The leaves of the balsam are blunt or rounded at the ends and some of them
are even dented or notched in place of being sharp-pointed. Each spine or
leaf is a scant one inch in length and very flat; the upper part is
grooved and of a dark bluish-green color. The under-side is much lighter,
often almost silvery white. The balsam blossoms in April or May, and the
fruit or cones stand upright on the branches. These vary from two to four
inches in length. The balsam-trees are seldom large, not many of them
being over sixty feet high with trunks from one to less than three feet
through. The bark on the trunks is gray in color and marked with
horizontal rows of blisters. Each of these contains a small, sticky sap
like glycerine. Fig. 1 shows the cone and leaves of one of the Southern
balsams known as the she-balsam, and Fig. 2 shows the celebrated
balsam-fir tree of the north country, cone and branch.
Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Fig. 4. Fig. 5. Fig. 6. Fig. 7.
[Illustration: Showing the use of the mountain goose.]