332 The Spruces. 



era Asia, wherever pines grow. It has been found to grow very 

 well in Iowa, and has been planted with good success upon Cape 

 Cod, in Massachusetts. Between these regions it can be planted 

 almost anywhere, if the soil is sandy and somewhat fertile. 



1348. The Scotch pine comes to maturity and greatest value in 

 Northern Europe in 60 to 80 years ; after which its growth in cubic 

 contents is slow. At Balmoral, Scotland, a crop, under favorable 

 conditions, at 60 years, averaged 60 cubic feet to a tree, and at 200 

 years 25 cubic feet, and 90 to 100 trees to the acre. The choicest 

 portions of the forest yielded 30 to 35 feet to the tree, and 120 to 

 130 trees to the acre. The height ranged from 70 to 80 feet. On 

 moor-pan soil, at 60 years, they yielded but 8 cubic feet each, and 

 at 100 years but 10 cubic feet. In Prussia this tree constitutes 

 over half of the public forests. In Europe it is known under a 

 great variety of names, as " Riga Pine," " Haguenau Pine," etc., 

 and it differs very greatly under cultivation, as well in the form and 

 habit of its growth as in the quality of its wood, as variously modi- 

 fied by climate, soil, and other influences. 



THE SPRUCES. (Genus Picea.} 



1349. Of this genus there are about a dozen species, of which two 

 are found in Europe, five in Asia, and five in North America. Of 

 the latter, two are found on the eastern and three on the western 

 side. The spruces have pendulous cones, with the bracts shorter 

 than the scales, and both persistent. The cones ripen in the fall of 

 the same year that they form, but do not open to disperse their seeds 

 till the spring following. The engraving (page 333) represents 

 a twig of the common European spruce, now widely introduced as 

 an ornamental tree, and when young quite a beautiful object, the 

 branches coming out symmetrically from the ground upward, and 

 the whole taking a dense and compact pyramidal form. It does 

 not grow with us to as great a size or age as in Northern Europe, 

 nor is it an object inviting to notice for forest culture, but exceed- 

 ingly well adapted to the formation of screens and wind-breaks. 



1350. The two eastern species in the United States are the Picea 

 alba, or WHITE SPRUCE, and the P. nigra, or BLACK SPRUCE. They 

 are found most common along the northern border of the United 

 States, from Maine to Northern Minnesota. The former extends 

 further northward, being found as an important timber tree only in 



