CHAV CXIII. CONl'FEUiE. a'bies. 2311

;, | in. long, in. broad. Leaves J in. long; on the tree at Drop-the length of those of A. nigra, very glaucous when they first

come out. A tree, from 40 ft. to 50 ft. high, a native of North America .Introduced in 1700; flowering in May and June.

Variety.

1 A. a. 2 ndna Dickson of the Chester Nursery is a low 7 -growing plant,apparently somewhat distinct. The specimen in the HorticulturalSociety’s Garden, 10 years planted, is 3 ft. high.

Other Varieties. Loiseleur Deslongchamps states that, according to thespecimens of A. orientalis which Tournefort brought from the Levant, thisalleged species cannot be separated from A. alba. He therefore introducesA. orientalis Tourn., Pair. Diet. , vi. p. 508., and Lamb. Pin., ed. 1., ii. t. 39.,as a variety of A. Alba. We have placed it at the end of this section, insmall type, as not having been seen by us in a living state.1“

Description, fyc. The general aspect of the white spruce is much lighterthan that of any other species of the genus. It has a tapering trunk, which,according to Michaux, in America , rarely exceeds 50 ft. in height, and 1 ft. or1 ft. 4 in. in diameter; and its branches form a regular pyramid. The bark isconsiderably lighter in colour than that of any other spruce; the leaves arealso less numerous, longer, more pointed, at a more open angle with thebranches, and of a pale bluish green. The male catkins are pendulous, onlong footstalks, and of a brownish yellow. The female catkins are ovate andpendulous. When ripe, the cones are small, of a lengthened oval in shape, anda light brown colour; the scales are loose and thin, round or bluntly pointed,with entire edges. The seeds are minute, with a very small wing, and ripena month earlier than those of the black spruce. When the tree is agitatedwith the wind, or when the cones are gently struck with a stick, the seedsdrop out, and fall slowly to the ground with a tremulous fluttering motion,resembling a cloud of small pale brown moths. The wood is inferior inquality to that of any of the other spruces ; and it “ snaps more frequently inburning.” The white spruce is a native of Canada , New Brunswick , andthe district of Maine . It extends from the Lake St. John, in 48° or 49°, toabout 70° N. lat.; but is much less common than the black spruce is in thesame districts. Dr. Richardson, in his Appendix to Captain Franklin’s Tourto the North Pole , mentions A. alba as the most northerly tree that came underhis observation; and states that, on the Coppermine River, within 20 milesof the Arctic Sea, he found trees of it 20 ft. high. The wood is considered ofhttle value; but the fibres of the roots, macerated in water, are very flexibleand tough when deprived of their pellicle, split, and cleaned; and they areused, in Canada , to stitch together the canoes of birch bark (see p. 1709.), theseams of which are afterwards smeared over with a resin, improperly calledgum, that distils from the tree. ( Michx ., and Gard. Mag., vol. vi. p. 406.)mr. Lambert states that the bark is used in tanning, and the young sprigs for