740 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



HRS 



1. Leaves are needle-like, not 

 talked, flat, often notched 

 at the apex, dark green 

 above and marked with two 

 white lines on the lower 

 surface. 



I. Twigs are smooth. 



S. Bark is smooth and dotted 

 with blister-Uke balsam 

 sacs. 



4. Buds are heavily coated 

 with varnish-like resin. 



5. Cones are large and erect; 

 cone scales fall from cone 

 axis shortly after they are 

 ripe. 



SPRUCES 

 Leaves are needle-like; 

 short-stalked, 4-angled in 

 most species, green on all 

 sides, blunt to sharp- 

 pointed. 



Twigs are rough. 



Bark is scaly. 



Buds scaly, non-resinous. 



S. Cones are small; cone- 

 scales do not fall from 

 cone-axis. 



THE BEST CHRISTMAS TREE OF ALL 

 The Balsam Fir is as well among the most attractive forest trees 

 of the North woods. 



BALSAM FIR HAS DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS 



Its leaves are flat and blunt-pointed. The cones are cylindrical 



in outline and the cone-scales fall off soon after they 



reach maturity, leaving a slender bare cone axis. 



There are 25 different kinds of Fir trees found in the 

 world. Ten of these are native to North America, eight 

 occur in the Pacific slopes and in the Rocky Mountain 

 regions, and only two are found in the eastern United 

 States, and one of these Eraser's Fir is limited to the 

 high mountains of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennes- 

 see. The Grand Fir, Noble Fir, White Fir, and Red Fir 

 are the most important of the western members of the Fir 

 group. All of these trees have such a strong resemblance 

 to one another that a description of one of them may 

 suffice for the group. The Balsam Fir is unquestionably 

 the best known and most widely distributed of our native 

 Firs. It is one of the most beautiful evergreen trees 

 native to North America. It frequents bogs, swamps, 

 and other wet places. Among its chief associates are 

 the American Larch, Arbor Vitae, Black Spruce and Red 

 Spruce. Its companion species are not many for few 

 trees can withstand the extreme wet and cold conditions 

 of our northern bogs and swamps. 



A mere glance at a Balsam Fir tree is usually suffi- 

 cient to distinguish it from any other eastern forest 

 tree. No other American evergreen tree is more attrac- 

 tive. Most people who have lived or visited the north- 

 woods, where the Balsam Fir grows naturally, have a 

 distinct and lasting impression of its appearance. It is 

 the prettiest among all our Christmas trees, for it has an 

 attractive^ form, dense crown, and beautiful foliage, 

 which persists long after other trees have dropped their 

 leaves. 



The leaves of the Balsam Fir are distinctive. They 

 are flat, dark green on the upper surface and pale green 

 with two white lines on the lower side. They are with- 

 out stalks, and consequently, when they fall off, the twigs 

 to which they were attached present a smooth surface. 

 This absence of leaf-stalk accounts for the fact that the 



