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I AMERICAN FORESTRY I 



VOL. 27 



DECEMBER, 1921 



NO. 336 



WHAT OUR CHRISTMAS TREES ARE 



BY J. S. ILLICK 



T^HE forests contribute much to our happiness and 

 ' welfare. Valuable gifts are flowing forth from 

 them continuously, but at no season of the year are these 

 gifts of greater value or deeper significance than at 

 Christmas time that season when happinessmeans giving. 



An attempt to name all the good things 

 that our forests give us at Christmas would 

 be difficult, and might be tiresome. It 

 would make a long list, for the prod 

 ucts of the forest used annually 

 for decorative and other purposes 

 are many in number and vary 

 widely. There are, however, a 

 number of important Christ 

 mas gifts supplied by our 

 forests that are of para- 

 mount importance. It will 

 be to our advantage and 

 satisfaction to get ac- 

 quainted with them, for 

 Christmas would be in- 

 complete and lack much 

 delight and merriment 

 without them. 



Christmas trees are the 

 biggest contribution of 

 our forests to our annual 

 Y u 1 e t i d e celebrations. 

 They bring much joy and 

 happiness, but if the peo- 

 ple really knew them well 

 their joy and happiness 

 would be multiplied many 

 times. To know trees well 

 is to love them. They are 

 among the most lovable 

 living things on the earth. 

 They do so much good, 

 help us in so many differ- 

 ent ways, and yield so 

 many essential things of 

 every day life that they are really among the most in- 

 dispensable natural objects on the face of the earth. 



It IS not difficult to get acquainted with our common 

 Christmas trees. Each one of them has a number of 

 outstanding features by which it may be recognized at 



WHAT WOULD CHRISTMAS BE WITHOUT IT? 



Symbolizing happiness and the 

 Child for man, the Chri 

 happiest tree 



all seasons of the year. With a little effort we may 

 bring ourselves in a closer relationship with these green 

 joy bearers, and make our lives fuller and richer. 



The principal Christmas trees of the East are the Firs 

 and the Spruces. They comprise at least seventy per 

 cent of all the trees that are used. In some 

 regions where these two groups of trees 

 are not native or not easily obtain- 

 able, such other trees as the Red 

 Cedar, Hemlock, Arbor Vitae, 

 White Cedar and the Pines are 

 are used. In fact, every kind 

 of evergreen tree is being 

 used as a Christmas tree,.' 

 but some of them are more 

 desirable than others. 

 There has grown up a 

 strong preference for the 

 Firs and the Spruces, and 

 wherever they are avail- 

 able at reasonable prices 

 they are being used almost 

 to the exclusion of all other 

 kinds. 



Both the Firs and the 

 Spruces are native to the 

 Northwoods. It is there 

 that they grow at their 

 best, and develop their 

 beautiful foliage and at- 

 tractive form. The beau- 

 tiful Norway Spruce has 

 its finest growth in Sweden 

 and Norway, where its 

 wood is known as Dantsic 

 deal. The immense forests 

 of Douglas Fir, in the 

 northwest of America, 

 where the trees attain a 

 height of three hundred 

 feet are famed everywhere. 

 And travelers never tire of 

 describing the forests of silver fir in the mountains of 

 northern Asia, where a tree less than 300 years old is not 

 often seen. These two well-known groups of trees, the 

 Firs and the Spruces may be distinguished from each 

 other by the following characteristics : 



great love of the little Christ- 

 stmas Tree is truly the 

 of the year. 



