THE SPRUCE 2I 
crowded and shaded by their more thrifty neighbors. 
Under such circumstances it is common to find small 
trees still alive, but with flattened and umbrella-shaped 
crowns. Even such trees are not beyond the possibility 
of usefulness. If the shade be removed they will 
usually begin to grow as vigorously as though they had 
never been suppressed. If the leading shoot has been 
killed, which is sometimes the case, a side branch will 
turn upward and take its place, and the growth, 
although somewhat retarded by the accident, will go 
rapidly on. A considerable proportion of all the large 
Red Spruce in the Adirondacks is found, on examina- 
tion, to have passed through this umbrella stage. On 
old windfalls in certain sections, for example, and par- 
ticularly on low flats, many of the old Spruces carry 
clusters of very numerous persistent branches growing 
close together at ten or fifteen feet above the ground. 
Such branches mark a period when the crown was 
flattened and umbrella-shaped. The present size of 
these Spruces shows plainly how when the old trees 
above them were blown down they shot up and grew 
thriftily in spite of the severe circumstances of their 
youth. It is true that when trees have attained such a 
size before being set free the injury to the lumber is 
serious, for the persistent branches entail the loss of a 
certain amount of clear stuff. If, however, the tree 
is small when freed, the knots from which these branches 
grew may be covered over in time, and lumber of good 
quality may be produced. 
