THE RED SPRUCE 



IN Northern New England and much of Canada the Red Spruce is one of the most 

 important timber trees, covering the mountain sides over great areas. It furnishes 

 the chief soft wood from which paper pulp is manufactured and vast tracts 

 of it have lately been set aside by the great paper companies in order that the supply 

 of wood might be continuous and permanent. It is not a very desirable tree for orna- 

 mental planting, but it is extremely valuable for use in extensive forest systems that 

 take advantage of the natural growth over large areas. 



The yellow-green leaves of the Red Spruce are generally rather short, being less 

 than half an inch long and obtusely pointed, with longitudinal rows of white dots along 

 the sides. The surface of the bark of the youngest shoots is deep brownish red and is 

 quite densely covered with stout brownish or blackish hairs. The bark of older branches 

 is much darker, especially where most exposed to the weather. The reddish-brown buds 

 are hairy, and the bark of the trunk on trees of good size is of a somewhat reddish coloi 

 and more or less covered with thin scales. 



The blossoms of the Red Spruce appear in May, the pollen-bearing flowers being 

 short, cylindrical masses with reddish anthers, and the seed-bearing having purplish scales 

 that give them an interesting appearance. When the cones mature they are generally 

 from one to two inches long, oval in outline with the imbricated scales having slightly 

 irregular margins. They begin to fall from the tree the first season as soon as they shed 

 the small dark-brown winged seeds, and continue to drop off through the winter and 

 spring, so that by the following summer they are practically all off the tree. This is one 

 character by which the Red Spruce is easily distinguished from the Black Spruce. 



The wood of the Red Spruce is rather light, weighing but twenty-eight pounds pel 

 cubic foot. It is soft and weak, but is largely manufactured into shingles and lumber. 

 The tree grows chiefly on uplands, and extends southward to Massachusetts and New 

 York and along the higher parts of the Alleghany Mountains to North Carolina. 



During recent years the Colorado Blue Spruce (Picea Parryana) has become one 

 of the most popular evergreens for ornamental planting. It is native to regions in Colo- 

 rado, Utah and Wyoming where it grows at elevations between six thousand and ten 

 thousand feet above sea level. The full-sized trees are generally about one hundred feet 

 high. 



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