VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



159 



SPRUCES 

 Branch, cones and cone-scales. 



Mansfield. (Eggleston. ) Under the most favorable circumstances it is 

 never a large tree, rarely reaching a diameter of one foot or a height of fifty 

 feet. It is therefore a less valuable timber tree than either the red or the 

 white spruce. 



It has frequently been planted in Vermont as an ornamental tree. This 

 is unfortunate, as the lower branches soon die, making it the least attrac- 

 tive of our native evergreens. 



red spruce. Picea rubens Sargent, P. nigra rubra Engelm. 



This is the common spruce of our mountain forests, the vast green ex- 

 panse of which suggested the names of both mountain range and state. It 

 is not commonly distinguished from the preceding species and both are 

 known as black spruce. It attains a height of from seventy to one hundred 

 feet and large logs may be three or more feet in diameter. When growing 

 in open fields it often forms a conical head with the branches, especially 

 of the younger trees, brushing the ground. In the more typical develop- 

 ment, especially when in crowded forests, the lower branches soon perish, 

 leaving the long naked trunks which the lumberman prizes. 



The wood is light, soft and less durable than pine when exposed to the 

 action of the weather. It is largely used for building timber and for clap- 

 boards and shingles. Owing to the fact that it imparts no flavor, spruce is 

 used in the manufacture of butter tubs and boxes. Great quantities are 

 consumed in the pulp mills. It is a tree of slow growth, large specimens 

 in the primitive forests being often two hundred to three hundred years old. 



The red spruce is frequently planted as an ornamental tree in Vermont, 

 but its slower growth and less symmetrical form make it less desirable 

 for this purpose than either the native white spruce or the Norway spruce. 



