and open the scales to let out the small winged seeds which are 

 then carried away by the wind to find a good place to sprout and 

 bring forth other spruce trees, or until some squirrel comes along 

 and with its sharp teeth cuts off the little branches on which the 

 cones hang, allows them to drop to the ground, and gathers them in 

 its winter storehouse. 



From Keeler's "Our Native Trees," published by Charles Scribner's Sons. 

 Branchlet and Cone of Norway Spruce. 



This spruce is one of our most stately trees, very symmetrical in 

 growth, and when loaded down with Christmas presents, burning 

 candles, etc., is the delight of young and old. 



To find out that we have a spruce and not a fir tree, which is a 

 cousin to the spruce, we must examine the cones. The cones of 

 the fir stand upright on the branches, and when mature fall to pieces, 



5 



