18 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 



but in pine, spruce, balsam, red fir, etc., each year's growth 

 is very conspicuous. In Fig. 11 the young white pine has 

 a candlelike tip, about eleven inches long, then a whorl of 

 limbs, below this another straight, branchless part, and 

 so on. Now each piece between the several whorls of 

 limbs is a year's growth, and we call the tip end, or last 

 year's piece, the leader. 



In spruce a few smaller limbs exist on each leader, but 

 in young trees this branching is rarely so great as to hide 

 or disguise the leader. Thus, in these young conifers, we 

 can tell at a glance how much grew last year, the year 

 before, etc., and by looking over a number of these trees 

 we soon make up our mind whether they have grown 

 fast or slowly in height. 



Studying the trees in this way, we shall find that conifers 

 generally grow very slowly the first five years, and most 

 rapidly when about ten years old ; and that our eastern 

 trees usually stop growing rapidly in height when they 

 are about sixty or eighty years old. Hardwoods behave 

 similarly, but usually their seedlings grow much faster. 



WHAT DIFFERENT SOILS DO FOR THE WOODS 



We have seen a good forest of broadleaf trees on a 

 loamy or clay soil ; and if we should journey through the 

 southern portion of the New England States, through 

 New York and Pennsylvania, the Ohio valley, and the 



