404 APPENDIX 



. . . According to T. Hartig the fuel value of spruce, as compared with other species 

 under identical vegetative conditions, is as follows: 



By-Products. Spruce is tapped for rosin by ... means of long, narrow, 

 longitudinal incisions or slashes clean through the bark; the large radiating channels 

 in the liber allow the turpentine to ooze out abundantly. Those slashes need only be 

 widened from time to time, through the new liber layers, in order to secure the gum 

 product up to a very old age. This operation is quite profitable and is practiced on 

 an extensive scale in the North; but it weakens the trees and decreases their size. In 

 France it is all the more objectionable since in most cases . . . instead of just 

 gashing the bark, deep cuts are needlessly made into the wood. . . . Turpentine, 

 colophony, "Burgundian" tar, and lamp black are manufactured. The bark contains 

 some tannin and is used (in higher Jura, for instance) for curing leather; for this purpose 

 the bark of trees from 60 to 80 years of age is preferred. In some countries the natives 

 pulverize the inner liber (freed from its rhytidome) and obtain a kind of flour which, 

 either pure or mixed with barley flour, is used to make bread. The seed contains 

 from 20 to 25 per cent of fat, non-siccative oil. 



Silvicultural Characteristics. Like the fir, the spruce should be maintained in a 

 dense stand. . . . More than any other conifer it can survive in very dense stands 

 which enable it to return very large yields. It is advantageously managed as high 

 forest, but when it is very exposed or liable to wind-fall it is better to mix it with beech, 

 fir, or larch. . . . On account of its hardiness it is a good species for natural re- 

 generation by clear cutting. No other species is so easily transplanted. It is adaptable 

 to most any soil. . . . 



EUROPEAN LARCH 

 (Larix europea) 



Larch is a large-sized tree, with a slender, straight bole 98 to 115 feet in height and up 

 to 27 inches in diameter. . . .In Silesia, a larch has been measured which is 178 

 feet high and 3.3 feet in diameter, breast-high. 



Habit. The crown is shaped like a narrow, long acute pyramid. . . . The 

 branches are numerous, tapering, thin and generally pendant; the branches of forest- 

 grown trees form only one-sixth the total volume (stump wood included). 



Root System. There are several main roots. These penetrate to a considerable 

 depth at oblique angles, and from these spring a large number of rootlets; the tap root 

 is obliterated within the first few years. The actual stump and root timber comprises 

 about 10 per cent or 11 per cent of the total volume. 



Leaves. The first spring leaves of the larch are almost exclusively in bundles; 

 one month later solitary leaves appear and also the young shoots. . . . The leaves 

 form a somewhat thin crown that is light demanding. 



Seeding. When grown in temperate regions the larch may seed early; but seeds 

 are then sterile and it is only in middle age that fructification is regular. The cones 



