be kept in the shade and protected from the frost. To obtain good
seed, Duhamel says that in March or April we should select the cones
which begin to open, and store them in a dry place ; the seeds which fall
out are the best; those which are obtained by opening the cones very rarely
germinate.” — Desfontaines, Hist, des Arb. et Arbriss. tom. 2, p. 567.

PllOI

( 113 )

CYPRESS.

Moncecia monadelphia. Linn. Coniferæ. Jusg.

Cupkessus DisTiCHA. C. foliis planis, quasi pinnatim distichis , (décidais),
doribus masculis aphyllo-racemosis ; strobilis subgloboso-ovoideis.

Taxodium Distichum. Rich.

This species is tlie most interesting of its genus for the varied applica-
tions of its wood and for its extraordinary dimensions in a favorable soil and
climate. In Louisiana it is called Cypre or Cyprès , and in the Atlantic
Southern States Cypress, and sometimes Bald Cypress. The names of
Black and White Cypress, in the Carolinas and Georgia, are founded only
on the quality and color of the wood.

The banks of Indian river, a small stream that waters a part of Dela-
ware, in latitude 38° 50', may be assumed as its northern boundary.
Hence, in proceeding southward, it becomes constantly more abundant in
the swamps ; hut in Maryland and Virginia it is confined to the vicinity of
the sea, where the winter is milder and the summer more intense. Beyond
Norfolk its limits coincide exactly with those of the pine-barrens, and in
the Carolinas and Georgia it occupies a great part of the swamps which
border the rivers after they have found their way from among the moun-
tains and have entered the low lands.

East Florida, which I have visited, is similar in its aspect to the maritime
parts of the Southern States, except that the soil is in general more uniform ;
hence the Long-leaved Pine and the Cypress are accompanied by a smaller
variety of trees, and are consequently more abundant, the one on the low
grounds and the other on the uplands.

The Mississippi, from its mouth to the river Arkansas, a distance, in
following its windings, of more than 600 miles, is bordered with marshes,
which, at the annual overflowing of this mighty stream, form a vast expanse
of waters. In Louisiana, those parts of the marshes where the Cypress
grows almost alone, are called Cy prier es, Cypress swamps, and they some-
times occupy thousands of acres. As in the Floridas, the swamps are
contiguous to immeasurable plains covered with Pines, or oftener with tall
grass mingled with other plants. In the midst of these Pine forests and
Vol. III.— 16

114

CYPRESS.

savannas is seen here and there a bog or a plash of water filled with
Cypresses, whose squalid appearance, when they exceed 18 or 20 feet in
height, proves how much they are affected by the barrenness of a soil which
differs from the surrounding waste only by a layer of vegetable mould a
little thicker upon the quartzy sand. From these particulars, a sufficiently
just idea may be formed of the geographical situations and of the soil in
which the Cypress is found, over an extent of more than 1,500 miles, from
its first appearance toward the north to the Mississippi. Toward the
south-west my information does not reach beyond Louisiana, though I have
some reason to believe that it is seen as far as the mouth of the river Del
Norte, latitude 26°, which, if we measure the circuit of the Gulf of Mexico,
makes a distance of more than 3,000 miles.

M. de Humboldt, in his interesting account of New Spain, mentions
several trees of this species in the ancient gardens of the Emperor of
Mexico, which were planted before the arrival of the Spaniards, and are
now of considerable size.

In the swamps of the Southern States and the Floridas, on whose deep
miry soil a new layer of vegetable mould is every year deposited by the
floods, the Cypress attains its utmost development. The largest stocks are
120 feet in height, and from 25 to 40 feet in circumference above the
conical base, which, at the surface of the earth, is always three or four
times as large as the continued diameter of the trunk : in felling them, the
negroes are obliged to raise themselves upon scaffolds 5 or 6 feet from the
ground. The base is usually hollow for three-quarters of its bulk, and is
less regularly shaped than that of the Large Tupelo. Its surface is longi-
tudinally furrowed with deep channels, whose ridges serve as cramps to fix
it more firmly in the loose soil. The roots of the largest stocks, particu-
larly of such as are most exposed to inundation, are covered with conical
protuberances, commonly from 18 to 24 inches, and sometimes 4 or 5 feet
in thickness ; they are always hollow, smooth on the surface, and covered
with a reddish bark like the roots, which they resemble, also, in the softness
of their wood; they exhibit no sign of vegetation, and I have never suc-
ceeded in obtaining shoots by wounding their surface and covering them
with earth. No cause can be assigned for their existence ; they are pecu-
liar to the Cypress, and begin to appear when it is 20 or 25 feet in height ;
they are not made use of except by the negroes for bee-hives. The summit
of the Cypress is not pyramidal like that of the Spruces, but is widely
spread and even depressed upon old trees. The foliage is open, light, and
of a fresh agreeable tint ; each leaf is 4 or 5 inches long, and consists of
two parallel rows of leaflets upon a common stem. The leaflets are small,
fine, and somewhat arching, with the convex side outwards. In the autumn
they change from a light green to a dull red, and are shed soon after.
Boiled during three hours in water, they afford a fine durable cinnamon

CYPRESS

115

color : such at least has been the result of several experiments made in
Europe.

The Cypress blooms in Carolina about the first of February. The male
and female flowers are separately borne by the same tree, the first in flexible
pendulous aments, and the second in bunches scarcely apparent. The
cones are about as large as the thumb, hard, round, of an uneven surface,
and stored with small, irregular, ligneous seeds, containing a cylindrical
kernel : they are ripe in October, and retain their productive virtue for
two years.

The wood is fine-grained, and, after bein'g for some time exposed to the
light, of a reddish color : it possesses great strength and elasticity, and is
lighter and less resinous than that of the Pines. To these properties is
added the faculty of long resisting the heat and moisture of the southern
climate. The color of the bark and the properties of the wood vary with
the nature of the soil ; the stocks which grow near the natural bed of the
rivers, and are half the year surrounded with water to the height of 3 or
4 feet, have a lighter colored bark than those which stand retired in places
which the waters do not reach, or where they sojourn but a moment. The
wood, also, is whiter, less resinous and less heavy. These are called White
Cypresses. The others, of which the bark is browner and the wood heavier,
more resinous, and of a duskier hue, are called Black Cypresses. When
destined to be employed in the arts, both varieties should be felled in the
winter, and kept, till by a long process, the wood has become perfectly
dry. A resin of an agreeable odor and a red color, exudes from the
Cypress ; it is not abundant enough to be collected for commerce, though
more copious than that of the White Cedar, which is probably the reason of
the wood’s being denser and stronger : the negroes prefer it to that of the
Pines as a dressing for suppurating wounds.

This wood is more generally employed in Louisiana than in any other
part of the United States : it is profitably substituted for the White Oak
and the Pine, which are rare, and it is proved to be twice as durable as
the Pine. Nearly all the houses in New Orleans were of wood, and the
frame, the interior work and, the outer covering of Cypress. It was almost
as generally employed in Georgia and the Carolinas soon after their set-
tlement ; but it is now replaced by other species, as all the large stocks
have been consumed in the populous districts : near the swamps, where it
abounds, the houses are still built, or at least covered, with it. Of what-
ever materials the building is constructed in these States, the roof is
universally covered with Cypress shingles, which, if made from trees felled
in the winter, last forty years. They are split off in a direction parallel
to the concentric circles. At Norfolk in Virginia, near the Dismal
Swamp, where immense quantities are made both of this species and of
White Cedar, those of Cypress are preferred ; at Philadelphia and Haiti-

116

CYPRESS.

more, where they are also procured at equal prices, the preference is given
to. those of White Cedar. This fact seems to support the conclusion that
each unites the principles which ensure durability only in the soil and cli-
mate in which they respectively abound.

In the towns of the Southern States where the White Pine is cheap, it
has in a great measure taken the place of the Cypress for the interior
work of houses ; but Cypress boards are still preferred for the inside of
brick houses, and for window-sashes, and the panels of doors exposed to
the weather : cabinet-makers also choose it for the inside of mahogany
furniture.

I have been assured that in Louisiana it is found highly proper for the
masts and sides of vessels, and it has the same reputation in Charleston
and Savannah, though at present it is little employed. Wherever it grows
it is chosen for canoes, which are fashioned from a single trunk and are 30
feet long and 5 feet wide, light, solid, and more durable than those of any
other tree.

On the banks of the Mississippi it is used to enclose plantations, and
posts made of the perfect wood last a long time in the ground. For this
last it is preferred to every other tree in those districts of Georgia in which
it abounds or is easily procured. It makes the best pipes to convey water
under ground ; especially the Black Cypress, which is more resinous and
solid.

The inexhaustible Cypress-swamps on the Mississippi not only supply
materials for every species of building in Lower Louisiana, but furnish for
exportation to the West Indies. This branch of commerce, which con-
sisted principally of boards and shingles, has declined within a few years,
in consequence of the great exportation from the Northern States of dif-
ferent species of Pine, particularly the White Pine, which are sold at half
the price and devoted to nearly the same uses.

At the Havanna, the White Pine has generally superseded the Cypress
for sugar-cases, for which it was once extensively used ; for the covering of
houses Cypress shingles are still preferred, and the consumption in the
French, English and Danish Colonies is estimated at one hundred millions
of shingles annually, of which the greater part come from Norfolk, Wil-
mington and Savannah : more than fifteen millions have been brought in a
single year from Norfolk, and more than thirty millions from Wilmington.
They are 22 or 44 inches long, and from 3 to 6 inches wide : in February
1808, the price of the longest was from $4 to $5 a thousand at Philadel-
phia, and they usually bear a double price in the West Indies.

In Europe, the patrons of useful culture and ornamental gardening have
labored zealously for more than fifty years to multiply the Cypress.
Many of them are of opinion that, as it supports the winter of Paris and
even of Belgium and England, it might be profitably planted in many

CYPRESS.

117

vacant marshes and watery ground. The warmest praise is due to the
intentions with which this plan is recommended, but I cannot fully adopt
the sanguine hopes that are entertained of its result : probably it will
always be more advantageous to occupy these spots with the Ashes, the
Willows, the Alders, the Poplars and the Maples, which are incomparably
more rapid in their growth, which sprout afresh when felled, and whose
wood is as useful in Europe, where the houses are built of stone and covered
with tiles or slate. I am convinced the Cypress can never be profitably
cultivated above the 44th degree of latitude ; it requires heat as well as
humidity, and the moderate temperature of our scanty summers is insuffi-
cient to ripen the seeds of the Bald Cypresses which were planted about
Paris more than forty years since, and which bloom every year. To the
same cause must be attributed the slowness of their growth ; the greater
part of them are not more than 20 or 25 feet in height. The largest
stocks in France are on the ancient estates of Duhamel, about 60 miles
from Paris. Planted more than forty years ago, in a congenial situation,
they have reached the height of 40 feet, with a diameter of 11 or 12
inches ; but the seeds are rarely matured. An agriculturist of excellent
practical views, whose property lies partly in the plains of Bordeaux,
where he has formed an establishment for the naturalization of exotic trees,
has attempted the cultivation of the Cypress with the most satisfactory
success.

It would be unavailing to recommend the preservation and multiplication
of the Cypress in the maritime districts of the Carolinas and Georgia,
though for an extent of more than 900 miles they have neither stone nor
slate for building ; it becomes daily more profitable for the increasing
population to convert the marshes into rice-grounds, which afford a sure
subsistence to the inhabitants and swell the mass of exported produce.
Instead of wood, the houses will be constructed of bricks, which is already
beginning to be done, and covered with slate imported from the Northern
States or from Europe. It is highly probable that in less than two centu-
ries, the Cypress will disappear from the Southern States.

PLATE CLI.

A branch with leaves of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A Cone. Fig. 2, A seed.
Fig. 3 , A kernel. Fig. 4 , The half of a seed. Fig. 5 , A conical excrescence from
the roots.

[A rich, moist soil is required to produce the deciduous Cypress of any
great size, and it will not thrive in high situations. The species is increas-

118

WHITE CEDAR.

ed by seeds, which come up the first year. The tree may also be propa-
gated by cuttings, put, in autumn, into sand or heath soil, in the shade,
and kept moist. Cuttings of the winter wood, or of the summer shoots
with the leaves on, will root in a vessel of water in a very few weeks ; and
if an inch of soil be placed at the bottom of the vessel, the fibres will root
in it, and the plants may be used as if they had been struck in the usual
manner. Layers put down in moist soil, root the first year.]

WHITE CEDAR.

Cufressus thyoides. C foliis squamulatim imbricatis ; ramulis compressis ;
strobilis minutis , globulosis.

Among the resinous trees of the United States, the White Cedar is one
of the most interesting for the varied utility of its wood. North of the
river Connecticut, it is rare and little employed in the arts : in the
Southern States, I have not seen it beyond the river Santee, but I have
been assured that it is found, though not abundantly, near Augusta on
the Savannah: it is multiplied only within these limits, and^to the distance
of 50 miles from the shore of the Ocean.

In New York, and in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, it is known by the
name of White Cedar , and in Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, by
that of Juniper. I have adopted the first denomination, which is not
unknown where the second is habitually used, because the tree belongs to
a different genus from the Junipers. At Boston and in Vermont, New
Hampshire, and the more northern parts of America, the Arbor Vitæ is
called White Cedar, but I have thought proper to retain the name for the
species we are considering.

The White Cedar grows only in wet grounds. In the maritime districts
of New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia, it nearly fills the extensive marshes
which lie adjacent to the salt-meadows, and are exposed in high tides to be
overflowed by the sea. In New Jersey it covers almost alone the whole
surface of the swamps, of which the Tupelo and Red Maple occupy the

_Bessa del.

While Cedar.

( 'upres<ru<r (/u/oii/e.

Gabriel sculp

.

WHITE CEDAR.

119

skirts. Further south, it is mingled with the Cypress, by which it is at
length entirely supplanted. In Lower Jersey and Maryland, the swamps
are accessible only during the dryest part of the summer and when they
are frozen in the winter. The trees stand so thick in them that the light
can hardly penetrate the foliage, and in their gloomy shade spring at
every step tufts of the Dwarf Rose Bay, Honeysuckle and Andromeda,
whose luxuriant vegetation proves that they delight in dark and humid
exposures.

The White Cedar is 70 or 80 feet high, and rarely more than 3 feet in
diameter, unless, perhaps, in the great swamps which have not been tho-
roughly explored, such as the Dismal Swamp near Norfolk in Virginia,
which is covered with this species and the Cypress. When the White
Cedars are close and compressed, the trunk is straight, perpendicular, and
destitute of branches to the height of 50 or 60 feet ; they are observed to
choose the centre of the swamps, and the Cypresses the circumference.

The epidermis is very thin on the young stocks ; but as they grow older
it becomes thick, of a soft filaceous texture, of a reddish color, and similar
to that of an old Vine. When cut, a yellow transparent resin of an agree-
able odor exudes, of which a few ounces could hardly be collected in a
summer from a tree of 3 feet in circumference.

The foliage is evergreen ; each leaf is a little branch numerously sub-
divided, and composed of small, acute, imbricated scales, on the back of
which a minute gland is discerned with the lens. In the angle of these
ramifications grow the flowers, which are scarcely visible and which pro-
duce very small rugged cones of a greenish tint, which changes to bluish
towards the fall, when they open to release the fine seeds.

The concentric circles are always perfectly distinct, even in stocks of
considerable size, but their number and compactness prove that the tree
arrives at its full growth only after a long lapse of years. I have counted
277 annual layers in a trunk 21 inches in diameter and 5 feet from the
ground, and 47 in a plant only 8 inches thick at the surface, which proved
it to be already fifty years old. I was told that the swamp in which it
grew had been burnt at least half a century before, and had been re-peo-
pled from a few stocks that escaped the conflagration, or perhaps by the
seeds of the preceding year.

The wood is light, soft, fine-grained, and easily wrought. When per-
fectly seasoned, and exposed for some time to the light, it is of a rosy hue.
It has a strong aromatic odor, which it preserves as long as it is guarded
from humidity. The perfect wood resists the succession of dryness and
moisture longer than that of any other species, and for this quality princi-
pally, as well as its extreme lightness, it is preferred at Baltimore and
Philadelphia for shingles, which are cut transversely to the concentric
circles, and not parallel like those of the Cypress. They are from 24 to

120

WHITE CEDAR.

27 inches long, from 4 to 6 inches broad, and 3 lines thick at the larger
end : in the advertisements of Baltimore they are called Juniper shingles.
At Philadelphia and Baltimore, they are generally preferred to those of
Cypress, as they are larger and are free from the defects of splitting when
nailed upon the rafters. The houses in those cities, as well as in New
York and the smaller circumjacent towns, are covered with them; they
usually last thirty or thirty-five years. The domestic consumption is great,
and the exportation to the West Indies is estimated at several millions.

The White Cedar has long since ceased to be employed for the frames
of houses ; stocks of sufficient dimensions are rare, and are more profitably
reserved for shingles and for other works of joinery, for which this species
is superior to the White Pine, being still more durable and more secure
from worms. It continues to be used in building only near the great
swamps in which it abounds, as about Great-egg Harbor and Indian river,
in New Jersey, and near the Dismal Swamp in Virginia.

The superior fitness of this wood for various household utensils has given
rise, in Philadelphia, to a distinct class of mechanics called Cedar coopers,
and a great number of workmen are employed for the domestic and foreign
market. They fabricate principally pails, wash-tubs and churns of different
forms. This ware is cheap, light and neatly made ; and instead of becoming
dull, like that of other wood, it grows whiter and smoother by use. The
hoops are made of young Cedars stripped of the bark and split into two
parts. The saplings are appropriated exclusively to this object, and vary
in price, according to their length : the largest are 2 inches thick at the
base and 11 or 12 feet long.

At the mouth of the river Cape Fear, the pilots and fishermen cover
the sides of their boats with clap-boards of White Cedar, which they
prefer to those of Cypress, as being lighter, more durable, and less liable
to split.

I have been assured that this wood, selected with care, makes excellent
sound-boards for forte-pianos The merchants of Philadelphia find it the
best for preserving oils. Charcoal highly esteemed in the manufacture of
gun-powder is made of young stocks about an inch and a half in diameter,
deprived of their bark; and the seasoned wood affords beautiful lamp-
black, lighter and more intensely colored, though less abundant, than that
obtained from the Pine.

In New Jersey, not far from Philadelphia, the farmers on the borders of
the Cedar swamps employ this tree, for field-fence ; the rails, formed of
young stocks entire or split in the middle, last from fifty to sixty years
when deprived of the bark.

Swamps which produce the White Cedar are a valuable species of
property, and might be rendered more profitable by more judicious man-
agement.

■

•

'

Fh53.

GuJ’/'u'/ ,''cu/p

-merican

a/ 'h t ■ am cv • tcana

AMERICAN LARCH.

121

PLATE CLII.

A branch with a cone of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A leaf. Fig. 2, A seed.

[This graceful and beautiful tree connects the arbor vitæ -with the
Cypresses, having the characters of both ; the scale-like, imbricate leaves,
and fan-shaped branches of the former, and the lofty port and globular
or many-sided fruit of the latter. It should be extensively cultivated,
and is attended with less expense and trouble than any other forest tree,
and it conflicts with no other. Sow the seeds abundantly on cold, swampy
land, in the fall of the year, upon the.,surface of the ground or water, and
in six or eighteen months they will vegetate. In a few years thinnings
might be made, which for enclosures alone, would pay a high rate of
interest upon the value of the land and of the labor bestowed. Umerson.'J

AMERICAN LARCH.

Lahix ameeicana. L. foliis brevioribus , deciduis ; strobilis parvis, ovoideo-sub-
globosis ; squamis paucioribus.

In the north of the United States this tree is commonly designated by
the name of Hackmatack, but I have preferred that of American Larch,
which is not unknown where the other is habitually used. The French
Canadians call it Epinette rouge.

The European and American Larches are more strictly confined than
any other resinous trees to the northern zone of the two Continents, and
they are the first to disappear in approaching a milder sky. The American
species is most abundant in Vermont, New Hampshire, and the District of
Maine ; but though the soil is well adapted to its growth and the winter is
long and severe, it does not form the hundredth part of the resinous growth,
which consists principally of the Black Spruce, the Hemlock Spruce and
Vol. III.— 17

122

AMERICAN LARCH.

the Red Cedar. According to my father’s observations in his journey to
Hudson’s Bay, it is only beyond the St. Lawrence, particularly near Lake
St. John and the Great and the Little Lake Mistassin, that it begins to
abound and to form masses of woods, some of which are several miles in
extent. I have been informed that it is profusely multiplied in Newfound-
land, in nearly the same latitude. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the
coldest and gloomiest exposures in the mountainous tracts of Virginia, are
the limit of its appearance toward the south : but it is rare in these States,
and in Lower Jersey, in the vicinity of New York, it is seen only in the
swamps of White Cedar, with which it is scantily mingled. The numerous
descendants of the Dutch in New Jersey call it Tamarack.

I have remarked that in Vermont and the District of Maine, the Larch
grows only in low and moist places, and never on uplands, as about Hud-
son’s Bay and in Newfoundland; hence we may conclude that the climate
of the northern extremity of the United States is too mild for’ its consti-
tution.

The American Larch, like that of Europe, is a magnificent vegetable,
with a straight slender trunk 80 or 100 feet in height and 2 or 3 feet in
diameter. Its numerous branches, except near the summit, are horizontal
or declining. The bark is smooth and polished on the trunk and longer
limbs, and rugged on the smaller branches. The leaves are flexible, shorter
than those of the European species, and collected in hunches ; they are
shed in the fall and renewed in the spring. T-he flowers, like those of the
Pines, are separate upon the same tree ; the male aments, which appear
before the leaves, are small, oblong and scaly, with two yellow anthers
under each scale ; the female floAvers are also disposed in aments, and are
composed of floral leaves covering two ovaries, which in process of time
become small, erect, scaly cones 3 or 4 lines long. At the base of each
scale lie two minute winged seeds. On some stocks the cones are violet-
colored in the spring instead of green ; hut this is an accidental variation,
for the trees are in no other respect peculiar.

The wood of the American Larch is superior to any species of Pine or
Spruce, and unites all the properties which distinguish the European
species, being exceedingly strong and singularly durable. In Canada it
is considered as among the most valuable timber, and has no fault except
its weight. In the District of Maine it is more esteemed than any other
resinous wood for the knees of vessels, and is always used for this purpose
when proper pieces can be procured. Turpentine is never extracted from
it in America, as is done from our native species in Europe.

The Larch is justly appreciated in the United States, hut it is little
employed, because it is rare and may be replaced by several resinous trees
which are cheaper and more abundant.

Sir A. B. Lambert, in his splendid work upon the Pines, describes two

•

Lana: cedriis .

CEDAR OF LEBANON.

123

species of American Larch, the first of which is evidently the tree we have
been considering ; the second he denominates Larix microcarpa , and cha-
racterizes it by smaller fruit and drooping branches. My father doubtless
considered it as a variety.

The cones of the European Larch are twice as large as those of the
American species, but the two trees are so analogous that a separate
description is unnecessary.

PLATE CLIII.

A branch with leaves and cones of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A seed.

[As an ornamental tree the European Larch takes the precedence of the
American ; the latter grows generally with a crooked top, and its leaves
are shorter than the European, which is fit for every useful purpose in
forty years growth.

The soils suitable for Larch, according to Matthew are sound rock, with
a covering of loam ; gravel not ferruginous, in which water does not stag-
nate, even though nearly bare of vegetable mould ; firm, dry clays, and
sound, brown loam ; all very rough ground particularly ravines. The most
desirable situation is, where the roots will neither be drowned by stagnant
water in winter, nor parched by drought in summer. See Loudon’s Ar-
boretum, pp. 2353 to 2399.]

CEDAR OF LEBANON.

Larix cbdrus. L . foliis fasciculatis, perennantibus ; strobilis ovatis, obtusis,
erectis; squamis adpressis, rotundatis.

The Cedar of Lebanon is the largest and most majestic among the
resinous trees of the Old World, and one of the finest vegetable produc-

124

CEDAR OF LEBANON.

tions of the globe. Till Pallas discovered it in the north of Russia, in
1770, it was believed to be peculiar to the mountains of Lebanon, in Asia
Minor.

Modern travelers, and among others Mr. Labillardière, who visited that
part of the East in 1788, inform us that the large forests seen by Belon in
1550, upon Mount Aman, have disappeared, and that a few of these trees
only are found upon the highest ridge, where they grow immediately below
the snow which caps the summit during a great part of the year. He
computes their number at about 100, of which he observed seven of extra-
ordinary size, and measured one that was 30 feet in circumference, with
the primary limbs 9 or 10 inches in diameter. Standing alone, and
enjoying the free access of the light and air, they were less remarkable
for stature than for expansion. In massive forests they probably attain
a height proportioned to their diameter; but this tree has always been
remarked for the length of its limbs, as is proved by the allusion of the
Hebrew poet: “ They shall spread out their branches like the Cedar.”

The ancients ascribed to the wood of the Cedar a duration of many ages.
The sacred historians inform us that it was chosen for the building of
Solomon’s Temple ; it was also employed in that of Apollo at Utica.

Other proofs might be adduced in evidence of the opinion entertained
by the Greeks and Hebrews of the durability of this wood, which they
brought at a great expense from Mount Lebanon ; but Professor Martyn
justly observes that there is great obscurity in the passages of the ancient
authors, as different species, and even different genera, were confounded
under the name of Cedar. Their accounts of the Cedar of Lebanon are
in some respects inapplicable to the tree we are considering, which is an
inferior kind of deal, soft, inodorous, and of short duration.

If these remarks detract from the interest which we attach to the Cedar
of Lebanon, the majestic and beautiful form of this species renders it highly
deserving of our notice.

The few remaining stocks upon Mount Lebanon are preserved with
religious veneration by the Christians of that country. According to the
missionaries in the East, the Patriarch of the Maronite Christians inhabit-
ing Mount Lebanon, attended by a number of bishops, priests and monks,
and followed by five or six thousand devotees, annually celebrate in- their
shade the festival of the Transfiguration, which is called the Feast of
Cedars ; and ecclesiastical censures are denounced against those who shall
injure these consecrated trees.

About the year 1680, the first stocks were brought to Europe and planted
in the medical garden of Chelsea, near London ; one hundred years after,
two of them were upwards of 12 J feet in circumference at 2 feet from the
ground, and diffused their limbs more than 20 feet in every direction.
They have yielded seed abundantly for more than half a century, and have

CEDAR OF LEBANON.

125

given birth to the fine stocks that adorn the parks and gardens of the
Continent of Europe.

The heautj of the Cedar of Lebanon is due to the arrangement of its
branches, which are verticillate with a slight inclination toward the earth,
and to its thick, dark green foliage, which casts a dense and impervious
shade.

It flowers in the month of October : the cones are about 3 inches long
and 2 broad, and do not arrive at complete maturity before the second
year. They are grayish, and very hard in consequence of the compactness
of the scales. To obtain the seeds, of which three-fourths are usually
barren, the cone is pierced with a gimlet at the base, left to soak two days
in water, and, after, it is dry, opened by means of a small wooden wedge
driven into the hole.

1 This tree is in great request for the fineness of its form; it is not difficult
in the choice of soils, and develops itself luxuriantly on gravelly lands.

The young stoek should be transplanted when the circulation begins to
be renewed, which is indicated by the swelling of the buds ; as much earth
as possible should be left adhering to the roots, and they should be replaced
in the ground without delay. When permanently fixed, its branches should
never be lopped, and the main stem, which constantly inclines toward the
north, should be carefully preserved.

PLATE CLIV.

A branch with a cone of the natural'size,.

[It would be no difficult task to exhaust several pages with eulogies on
this tree, which from some cause was almost entirely neglected by our
American ancestors ; but one or two specimens of much size, having come
under my observation in the United States. Every person who plants
should procure one specimen at least even though he may not survive to
see its perfect majesty and beauty. In England it is common and appears
no where without impressing the beholder with favorable ideas of the
planter’s taste. It is perfectly adapted to our climate and young trees
are to be readily procured in every extensive nursery. This and the
Deodara, the Douglass Pine, and the Araucaria Imbricata are essential to
all grounds of even moderate extent.

M. Laure, an officer of the French marine, who, with the Prince de
Joinville, visited Mount Lebanon in 1836, says that all but one of the
sixteen old Cedars mentioned by Belon, in 1550, and by Maundrell, in
1696, were still alive, although in a decaying state, and that one of the
healthiest, but perhaps the smallest trunks, measured 36 English feet in
circumference.]

( 126 )

RED CEDAR.

Juniperus virginiana. J. foliis ternis, basi adnatis, junioribus imbricatis,
senioribus patulis.

The Red Cedar, which belongs to the Junipers, is the most common
species of its genus in the United States, and the only one which attains
such dimensions as to be useful in the arts. Next to that which grows in
Bermuda, it is the largest hitherto discovered. According to my father’s
observations on the topography of American plants, Cedar Island, in Lake
Champlain, nearly opposite to Burlington, in latitude 44° 25', may be
assumed as one of the remotest points at which it is found towards the
north. Eastward, on the border of the sea, I have not seen it beyond
Wiscasset, a small town of the District of Maine, at the mouth of the
Kennebeck, and in nearly the same latitude with Burlington. Erom Wis-
casset it spreads without interruption to the Cape of Florida, and thence
round the Gulf of Mexico to a distance beyond St. Bernard’s Bay ; an
extent of more than 3,000 miles. In retiring from the shore, it becomes
gradually less common and less vigorous, and in Virginia and the more
Southern States it is rare at the point where the tide ceases to flow in the
rivers ; further inland it is seen only in the form of a shrub in open, dry,
sandy places. In the Western States it is confined to spots where the
calcareous rock shows itself naked, or is so thinly covered with mould as to
forbid the vegetation of other trees.

Though the Red Cedar grows naturally in the District of Maine, and on
some of the islands of Lake Champlain, it is repressed by a winter as
intense as that of the north of Germany, and develops itself less vigor-
ously than in Virginia, and further south, where the soil and climate are
favorable to its expansion and to the perfection of its wood. Upon the
downs it is usually buried in the sand cast up by the waves, except the
summit of the branches, which appear like young trees above the surface.
When unincumbered with sand, as in the middle of the islands and on the
borders of the narrow sounds that flow between them and the main, it is
40 or 45 feet in height and 12 or 13 inches in diameter ; but it would be
difficult at present to find stocks of this size north-eastward of the river
St. Mary within the ancient limits of the United States.

The foliage i3 evergreen, numerously subdivided, and composed of small

I

-

M.iSS.

RED CEDAR.

127

sharp scales encased in one another. It diffuses a resinous, aromatic odor
when bruised : dried and reduced to powder it has the same effect as the
common Juniper, of increasing the efficacy of blister-plasters. The male
and female flowers are small, not conspicuous, and borne separately on the
same or on different stocks. The seeds are small, ovate berries, bluish
when ripe, and covered with a white .exudation. They arrive at maturity
about the beginning of fall, and if sown immediately the greater part of
them shodt the following spring, but not before the second year if they
are kept several months. The quantity of gin made from them in the
United States is small compared with what is imported from Holland.

The name of Red Cedar is descriptive only of the perfect wood, which
is of a bright tint ; the sap is perfectly white.

The post striking peculiarity in the vegetation of the Red Cedar is that
its branches, which are numerous and close, spring near the earth and
spread horizontally, and that the lower limbs are during many years as
long as the body of the tree. The trunk decreases so rapidly that the
largest stocks rarely afford timber for ship-building of more than 11 feet
in length. Its diameter is very much diminished by deep, oblong crevices
in every part of the trunk, which are occasioned by the large branches
persisting after they are dead. My own observations and experiments
lead me to believe that the growth of the tree might be thickened, and
this deformity prevented, by cutting the limbs even with the trunk for
two-thirds of its height.

The wood is odorous, compact, fine-grained and very light, though
heavier and stronger than that of the White Cedar and Cypress. To these
qualities it unites the still more precious character of durability, and is
consequently highly esteemed for such objects as require it in an eminent
degree. But as it is procured with difficulty, and is every day becoming
scarcer, it is reserved exclusively for the most important uses. The repro-
duction is too trifling to be mentioned in comparison with the consumption
in the ports of the United States at large, and particularly at New York,
Philadelphia and Baltimore. In the. upper part of the frame of vessels,
it is joined with the Live Oak to compensate its excessive weight, and this
usage, more than any other, has wasted the species. Recourse is now had
to the coast of East Elorida between the St. Mary and the St. John, which
will soon be exhausted in its turn. The nearer the Red Cedar grows to
the sea, and the further southward, the better is its wood. Next to ship-
building, it is most commonly used for posts, which are highly esteemed
and are reserved for enclosing court-yards and gardens in the cities and
their vicinity. The barriers of the side-walks in the streets of Philadel-
phia are made of this wood : they are 10 or 11 feet long and 8 inches in
diameter, and are sold at 80 cents each, while those of White Cedar cost
only 16 or 17 cents. It is eminently fitted for subterranean water-pipes,

128

AMERICAN ARBOR YITÆ.

but is rarely employed, from the difficulty of obtaining stocks of sufficient
diameter. Small, round or oval tubs, very neatly wrought and hooped
with brass, are made with staves consisting partly of the sap and partly
of the heart. I have observed that the tanners at Philadelphia make the
large stop-cocks of this wood. In the Southern States it is commonly
chosen for coffins.

In some parts of Lower Virginia, particularly in the County of York,
the Cedars are trimmed and the branches are interlaced, with stakes driven
into the earth at small distances, for the enclosure of cultivated fields ; but
this is a poor resource, the only advantage of which is the economy of
wood.

The Red Cedar is exported to England, but I am unable to say for what
purpose ; probably it is not solely for the manufacture of pencils, though it
seems as well adapted to that object as the Juniper of Bermuda.

The Red Cedar has been naturalized more than fifty years in the plea-
sure grounds of France and England : its growth would be rapid on the
borders of the sea in our southern departments, where its propagation
cannot be too warmly recommended.

PLATE CLV.

A branch ivith leaves and berries of the natural size.

AMERICAN ARBOR VITÆ,

OR

WHITE CEDAR.

Thuya occidentals. T. ramulis ancipitibus, foliis quadrifarium imbricatis ,
ovato-rhombeis, adpressis, nudis , tuberculatis ; strobilis ovatis ; squamis oblonge -
ovalibus ; seminibus alatis.

This species of Thuya, the only one that has been discovered in the New
World, is the most interesting of the genus for the properties of its wood.

Pll5b\

\ abriel sadf).

JL. J. Redouté del.

Arbor ntæ. or "White cedar
TJua/a, o ccide •// fa /?<>:

AMERICAN ARBOR VITÆ.

129

My father mentions the shores of Lake St. John, in Canada, as its northern
limit, beyond -which he saw no trace of it in traveling in that direction
more than 300 miles. It abounds in favorable situations between the
parallels of 48° 50' and 45° ; further south it becomes fare, and solitary
stocks only are seen on the sides of torrents and on the banks of certain
rivers, as on the Hudson amid the highlands, and near the rapids of the
Potomac, in Virginia. Goat Island, round which the Niagara divides itself
to form the stupendous cataract which is one of the most wonderful spec-
tacles of nature, is seen from the banks of the river to be bordered with
the Arbor Vitæ.

In Canada and the northern part of the United States this tree is called
White Cedar , but in the District of Maine it is frequently designated by
the name of Arbor Vitæ , which I have preferred, though less common,
because the other is appropriated to the Cupressus iliyoides.

The Arbor Vitæ is 45 or 50 feet in height and sometimes more than 10
feet in circumference ; usually, however, it is not more than 10 or 15 inches
in diameter at 5 feet from the ground. From the number and the dis-
tinctness of the concentric circles in stocks of this size, its growth must
be extremely slow : I have counted 117 in a log 13 inches and 5 lines in
diameter. They are more compressed near the centre, as in the Cypress
and White Cedar, which is contrary to the arrangement observed in the
Oaks, the Beeches and the Maples.

The foliage is evergreen, numerously ramified, and flattened or spread.
The leaves are small, opposite, imbricated scales ; when bruised they diffuse
a strong aromatic odor. The sexes are separate upon the same tree. The
male flowers are in the form of small cones : to the female blossom succeeds
a yellowish fruit about 4 lines in length composed of oblong scales, which
open through their whole length for the escape of several minute seeds
surmounted by a short wing.

.In Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Vermont, and the District of Maine,
the Arbor Vitæ is the most multiplied of the resinous trees, after the Black
and the Hemlock Spruces. A cool soil seems to be indispensable to its
growth. It is never seen on the uplands among the Beeches, the Birches,
etc., but is found on the rocky edges of the innumerable rivulets and small
lakes which are scattered over these countries, and occupies in great part,
or exclusively,- swamps from 50 to 100 acres in extent, some of which are
accessible only in the winter, when they are frozen and covered with
several feet of snow. It abounds exactly in proportion to the degree of
humidity, and in the driest marshes it is mingled with the Black Spruce,
the Hemlock Spruce, the Yellow Birch, the Black Ash ; and a few stocks
of the White Pine, In all of them, the surface is covered with a bed of
Sphagnum so thick and surcharged with moisture that the foot sinks half-
leg deep while the water rises under its pressure.

Vol. III.— 18

130

AMERICAN ARBOR VITÆ.

The full-grown Arbor Yitæ is easily distinguished by its shape and
foliage. The trunk tapers rapidly from a very large base to a very slender
summit, and is laden with branches for four-fifths of its height. The
principal limbs, widely distant and placed at right angles with the body,
give birth to a great number of drooping secondary branches, whose foliage
resembles that of the White Cedar.

On the borders of the lakes, where it. has room and enjoys the benefit of
the light and air, it rises perpendicularly, grows more rapidly and attains
a greater size than when crowded in the swamps, where its thick foliage
intercepts the light and impedes the circulation of the air. I have besides
remarked that in the SAvamps its trunk is rarely straight, but forms the
arch of an ellipse more or less inclined. Its sides swell into two or three
large ridges, which are a continuation of the principal roots.

The bark upon the body is slightly furrowed, smooth to the touch and
very white when the tree stands exposed. The wood is reddish, somewhat
odorous, very light, soft and fine-grained : in the northern part of the
United States, and in Canada, it holds the first place for durability. From
the shape of the trunk, it is difficult to procure sticks of considerable
length and an uniform diameter ; hence in the District of Maine it is little
employed for the frame of houses, though in other respects proper for this
object, and still less for the covering. It is softer than the White Pine,
and gives a weaker hold to nails, for which reason the Canadians always
join it with some more solid wood. The following extract from my father’s
journal confirms what I have said of its durability: “In my journey to
Hudson’s Bay, in 1792, I arrived in August in the vicinity of Lake Chi-
coutomé, in latitude 48°. I found the mansion-house of the church esta-
blished by the Jesuits for the instruction of the natives yet standing. This
building, constructed in 1728, as was proved by an inscription over the
door, with square beams of the Arbor Yitæ laid upon one another without
covering on either side, remained perfectly sound after more than sixty
years.”

The most common use of this tree is for rural fences, for which it is
highly esteemed. The posts last thirty-five or forty years, and the rails
sixty, or three or four times as long as those of any other species. The
posts subsist twice as long in argillaceous as in sandy lands. While the
use of such fences continues, the utmost economy should be practised in
cutting the Arbor Vitæ, according to the rules prescribed for resinous
trees. In Canada it is selected for the light frame of bark canoes. Its
branches, garnished with leaves, are formed into brooms, which exhale an
agreeable aromatic odor. Kalm affirms that the leaves, pounded and
moulded with hog’s lard, form an excellent ointment for the rheumatism.

The Arbor Yitæ was introduced into France more than 200 years since •
the superior beauty of its form and foliage entitle it to preference over the

AMERICAN ARBOR VITÆ.

131

Chinese Thuya as an ornament of pleasure-grounds, and the quality of its
wood is a sufficient motive for propagating it in unimproved marshes in the
north of Europe ; but the White Cedar, which is taller and of a more uni-
form diameter, more rapid in its growth, and of equal durability, would
be a still more valuable acquisition.

PLATE CLVL

A branch with leaves and cones of the natural size. Fig. 1 , Seeds.

[Soil, Propagation, $c . — This tree grows best in a cool, moist soil, but
may be grown in any ground not too dry. As a hedge or screen it has
few compeers. At the residence of my friend, A. J. Downing, Esq., near
Newburgh, a screen of Arbor Vitæ, in his grounds, is remarkable for its
beauty and perfection.

As it ripens abundance of seeds, it is readily propagated.

See Nuttall’s Supplement, Yol. 3, p. 101.]

FINIS.

-

.

INDEX

TO THE PLANTS ENUMERATED

IN THE

NORTH AMERICAN SYLVA,

OF MICHAUX AND NUTTALL:

Arranged in their Natural Families, according to the system of Dr. Lindley, as
laid down in “the Vegetable Kingdom.” London, 1846.

The names of synonyms are in italics.

Yol. Page.

Class 4th. ENDOGENS.
Alliance 9th. Palmales.

Order 38th. Palmacese.
Chamærops

palmetto, Mich. iii. 1

Class 6th. GYMNOGENS.
Order 74th. Pinaceæ.

Pinus

amabilis,

Nutt.

iii.

135

australis,

Mich.

iii.

78

banksiana,

“

iii.

7'0

do.

Nutt.

iii.

124

bracteata,

“

iii.

137

californiana,

iii.

117

cembra,

“

iii.

108

contorta y

“

iii.

117

coulteri,

“

iii.

112

excel sa,

“

iii.

119

flexilis,

“

iii.

107

fraseri,

“

iii.

139

VOL. III.— 19

Vo].

Page.

grandis.

Nutt.

iii.

134

hudsonia.

“

iii.

124

inops,

Mich.

iii.

76

insignis,

Nutt.

iii.

115

lambertiana,

“

iii.

122

lasiocarpa,

“

iii.

138

menziesii,

“

iii.

131

mitis,"

Mich.

iii.

71

montezuma,

Nutt.

iii.

141

monticola , Doug.

“

iii.

118

muricata,

“

iii.

110

nobilis,

“

iii.

136

occidentalis,

“

iii.

140

palustris,

“

iii.

126

do.

Mich.

iii.

78

patula,

Nutt.

iii.

116

pinea,

Mich.

iii.

69

ponderosa,

Nutt.

iii.

114

pungens,

“

iii.

125

do.

Mich.

iii.

77

radiata,

Nutt.

iii.

116

resinosa.

Mich.

iii.

67

do.

Nutt.

iii.

115

do.

“

iii.

121

134

INDEX.

Pinus

rigida,

rubra,

rupestris,

do.

sabiniana,

serotina,

sinclairii,

strobus,

do.

sylvestris,
do.
tæda,
taxifolia,
tuberculata , Don
variabilis,
venusla, Don

Vol. Page.

Mich. iii. 87
“ iii. 67
“ iii. 70
Nutt. iii. 124
“ iii. 110
Mich. iii. 86
Nutt. iii, 141
“ iii. 118
Mich. iii. 92
“ iii. 73
Nutt. iii. 125
Mich. iii. 90
Nutt. iii. 129
“ iii. 115
“ iii. 116
“ iii. 137

Abies

alba,

do.

balsamea,

balsamifera,

bracteata,

canadensis,

do.

cedrus

douglasii,

grandis,

fraserî,

lasiocarpa,

menziesii,

nigra,

nobilis,

picea,

Larix

americana,

.cedrus,

europea,

microcarpa,

occidentalis,

pendula,

Picea

fraseri,
grandis ,
nobilis ,

Mich. iii. 105
Nutt. iii. 129
“ iii. 134
Mich. iii. 110
Nutt. iii. 137
Mich. iii. 107
Nutt. iii. 133
“ iii. 135
“ iii. 129
“ iii. 134
“ iii. 139
I 'iii. 138
“ iii. 131
Mich. iii. 101
Nutt. iii. 136
Mich. iii. 100

“ iii. 121
« iii. 123
Nutt. iii. 144
« iii. 144
“ iii. 143
“ iii. 143

| iii. 139
“ iii. 134
“ iii. 136

Juniperus

audina, “

barbadensis, “

occidentalis , Hooker, “

. sabina, “

virginiana, “

do. Mich.

iii. 95
iii. 96
iii. 95
iii. 97
iii. 97
iii. 126

Thuja

excelsa,
gigantea,
menziesii , Douj
occidentalis,
do.

plicata,

Cupressus

disticha,

do.

nutkatensis,

thyoides,

do.

Taxodium

distichum,

do. m

sempervirens,

Vol. Page.

Nutt. iii. 105
“ iii. 102
“ iii. 102
« iii. 102
Mich. iii. 128
Nutt. iii. 103

Mich. iii. 113
Nutt. iii. 105
“ iii. 105
“ iii. 105
Mich. iii. 118

Nutt. iii. 106
Mich. iii. 113
Nutt. iii. 99

Order 75. Taxaceæ.

Taxus

baccata,

brevifolia,

canadensis,

floridana,

nucifera,

Torreya

taxifolia,

iii. 86
iii. 86
iii. 86
iii. 92
iii. 92

iii. 91

Class 7th. EXOGENS.

Sub-class 1, Diclinous Exogens.
Alliance 18th. Amentales.
Order 78th. Betulaceæ.

Betula

alba, Nutt. i. 25

do. Mich. ii. 52

carpinifolia , A. Mich. “ ii. 61

excelsa , Aiton “ ii. 59

fruticosa, Nutt. i. 25

glandulosa, “ i. 25

lanulosa , A. Mich. Mich. ii. 57

lenta, “ ii. 61

lutea, “ ii. 59

nana, Nutt. i. 24

nigra , Willd. Mich. ii. 57

occidentalis, Nutt. i. 22

papyracea„ “ i. 25

do. Mich. ii. 50

papyrifera, A. Mich. “ ii. 50

populifera, “ ii. 56

INDEX.

135

Vol. Page.

Betula

populifolia,

Nutt. i. 25

rhombifolia,

“ i. 24

rubra,

Mich. ii. 57

Alnus

acuminata,

Nutt. i. 29

glauca,

Mich. ii. 64

glutinosa,

“ ii. 65

do.

Nutt. i. 28

incana,

“ i. 30

do.

Mich. ii. 64

maritima,

Nutt. i. 34

oregona,

“ i. 28

rhombifolia,

“ i. 33

serrulata,

Mich. ii. 63

tenuifolia,

Nutt. i. 32

undulata, Willd. “ i. 30

viridis,

“ i. 30

Order 79.

Altingeaceæ.

Liquidambar

-

styraciflua,

Mich. ii. 30

Order 80.

Salicaceæ.

Salix

alba,

Nutt. i. 80

arenaria,

“ i. 70

argophylla,

“ i. 71

brachycarpa,

“ i. 69

caprea,

“ i. 65

cuneata,

“ i. 66

exigua,

“ i. 75

flavescens,

“ i. 65

fluviatilis,

i. 73

hookeriana,

“ i. 64

ligustrina,

Mich. iii. 47

longifolia,

Nutt. i. 73

lucida,

Mich. iii. 48

do.

Nutt. i. 58

lutea,

“ i. 63

macrocarpa,

“ i. 67

macrostachya,

“ i. 72

melanopsis,

“ i. 78

myrtilloides,

» i. 77

nigra,

“ i. 79

do.

Mich. iii. 46

nivalis,

Nutt. i. 77

pentandra,

“ i. 61

rotundifolia,

“ i. 75

sessiliflora,

“ i. 68

speciosa,

“ i. 58

stagnalis,

“ i. 66

triandra,

■ “ i. 79

Salix

vittellina,

Populus

alba,

do.

angulata,

angustifolia,

argentea,

balsamifera,

do.

canadensis,

candicans,

canescens,

grandidentata,

hudsonia,

lævigata,

monilifera,

tremuloides,

do.

Order 81.

Myrica
lay a,
gale,
inodora,

Order 82.

Hippophaë.

argentea,

Shepherdia

argentea,

canadensis,

Alliance 19th.

Order 87. .

Morus

rubra,

Maclura

aurantiaca,

Ficus

aurea,

fi. latifolia,

brevifolia,

carica,

indica,

pedunculata,

Nutt. i

Mich. ii,
Nutt. i,
Mich. ii,
Nutt. i.
Mich. ii.

“ ii,
Nutt. i.
Mich. ii.
““ ii.
“ ii.
“ ii.
“ ii.
Nutt. i.
Mich. ii.

“ ii.
Nutt. i.

Myricaceæ.
Nutt. i.

Eleagnaceæ.

Urticales.

Moraceæ.

Mich. iii.

Nutt. i.

Nutt. ii.
“ ii.
“ ii.
“ ii.
“ ii.
<s ii.

Order 89.

Platanus

occidentalis,

Platanaceæ.

Mich. ii.

1. Page.

. 63

127

55

115

52

121

122

55

117

123
126
125

118

54
119

124

55

44

42

43

119

119

122

29

126 .

4

4
3

5
5
1

33

NDEX.

Vol. Page.

Platanus

occidentals, Nutt. i. 48

racemosa, “ i. 47

Alliance 20th. Eufhorbiales.

Order 90.

Euphorbiaceæ.

Antiaris

toxicaria,

Nutt. ii.

58

Excæcaria

agallocha,

“ ii.

61

lucida,*

“ ii.

60

Hippomane

mancinella,

“ ii.

54

Stillingia

ligustrina,

44 ii.

65

sebifera,

44 ii.

62

Aleurites

triloba,

44 ii.

59

Drypetes

crocea,

“ n.

66

glauca,

“ ii.

68

Alliance 21.

Quernales.

Order 95.

Corylaceæ.

Carpinus

americana,

Mich. iii.

17

ostrya,

“ iii.

18

Fagus

ferruginea,

sylvestris,

44 iii.

13

4i iii.

11

Castanea

alnifolia,

Nutt. i.

19

americana,

“ i.

24*

chrysophylla,

“ i.

21

nana , Elliott;

, “ i.

19

pumila,

“ i.

20

do.

Mich. iii.

10

vesca,

“ iii.

6

Quercus

acutifolia,

“ i.

55

agrifoba,

Nutt. i.

5

alba,

Mich. i.

8

do.

Nutt. i.

14

do.

“ i.

23*

ambigua,

Mich. i.

56

aquatica,

“ i.

39

do.

Nutt. i.

23

banisteri,
bi-color, Willd.

Mich. i.

41

“ i.

21

. do.

Nutt. i.

13

borealis,

Mich. i.

50

castanea ,

“ i.

26

catesboei,

“ i.

43

chrysophylla,

“ i.

55

cinerea,

“ i.

36

coccinea,

« i.

48

coccifera,

Nutt. i.

7

confèrtiflora,

“ i.

15

confertifolia, »

Mich. i.

54

crassifolia,

“ i.

56

crassipes,

44 i.

54

densiflora,

depressa,

Nutt. i.

11

Mich. i.

55

discolor,

“ i.

54

do.

Nutt. i.

14

douglassii,

“ i.

10

dumosa,

“ i!

7

elongata, Willd.

Mich. i.

44

falcata,

“ i.

44

do.

Nutt. i.

23*

ferruginea,

Mich. i.

40

filiformis,

Nutt. i.

14

garryana,

glaucescens,

“ i.

1

Mich. i.

56

hemispherica, Willd. “ i.

53

heterophylla,

44 i.

38

do.

Nutt. i.

15

ilex.

“ i.

8

imbricaria,

“ i.

15

do.

Mich. i.

34

jalapensis,

“ i.

55

lanceolata,

“ i.

54

laurina,

“ i.

54

leana,

lyrata,

Nutt. i.

13*

“ i.

20

macrocarpa,

“ i.

17

maritima,

“ i.

53

do.

Nutt. i.

13

mexicana,

Mich. i.

54

michauxiij

Nutt. i.

13

montana,

“ i.

16

do.

“ i.

23*

do.

Mich. i.

24

myrtifolia,

“ i.

53

do.

Nutt. i.

13

nana,

Mich. i.

54

nigra ,

“ i.

40

obtusiloba,

“ i.

18

do.

Nutt. i.

13

obtusata,

Mich. i.

56

olivæfonjais,

“ i.

16

INDEX.

137

Quercus

olivæformis,

Nutt.

palustris,

“

do

Mich.

pandurata,

“

pedunculata,

do

Nutt.

phellos,

“

do

Mich.

prinoides,

“

do

Nutt.

prinus,

“

do

Mich.

prinus acuminata,

(t

chincapin,

“

discolor,

«

monticola,

«

palustris,

pulchella,

“

pumila,

repanda,

«

reticulata,

«

robur,

“

' do.

Nutt.

rubra,

■ te

do.

Mich.

sagræana,

Nutt.

sericea, Willd.

Mich.

sessiliflora,

Nutt.

spicata.

Mich.

stellata,

Nutt.

do.

Mich.

stipularis,

suber,

“

: syderoxyla,

“

tinctoria,

“

tridens,

“

undulata,

Nutt.

virens,

do.

Mich.

Order 96. Juglandaceae.

iglans

amara,

Mich.

' aquatica,

“

cathartica,

laciniosa,

myris.ticæformis, «

“

«

nigra,

do.

Nutt.

olivæformis,

Mich.

porcina

regia,

“

squamosa,

CC

tomentosa,

VOL. III.— 20

Yol. Pago.

Carya

alba , Nutt.

Mich. i.

80

amara , Nutt.

“ i.

74

do.

Nutt. i.

41

angustifolia,

« i.

41

aquatica ,

Mich. i.

76

glabra,

Nutt. i.

40

microcarpa,

“ i.

39

myristicœformis, Nutt.

Mich. i.

88

olvoceformis , Nutt. “ i.

73

pecan,

Nutt. i.

41

porcina , Nutt.

Mich. i.

86

sulcata, Nutt.

“ i.

83

tomentosa , Nutt. “ i.

77

do.

Nutt. i.

40

Alliance 25th. Papayales.

Order 108.

Papayaceæ.

Papaya

vulgaris,

Nutt. iii.

47

Carica

papaya.

“ iii.

47

Sub-class 2. Hypogynous Exogens.

Alliance 28th.

Malvales,

Order 131.

Tiliaceæ.

Tilia

alba,

Nutt. i.

91

do.

Mich. iii.

62

americana,

“ iii.

60

heterophylla,

Nutt. i.

90

pubescens,

Mich. iii.

63

Alliance 29th.

Sapindales.

Order 136.

Sapindaceæ.

Sapindus

incequalis, Dec. Nutt. ii.

72

marginatus,

u ii.

72

saponaria,

“ ii.

72

Melicocca

bijuga.

u ii.

75

paniculata,

u ii.

74

trijuga,

“ ii.

75

Æsculus

californica,

“ ii.

69

indica,

“ iii.

71

J macrostachya,

iii.

71

.Page.

14

16

51

56

14

2

15

33

28

23

13

23

26

28

21

24

23

56

37

55

56

13

23*

22 *

52

17

37

10

56

13

13

55

31

55

46

54

8

16

29

74

76

69

83

88

66

41

73

86

61

80

77

138

INDEX.

Calothyrsus

Vol. Page.

Vol. Pase.

Alliance 32d.

Ranales.

californica, Spach. Nuit. ii. 69

Order 151. J

Æagnoliaceæ.

Pavia

lutea,

Mich. ii. 108

Magnolia

ohioensis,

“ ii. 111

acuminata,

Mich. ii.

10

rubra,

“ ii. 109

auriculata,

“ ii.

15

do.

Nutt. i.

84

Order 138.

Aceraceæ.

cordata,

Mich. ii.

12

glauca,

“ ii.

8

Acer

grandiflora,

“ ii.

5

barbatum,

Nutt. ii. 88

do.

Nutt. i.

81

circinàtum,

“ ii. 80

macrophylla,

“ i.

83

dasycarpum,

“ ii. 87

do.

Mich. ii.

17

do.

Mich. i. 96

tripetala,

“ ~ ii.

13

drurnmondii,

Nutt. ii. 83

do.

Nutt. i.

84

eriocarpum, Mich. i. 96

glabrum, Nutt. ii. 86

grandidentatum, “ ii. 82

Liriodendron

tulipifera,

do.

Mich. ii.
Nutt. i.

24

84

macrophyllura

, « ii. 77

montanum,

Mich. i. 116

Order 152.

Anonaceæ.

negundo.

« i. 114

nigrum,

“ i. 108

Anona

platanoides,

“ i. 109

triloba,

Mich. ii.

23

pseudo-platanus, “ i. Ill

rubrum,

“ i. 98

Order 162.

Olacaceæ.

do.

Nutt. ii. 87

saccharinum,

» ii. 88

Ximeïiia

do.

Mich. i. 10]

americana,

Nutt. i.

124

striatum,

“ i. 112

aculeata.

“ i.

124

tripartitum,

Nutt. ii. 85

moniana ,

“ i.

124

Negundo

Order 163.

Cyrillaceæ.

aceroides,

« ii. 91

californicum,

“ ii. 90

Cyrilla

caroliniana, Rich. “ ii.

96

Order 139.

Malphigiaceæ.

racemifera, Vandell, “ ii.

96

racemiflora,

“ ii.

96

Cliftonia

ligustrina,

“ ii. 92

Ilea

cyrilla ,

“ ii.

96

Mylocarium

ligustrinum,

ii. 92

Alliance 34th.

Eiîicales.

Alliance 30th.

Guttifekales.

Order 169.

Ericaceæ.

Order 142. Ternstromiaceæ.

Andromeda

arborea

Mich. ii.

90

Gordonia

do.

Nutt. iii.

45

lasyanthus,

Mich. ii. 19

Arbutus

pubescens,

“ ii. 21

andrachne,

“ iii.

42

Order 144.

Clusiaceæ.

laurifolia ,

“ iii.

42

menziesii,

“ ii.

42

Clusia

procera ,

“ iii.

42

flava,

Nutt. ii. 111

unedo,

“ iii.

43

INDEX.

139

Kalmia

Vol. Page.

Pistacia

Vol Page.

latifolia,

Mich. ii. 44

vera,

Mich. iii.

5

do.

Rhododendron

Nutt. iii. 44

Styphonia

integrifolia,

Nutt. iii.

4

maximum,

“ iii. 44

serrata,

“ iii.

6

do.

Batodendron

arboreum,

Mich. ii. 43
« ii. 43

Order 177.
Ailanthus

Zanthoxylaceæ.

Alliance 35th. Rutales.

Order 170. Auràntiaceæ.

Citrus

bigarradia, Duhamel,

Nutt. i. 106
spinosissima, Meyer, “ i. 106
vulgaris, “ i. 106

Order 171. Amyridaceæ.
Amyris

florid ana,

“ ii. 114

;era

acuminata,

“ ii. 117

gummifera,

“ ii. 119

simplicifolia,

“ ii. 119

paniculata,

“ ii. 119

Order 172. Cedrelaceæ.
Cedrus

mahagoni , Miller, “

i. 99

gland ulosa, “

ii.

76

ithoxylum

acuminatum, “

15

carolinianum, “

8

clava herculis, “

9

emarginatum, “

15

floridanum “

14

fraxinifolium. Watt. “

8

juglandifolium, “

13

macrophyllum, “

10

pterota, “

11

tricarpum, Mich. “

8

Order 179. Simarubaceæ.
Simaruba

glauca, “ i. 20

Order 1 80. Zygophyllaceæ.
Guaiacum

sanctum, “ i. 16

0. parviflorum, “ i. 17

Swietenia

mahagoni,

« i. 99

Order 173.

Meliaceæ.

Melia

azedarach,

Mich. iii. 3

Order 174.

Anacardiacese.

Rhus

atra,

Nutt. iii. 5

coriaria,

“ ii. 127

cotinus.

“ iii. 1

metopium,

“ ii. 121

mollis,

“ iii. 5

pumila,

“ ii. 123

venenata,

“ ii. 122

vernix,

“ ii. 122

Cotinus

americanus,

“ in. 1

velutinus,

“ iii. 2

Alliance 37th. Selenales.

Order 191. Polygonaceæ.

Coccoloba

obtusifolia, Jacq.

“ iii. 25

parviflora,

“ iii. 25

uvifera,

“ iii. 23

Uvifera

littorea,

“ iii. 23

Alliancé 38th. Chenopodales.
Order 192. Nyctaginaceæ.
Pisonia

aculeata, “ iii. 146

assurgens , Brown, “ iii. 146

Sub-class 3. Perigynous Exogens.

Alliance 41 . Dafhnales.

140

INDEX.

Vol. Page.

Order 205. Lauraceæ.

Drimophyllum

pauciflorum,

Nutt. î.

85

Umbellularia

californica,

“ i.

87

Ocotea

salicifolia , Kunth.

“ i.

85

Tetranthera

californica , Hock.

“ i.

87

Laurus

camphora,

Mich. ii.

86

caroüniensis,

“ ii.

84

cinnamomoides,

Nutt. i.

89

(Euosrnos) albida,

“ i.

88

quixos,

“ i.

89

regia, Doug.

U

87

sassafras,

u i.

88

do. Mich. ii.

Alliance 42. Rosales.
Order 209. Fabaceæ.

81

Robinia

pseudacacia,

Mich. ii.

66

js. spectabilis.

“ ii.

72

viscosa,

ii.

74

Piscidia

erythrina,

Yirgilia

Nutt. ii.

31

lutea,

Mich. ii.

75

Cladustrus

tinctoria,

“ ii.

77

Gymnocladus

canadensis,

U 1.

122

Gleditscbia

monospermâ,

“ ii.

79

triacanthos,

“ ii.

77

Mimosa

guadalupensis, Persoon.

Nutt. ii.

40

unguis cati, Lin.

“ ii.

38

Acacia

latisiliqua,

“ ii.

35

Inga

guadalupensis,

cc ii.

40

unguis cati,

“ ii.

37

Vol. Page.

Order 210. Drupaceæ.

Prunus

americana,

Nutt. ii. 19

hiemalis , Elliott,

“ ii. 20

lauro-cerasus,

“ ii. 17

nigra , Aiton,

“ ii. 19

Cerasus

borealis,

Mich. ii. 108

caroliniana,

“ ii. 107

do.

Nutt. ii. 18

ilicifolia,

“ ii. 16

mollis,

“ ii. 14

nigra, Loisel,

ii. 20

pennsylvanica,

“ ii. 15

virginiana,

Mich. ii. 105

Order 211. Pomaceæ.

Pyrus

americana,

Nutt. ii. 25

angustifolia.

“ ii. 24

coronaria,
diversifolia ,

Mich. ii. 40

Nutt. ii. 22

rivularis,

« ii. 22

Sorbus

americana, Willd.

“ ii. 25

aucuparia, Mich.

“ ii. 25

Malus

coronaria,

Mich. ii. 40

Mespilus

arborea,

“ ii. 41

æ stivalis, Wall.

Nutt. ii. 12

canadensis , A. Mich. Mich. ii. 41

Cratægus

æstivalis,

Nutt. ii. 12

arborescens,

“ ii. 10

douglassii, Lind.

“ ii. 7

elliptica , Elliott,

.« ii. 12

glandulosa , Pursh.

“ ii. 7

opaca. Hooker,

“ ii. 12

punctata, Doug.

“ ii. 7

rivularis,

ii. 9

sanguinea,

« ii. 6

Order 213. Rosaceæ.

Cercocarpus

ledifolius

« ii. 28

Alliance 44th. Rhamnales.

Order 221. Ulmaceæ.

Celtis

crassifolia,

Mich. iii. 28

INDEX.

141

Celtis

crassifolia

longifolia,

occidentalis,

do.

do. /3. integrifolia, Nutt.
do. /3. tenuifolia, “
pumila, Pursh, “

reticulata, “

tenuifolia, “

Vol. Page.

Nutt. i. 136
“ i. 134
» i. 136
Mich. iii. 26
i. 134
i. 135
i. 135
i. 132
i. 135

Planera

ulmifolia,

Mich. iii. 50

Ulmus

alata,

americana,

campestris,

opaca,

pumila , Walt,
racemosa,
rubra,
suberosa,

“ iii. 52
“ iii. 49
“ iii. 55
Nutt. i. 35
Mich. iii. 52
Nutt. i. 37
Mich. iii. 53
“ iii. 58

Sideroxylon

chrysophylloides ,
fœtidissimum , .
lanuginosum,
sericeum ,
tenax,

Anona

maxima , Sloane,

Achras

zapotilla,

sapota,

Bumelia

angustifolia,

chrysophylloides ,

ferruginea,

fœtidissima,

lanuginosa,

lyciodes,

macrocarpa,

oblongifolia,

tenax,

Vol. Page,

Nutt. iii. 35

“ iii. 39

“ iii. 36

“ iii. 35

“ iii. 35

“ iii. 28

“ iii. 28
“ iii. 28

“ iii. 38

“ iii. 35

“ iii. 34

“ iii. 39

“ iii. 35

“ iii. 31

“ iii. 37

“ iii. 33

“ iii. 35

Order 222. Rhamnaceæ.
Rhamnus

arboreus, Brown, Nutt. ii.
alnifolius, Pursh. “ ii.

catharticus, “ ii.

carolinianus, “ ii.

colubrinus, Lam. “ ii.

ferrugineus , Nutt. fi* ii.

purshianus “ ii.

Ceanothus

azureus, “ ii.

megacarpus, “ ii.

macrocarpus, Nutt. “ ii.

thyrsifolius, “ ii.

colubrinus, Lam. “ ii.

Colubrina

americana, “ ii.

47

52

53
50
47
42
52

46

46

46
44

47

47

Order 228. Styracaceæ.

Hopea

tinctoria, Mich. iii. '32

Alliance 45. Gentianales.

Order 229. Ebenaceæ.

Diôspyros

virginiana,

do.

Mich. ii. 112
Nutt. ii. 46

Order 230. Aquifoliaceæ.

Ilex

opaca “ iii. 87

Alliance 46th. Solanales.

Order 237. Oleaceæ.

Order 225.

Schæffera

buxifolia,
frutescens, Dec.
lateriflora ,

Order 227.

Chrysophyllum

carolinien.se,

Vol. III— 21

Celastraceæ.

« ii. 42

“ ii. 42

“ ii. 66

Sapotaceæ.

“ iii. 35

Chionanthus

pubescens,

virginiana,

Fraxinus

acuminata,

americana,

do.

concolor, Muhl.
dipetala,
discolor , Muhl.

Nutt. iii. 67
“ iii. 56

“ iii. 64

“ iii. 64

Mich. iii. 35

“ iii. 38

Nutt. iii. 67

Mich. iii. 36

142

INDEX.

Vol. Page.

Vol. Page.

Fraxinus

Avicennia

-

excelsior,

Mich. iii. 40

resinifera,

Nutt.

iii. 80

juglandifolia

“ iii. 38

tomentosa,

<•

iii. 79

oregona,

Nutt. iii. 59

fi. riparia,

“ iii. 59

Mangium

pauciflora,

« iii. 61

album , RumpI

L U

iii. 79

platycarpa,

“ iii. 63

do.

Mich. iii. 45

Alliance 49.

Bignonales.

pubescens ,

“ iii. 39

Order 262.

Biffnoniaceæ.

quadrangulata,

Nutt. iii. 63

do.

Mich. iii. 44

Bignonia

sambucifolia,

“ iii. 43

catalpa,

Mich,

ii. 38

do.

Nutt. iii. 60

do.

Nutt.

iii. 77

tomentosa,

Mich. iii. 39

radicans ,

«

iii. 75

triptera,

Nutt. iii. 62

Tecoma

viridis,

Mich. iii. 38

((

iii. 75

radicans,

Ornus

americana,

Nutt. iii. 67

Catalpa

dipetala,

“ iii. 66

syringæfolia,

U

iii. 77

europea,

« iii. 67

do .

Mich.

iii. 38

rotundifolia,

“ iii. 64

Order 261. 1

Crescentiaceæ.

Olea

americana,

Mich. ii. 91

Crescentia

europea,

do.

« ii. 93
Nutt. iii. 68

cujete,

Nutt.

iii. 71

Sub Class 4th. Epigynous Exogens.

Order 240.

Cordiaceæ.

Alliance 51 st

. Myrtales.

Cordia

collococca,

“ iii. 84

Order 274.

Combretaceæ.

floridana,

“ iii. 83

gerascanthus,

“ iii. 83

Terminalia

Nutt.

myxa,

« iii. 84

benzoin,

i. 112

sebestena,

“ iii. 81

catappa,

i. 100

moluccana,

i. 112

Sebestena

vernix,

«

i. 112

scabra , Sloane,

“ iii. 82

Conocarpus

Alliance 47th.

CoRTUSALES.

erecta,

«

i. 113

fi. sericea,

«

i. 116

Order 248. Myrsinaceæ.

procumbens,

«

i. 115

Ardisia

racemosa,

U

i. 117

pickeringia,

“ iii. 69

Laguncularia

Cyrilla

racemosa,

i. 117

paniculata ,

“ iii. 69

Schousboa

Pickeringia

commutata, Sprengel, “

i. 117

paniculata ,

“ iii. 11

Order 275.

Alangiaceæ.

Alliance 48th.

Echiales.

Nyssa

Order 257. Myoporaceæ.

aquatica,

capitata,

Mich,

, iii. 21
iii. 25

Avicennia L.

grandidentata,

iii. 23

oblongifolia,

“ iii. 80

sylvatica,

“

iii. 19

INDEX.

143

Vol. Page.

Order 279. Rhizophoraceæ.

Nutt.

Rhizophora
americana,
gymnorhiza,
mangle ,

Order 282. Myrtaceæ.
Psidium

buxifolium, “

pyriferum, “

Myrtics

axillaris , Poiret, “

buxifolia , Swartz. “

chytraculia, Lin. “

dickotoma , Poiret. “

procera , Swartz. “

Calyptranthes

chytraculia, “

Eugenia

buxifolia, “

dichotoma, “

divaricata, “

fragrans, “

montana, “

pollens , “

95
. 97
. 95

i. 98
i. 100

i. 108
i. 108
i. 101
i. 103
i. 106

i. 101

i. 108
i. 103
i. 104
i. 104
i. 104
i. 101

Eugenia

procera

Vol. Page.

Nutt. i. 106
Alliance 54. Cinchonaxes.
Order 291. Vaccinaceæ.
Vaccinium

arboreum, Marshall, “ iii. 44
diffusum , Aiton, “ iii. 44

Order 293. Cinchonaceæ.

Pinckneya

pubens, Mich. i. 120

Alliance 55. Umbellales.

Order 298. Cornaceæ.

Cornus

alba,

Nutt.

iii*

55

circinata , Chams.

«

iii.

54

florida,

Mich.

, i.

118

do.

Nutt.

iii.

53

mascula,

“

iii.

55

nuttalii,

“

iii.

51

pubescens,

“

iii.

54

stolonifera,

“

iii.

55

»