M. says the branches of resinous trees consist almost wholly of wood, of which the organization is even more perfect than in the body of the tree. They use dead wood for the tar, etc., in which it has accumulated.
Says the vicinity of Brunswick, Me., and Burlington, Vt., are the most northerly limits of the pitch pine or P. rigida. (I saw what I should have called a pitch pine at Montmorency.)
White pine (P. Strobus) most abundant between forty-third and forty-seventh degrees, one hundred and eighty feet by seven and eight twelfths the largest. “The loftiest and most valuable” of the productions of the New Hampshire forest.
The black spruce is called épinette noire and épinette à la bière in Canada. From its strength best substitute for oak and larch. Used here for rafters and preferred to hemlock; tougher than white pine, but more liable to crack.
The white spruce (Abies alba) called épinette blanche in Canada. Not so large as the last and wood inferior.
Hemlock spruce (Abies Canadensis) called pérusse in Canada. In Maine, Vermont, and upper New Hampshire, three fourths of the evergreen woods, the rest being black spruce. Belongs to cold regions; begins to appear about Hudson’s Bay. Its fibre makes the circuit of stocks fifteen or twenty inches in diameter in ascending five or six feet. Old trees have their circles separated, and the boards are shaky. Decays rapidly when exposed to the air. It is firmer, though coarser, than the white pine; affords tighter hold to nails. Used in Maine for threshing-floors, resisting indentation. Most common use sheathing of houses, to be covered with clapboards. Used for laths.
White cedar (Cupressus thyoides). “The perfect wood resists the succession of dryness and moisture longer than that of any other species;” hence for shingles.
Larch (Larix Americana); in Canada épinette rouge; tamarack by the Dutch. Male aments appear before the leaves. Wood superior to any pine or spruce in strength and durability. Used in Maine for knees.
Cedar of Lebanon (Larix cedrus) largest and most majestic of resinous trees of the Old World and one of the finest vegetable productions of the globe.
Cedar Island in Lake Champlain northern limit of red cedar (Juniperus Virginiana). Eastward, not beyond Wiscasset. Seeds mature at beginning of fall and sown at once; shoot next spring. Gin made from them.