13 



by decay. Dead trees stand scattered throughout it. Upon this very acre there 

 was one. Several more were dying or imperfect, while doubtless several of the 28 

 full-grown trees scored are every year decreasing in value. These large, old trees, 

 too, cumber tlie ground. Producing little themselves they yet, by their shuding, 

 keep down the young growth, which could make good use of the room. No one 

 can dispute the lumberman's right or interest in regard to these trees. 



* * * The Androscoggin drainage, from the spruce point of view, is the best 

 worthy of study of all the rivers of the State. It is also the one, in my judgment, 

 on which a conservative forest policy is likely to go first into effect. 



In a letter to Mr. CJary, Mr. J. A. l^ike estimates that tlie spriu;e 

 then (December, 1895) standinj^; in tlie Androscoggin basin, at and 

 above Berlin, Me., was 8,000,000,(:)00 feet. He says: 



This estimate is based largely on personal examination and entirely upon per- 

 sonal knowledge of the territory and the character of the growth, and after 

 consulting notes and memoranda extending over a period of more than twenty 

 years. 



Mr. Cary again refers to the sprnce of Maine in a paper read before 

 the Boston Society of Civil Engineers, May 10, 1800, ^ as follows: 



It seems probable, then, that 25,000,000.000 feet, board measure, may approxi- 

 mate the amount of spruce woods standing in the State. The total lumber cut in 

 the State in 1896 was something over 600.000,000 feet. Of this, probably .500,000,000 

 feet was spruce. About two-fifths of this went to the paper and pulp mills. 



Six hundred million feet is equivalent to 30 feet per acre on the gross area of the 

 State. Five hundred million feet may be 50 feet per acre on the area of what we 

 might call spruce-producing land. These figures are within the amounts which 

 such stands as have been made attached to ordinary cut-over land as its yearly 

 growth. Certainly they are small in compari.son to what we know that scientific 

 forestry has produced elsewhere. 



The general inference to be drawn from these facts is not a discouraging one. 

 Our resources are still great, and we may feel justified in using them freely. 



At present the botanists recognize three distinct species of spruce 

 from New England, the Red [Picea rubens), the White (Pieea cana- 

 densis), and the Black {Picea montana) (Plate I), all of whicli were 

 noted by the writer and their insect enemies studied. 



One of these, the Red Spruce, on account of its size, great value, 

 and prevalence throughout the spruce area, is recognized comniei-- 

 cially as "The Spruce," while the others, from an economic stand- 

 point, are of secondary or minor importance. 



DEAD AND DYING SPRUCE. 



The prevailing condition which attracts especial attention in the 

 upper Androscoggin, is the large amount of dead spruce. It stands 

 in clumps of a few trees to several hundred, and as individuals scat- 

 tered through the forest, oi- left in the cuttings. In some places tlie 

 old-felled trunks and tops make travel through the woods exceed- 

 ingly difficult. 



1 Jour. Assoc. Eng. Soc. Vol. XXIII, No. 2, Aug., 1899, p. 5, 



