FOREST TREES OF AMERICA. Out of the great mass of forest growth in the United States and Canada, stretching from the palms on the southernmost keys to the birches and willows that, creep into the Arctic Circle, certain trees stand forth as possessing unusual interest. Some of them are noted principally for the beauty of their flowers, conspicuous among these being magnolias, dogwoods (Corpus) ; the gay red-bud (Cercis); the buck eyes (eEsculus); and the wild-crab (Malus coronaria); or, for their equally attractive fruit, which is sometimes much sought by birds, animals, aborigines or even by civilized folk Thus the service berries (Amelancitier); the mountain-ashes (Sorbus) ; the wild cherries and plums (Prunus); and the persimmon (Dios tyros) furnish food for man, bird and beast. Thorns (Craksgus) ; hollies (Ilex); sumachs (Rhos) ; manzanita (Arctostaphylos) ; madrono (Arbutus); mesquit (Prosopis), are very orna mental as well.
Other trees have historical connections that lend them interest, as is the case of the sassafras (Sassafras) to which were attributed so many medicinal virtues that the earliest ex plorers of the Atlantic coasts came partly in quest of cargoes of its spicy bark. The little palmetto of the Southern States (Sabal) ap peared on the cockades, flag, medal and seal of South Carolina, possibly because the de fenses of Charleston during the Revolution were constructed of their trunks, which ab sorbed the British cannon balls instead of splitting and thus resisted destruction. The white pine (Pinus strobes) has a similar dis tinction, having been depicted, very appro priately, upon some of the earliest American Colonial, naval and New England flags. The giant pines, sometimes over 100 feet high, of this New England region furnished masts not only for shipping in general but for the Royal Navy, although the Royal reservation of selected trees for this purpose was continually disputed, especially in New Hampshire. Pepys notes with relief in 1666 °Very good news is come of four New England ships come home safe to Falmouth with masts for the king; which is a blessing mighty unexpected and without which, if for nothing else, we must have failed the next year." Outside of its naval uses, until it became too scarce, white pine was the most used of its family, of which it is also the most valuable, having soft, fine-grained, buff-colored heart-wood easily worked, glued and painted, neither warping nor shrinking, and therefore of great value for furniture and interior finish, as well as for more ordinary purposes. Its
place now, perforce, is taken by the heavier, more resinous southern pines, one of which (Pinus palustris) also yields southern naval stores; and by the giants of the race, the yel low Western pine (Pines ponderosa) and the sugar pine (P. Lambertiana), so called from the sweet exudation of its cambium layer, that flourish on the mountain ranges of the Far West, and occasionally reach a height of more than 175 feet. The latter furnishes the widest and clearest boards of any pine. Pine nuts yielded by P. Sabiniana, P. monophylla, and other species are esteemed by men and .squirrels who harvest them regularly.
Growing in restricted groves in California mountains, their distance from the sea said to be limited by the range of sea-fogs, are the marvelous redwoods (Sequoia), including those °Big Trees,° a few of which are saved from destruction only by State and Federal protec tion. These giants often more than 250 feet in height and thousands of years old present a tempting mark for lumber interests, who would split them up for the soft red, light, very durable timber, invaluable for shingles, grape vine stakes and many other uses, since the wood is straight-grained, easily split and worked and will receive a high polish. Other coniferous groups of the West include those Douglas firs or spruces (Pseudotsuga taxifolia), next to the Sequoias, the most gigantic trees of the Pacific forests, ordinarily growing 180 feet high. In dense stands their straight ness and clearness of bole especially adapts them for masts and spars and derrick-booms. They resemble the graceful hemlocks (Tsuga) growing on both sides of the continent, the timber furnished by the Western species being the most valuable. Hemlock bark is an im portant tanning material and served with rancid salmon oil formed a peculiar item of the dietary of some of the Northwestern Indians. Spruces (Picea), many of which are planted for orna ment for the sake of their symmetrical growth, thick foliage and color, yield a wood for rough construction work and are also one of the im portant sources of wood-pulp. Another genus of conifers likewise crushed for paper pulp is Abies, the firs. The aromatic balsam fir (Abies balsamea), moreover, stores a thin turpentine in its °blisters° called Canada balsam and its nearly scentless wood is liked for food-tubs. The rest of the genus furnish rough lumber. But the great source of pulpwood lies in the otherwise unimportant aspens, trees which cover the plains of northwestern Canada, and the larger poplars (Populus).