known as balm of Gilead or Canada balsam, and highly valued as a cure for diseases of the lungs.  The long cones are erect, or standing, and grow thickly near the ends of the upper branches.  They have round, bluish-purple scales, and the soft color has a very pretty effect on the tree.  They ripen every year, and the lively little squirrel, as he is called, feasts upon them, as the crossbill does on the cones of the stone-pine.  But the mischievous little animal also barks the boughs and gnaws off the tops of the leading shoots, so that many trees are injured and defaced by his depredations.”

[Illustration:  AMERICAN WHITE SPRUCE.]

“He is a lively little squirrel,” observed Malcolm.  “How he does race!  But he doesn’t gnaw our trees, does he?”

“No, I think not, for he prefers staying in the woods and fields; but fir-woods are his especial delight.  Our balsam-fir is the American sister of the silver fir of Europe, both having bluish-green foliage with a silvery under surface, in a single row on either side of the branches, which curve gracefully upward at the ends.  The tree has a peculiarly light, airy appearance until it is old, when there is little foliage except at the ends of the branches.  The silver fir is one of the tallest trees on the continent of Europe, and it is remarkable for the beauty of its form and foliage and the value of its timber.”

“I know what this tree is,” said Clara, turning to an evergreen of stately form and graceful, drooping branches that almost touched the ground:  “it’s Norway spruce.  Papa told me this morning.”

[Illustration:  THE NORWAY PINE.]

“Yes,” replied her governess, “and a beautiful tree it is, like the fir in many respects, but the bark is rougher and the cones droop.  The branches, too, are lower and more sweeping.  But the fir and the spruce are more alike than many sisters and brothers.  The Scotch fir, about which there are many interesting things to be learned, is more rugged-looking, and the Norway spruce, which will bear studying too, is more grand and majestic.”

[Illustration:  THE HEMLOCK SPRUCE.]

“I know this one, Miss Harson,” said little Edith as they came to a sweeping hemlock near the bay-window of the dining-room.

“Yes, dear,” was the reply; “Hemlock Lodge has made you feel very well acquainted with the tree after which it is named.  It is one of the most beautiful of the evergreens, with its widely-spreading branches and their delicate, fringe-like foliage; but, although the branches are ornamental for church and house decoration, they are very perishable, and drop their small needles almost immediately when placed in a heated room.  And now,” continued the young lady, “we have come back to warm piazza-days again, and can have our talk in the open air.”

So on the piazza they speedily established themselves, with Miss Harson in the low, comfortable chair and her audience on the crimson cushions that had been piled up in a corner.