15 



NEW ENGLAND FORESTS. 

 VEGETATIVE CONDITIONS. 



The original forests of most of the New England States are gone. 

 The White Pine, which at the advent of the white settler formed such 

 a large part of the forests, is present in any large quantity only in the 

 most inaccessible places and elsewhere as ripe timber only in isolated 

 spots. The chief forest trees from the lumberman's standpoint are the 

 Red Spruce and the WhitQ Spruce. Millions of feet of Red Spruce 

 lumber are now being cut year after year in the States of Vermont, 

 New Hampshire, and Maine. The time is not far distant, however, 

 when the stand of spruce timber will be in a similar condition to that 

 in which the White Pine is now. 



The conditions which prevail in the forests of Maine and New Hamp- 

 shire can be touched upon only in so far as they relate to the presence 

 of and probable influence on the diseases which form the basis of this 

 report. The forests are usually moist. The forest floor is covered 

 with a large variety of mosses, which hold water very readily. Sphag- 

 num covers many square miles. Springs and brooks are abundant 

 everywhere. The annual rainfall, often very heavy during the spring 

 and summer months, accounts for the general humidity of the air. 

 Near the coast the fogs keep the woods moist for a large portion of 

 the growing season. The summer season is usually comparatively 

 short, but while it lasts very warm days are not uncommon. Warmth 

 and humidity, chiefly the latter, are very influential in promoting the 

 growth of many saprophytic as well as parasitic fungi. 



Before describing the various fungi and their efl'ects, it may be well 

 to say something of the trees which are affected by these fungi. 



RED SPRUCE. 



Foremost among the coniferous trees of New England at the pres- 

 ent time is the Red Spruce, Picea ruhens Sarg. (P. mariana (Mill.) 

 B. S. P., P. nigra Link). It is a tall, stately tree, which grows to be 

 70-80 feet (21-2^ meters) high and 2-3 feet (0.6-1 meter) in diameter. 

 It occurs all over northern New England, together with the Balsam 

 Fir and White Pine. Sargent says of this tree:^ 



Picea ru})ens, which is the principal timber spruce of the northeastern United 

 States, and, with the exception of the White Pine, the most valuable coniferous 

 timber tree of the region which it inhabits, produces light, soft, close-grained wood, 

 which is not strong nor durable when exposed to the weather. It is pale, slightly 

 tinged witli red, with paler sapwood about two inches thick, and a satiny surface 

 * * *. Now that the most valuable White Pine has been exhausted in the forests 

 of the Northeastern States, the Red i^pruce is their most important timber tree, and 

 immense (piantities of its hun1)er are manufactured every year from trees cut in 

 Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and northern New York. * * * 



' Sargent, G. S. Silva of North America. 12:35. 1898. 



