342 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



It would be a mistake to assume that the woods used 

 in smallest amounts by manufacturers are the least 

 desirable. California laurel is proof that such is not the 

 case ; for excellent judges of fine woods have pronounced 

 it the most beautiful wood of our forests. It is the 

 "black myrtle" that has sometimes puzzled connois- 



seurs. Considerably more of it might find its way to 

 factories which make furniture, interior house finish, 

 and musical instruments, if the Californians were less 

 willing to sacrifice beauty to utility. They use it for 

 bridge floors and the walking beams for pumping 

 oil wells. 



THE SPIRAL SPRUCE 



BY ALICE SPENCER 



ACROSS section of a spruce tree, recently received 

 from Alaska, shows a most peculiar spiral structure 

 which has caused a great deal of speculation among the 

 various foresters throughout the country. Although no 

 definite explanation has been offered, a theory has been 

 advanced in regard to its history which is extremely in- 

 teresting. ,^ 



NO, IT IS NOT A BULL'S-EYE FAR MORE INT 



Can you imagine a tree making almost five complete revolutions without 

 getting dizzy and falling over? That is what this spruce tree did, and 

 in the middle of the fifth revolution it resumed an upright position and 

 was still growing when cut, at the age of 83 years. It will be noticed 

 that the darker band is a continuous formation, winding from the center 

 to within half an inch from the circumference, crossing the annual rings. 



It is known that a coniferous tree, growing at a slant, 

 forms, on the lower side of the trunk, a dense reddish 

 wood known as "rothholz." As the "rothholz" in this 

 particular specimen is a continuous formation, winding 

 from the center to within half an inch from the circum- 

 ference, it is surmised that it was growing in an inclined 

 position on the edge of a glacier where it was caused to 

 rotate so that different radii of the stem were successive- 

 ly on the downward side, thus causing the "rothholz" to 

 intersect the annual rings and, as the tree grew older, 

 forming a spiral. 



The formation of the "rothholz" apparently began 

 when the tree was six years old, the "rothholz" as well 

 as the tree itself making almost five complete revolu- 

 tions, requiring from eight to nineteen years for each 

 revolution. The tree was 83 years old, as determined by 

 counting the annual rings, and the formation of the 

 "rothholz" ceased about 21 years before the tree was cut, 

 which means that the tree must then have assumed a 

 vertical position. 



It is reported that where this specimen was collected, 

 a number of other spruce trees showed the same phe- 

 nomenon. 



We like to believe that this tree foresaw the great 

 world war that was to take place some eighty odd years 

 after it began its existence and knew that it would be 

 called upon to aid in the struggle for democracy. There- 

 fore, with the aid of a glacier, it began the peculiar gyra- 

 tions which proved its fitness for airplane stock. 



Ten revolutions in ten seconds, with head bent to the 

 knees, at the end of which time he must resume an up- 

 right position, is one of the tests given an aviator, but 

 even he will admit that five revolutions in a lifetime is 

 doing well for a tree. 



A LETTER FROM ONE OF OUR READERS 



To the Editor, American Forestry, 



Washington, D. C. : 

 TN THE American Forestry for November, 1917, on 

 -*- page 669 are these words : "One of the most curious 

 things about this sassafras tree is the form of its leaves ; 

 they are dimorphous . . . that is, the earlier ones are 

 oval in outline and entire, while those coming out later 

 are irregular in outline and three-lobed." As I have 

 had abundant opportunity for many years of examining 

 and studying the leaves of Sassafras officinale I am 

 much surprised that the author of the article in Forestry 

 did not state that this little tree bears leaves of three dis- 

 tinct shapes, namely, simple ovate and entire leaves, 

 three-lobed leaves, and leaves having each the shape of 

 a man's mitten with a thumb lobe on one side only. There 

 are, therefore, the simple ovate leaves, the mitten-shaped 

 leaves, and the three-lobed leaves upon the sassafras. 

 Many and many a day and month I have watched these 

 growing on the sandy hills east of the city of Toronto. 

 The article in question is certainly very interesting and 

 instructive; but, I think it well to have this correction 

 made. 



Respectfully, 



Henry Montgomery. 

 Cleveland, January, 191 8. 



