FOREST TREES. 81

the yellow pine, and seldom exceeds six feet in cir— cumference.

The red pine (pinus sylvestris) is often a tall tree, but seldom more than four or five feet in girth. It is the same in kind and quality as the fir imported into the United Kingdom from Norway, in square logs. Until this tree be sufficiently matured, or if it be in a situation where it grows rapidly, it contains a great proportion of sap wood, and it is only when this part is hewn‘away, that the red pine is durable. It is much used in ship-building, and many other purposes, but it is much more rare than any of the other pines.

Hemlock spruce (abies Canadensis.) There are two varieties of the hemlock, the red and white ; both are very durable. The lath-wood, imported in billets from America, is principally hemlock. The red is apt to split too freely, and is remarkably full of cracks, 01', as the Americans term it, s/zakey. The white is often apt to splinter, but it is close-grained, hard, holds nails or tree nails well, and it is now much used in ship-building. Its bark is used very gener- ally in America for tanning. There is no wood

better adapted for mining purposes or piles ; and it is remarkable that irondriven into itwwill' not corrode, ;' ;. either in or out of water. Hemlock-trees generally ‘55

grow in dry hollows, in groves, and from two to three feet in diameter, and sixty to eighty feet high.

Five varieties of the spruce fir are abundant in all except the northernmost regions; and the dwarf spruce creeps as far north as any tree. The black, grey,

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