Rhus glabra, or the Sumach.
The trees whose leaves were coming out, were the following:
Morus rubra, the Mulberry-tree.
Fagus Castanea, the Chesnut-tree.
Platanus occidentalis, or the Water-beach.
Laurus Sassafras, the Sassafras-tree.
Juglans alba, the Hiccory. Some trees of this kind had already large leaves, but others had none at all; the same difference, [[161]]I believe, exists likewise among the other species of hiccory.
The Virginian Cherry-tree grows here and there, in the woods and glades: its leaves were already pretty large; but the flowers were not yet entirely open.
The Sassafras-tree was now every where in flower; but its leaves were not yet quite disclosed.
The Liquidambar Styraciflua or Sweet Gum-tree, grows in the woods, especially in wet soil, in and near purling rivulets: its leaves were now already sprouting out at its summit. This tree grows to a great thickness, and its height rivals that of the tallest firs and oaks; as it grows higher, the lower branches die and drop, and leave the stem at last quite smooth and strait, with a great crown at the very summit; the seeds are contained in round, dentated cones, which drop in autumn; and as the tree is very tall, so the high winds carry the seeds away to a great distance. I have already given an account of the use of this tree in the first volume, to which I must add the following account.