The Red Spruce 



THE spruce grows best in the cold climate 

 of Northern woods, where it lives in low, wet 

 places along the banks of streams and lakes. 

 It is smaller than the pine, 

 usually not more than sev- 

 enty or eighty feet high. Its 

 leaves are not as sweet- 

 smelling as the pine needles. 

 They are four-sided, dark 

 green in color, and quite 

 short, seldom more than a 

 half-inch long. The leaves 

 are scattered around the 

 twig, each one growing by 

 itself. 



The cones are an inch or two long, and look 

 very much like small, red bananas. They ripen 

 late in the autumn, and soon afterward fall from 

 the trees, letting the seeds inside escape. Like 

 those of the pine, they are winged and very 



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