AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Vol. XXII 



DECEMBER 1916 



No. 276 



The Red Spruce 



Identification and Characteristics 

 By P. L. Buttrick 



THE naming of almost any section of our country 

 brings to mind some particular tree, nowhere more 

 than in the Northeast where the tree is spruce. 

 The association is so close that the forester calls the 

 region the " Spruce Northeast," but to most it is known 

 as the " North Woods " a storied land so graphically 

 described by a host of writers from Henry David Thoreau 

 to Doctor Van Dyke. This northern forest stretches 

 across the continent from the Maritime Provinces of 

 Canada to Alaska. In the United States it is confined 

 to northern and eastern Maine, northern New Hampshire 

 and Vermont, the Adiron- 

 dack Mountains of New 

 York, and a broken and dis- 

 connected strip along the 

 high summits of the Appa- 

 lachians to North Carolina. 



There are forests more 

 impressive by their regular- 

 ity and the size of their trees 

 than the spruce forest of the 

 Northeast. For sheer gran- 

 deur it is not to be com- 

 pared with the great forests 

 of the Pacific Coast, or even 

 the white pine stands of the 

 Lake States. It lacks the 

 spaciousness and openness of 

 the longleaf pine barrens of 

 the South, or the quiet beauty 

 and intimacy of the eastern 

 hardwood forests. Yet it 

 has a beauty and fascination 

 of its own. To many it is 

 the most beautiful of forests. 

 It casts its fascination over 

 all who visit its shades. The 

 lakes of Maine, the White 

 Mountains of New Hamp- 

 shire, and the Adirondacks 

 are among the oldest and best 

 known vacation grounds in 

 America. 



There are three species 



BRANCH OF RED SPRUCE 



The cones are from one and a quarter to two inches long and reddish brown. 

 The needles are dark green to yellowish green. 



of spruce found in the United States, three of them being 

 found in the region. They are named, as is so common 

 in the case of trees, after certain colors. In this case 

 white, black and red. The white spruce (Picea cana- 

 densis) is so called because of its grayish white bark. It 

 occurs sparingly along the northern borders of the United 

 States and the Black Hills of South Dakota. It is more 

 characteristic of Canada than the United States and is 

 found from Nova Scotia to Alaska and almost to the 

 Arctic Ocean. It makes up the bulk of the vast spruce 

 forests of Quebec and Ontario. 



The white spruce is the 

 largest and handsomest of 

 the eastern spruces. It occa- 

 sionally attains a height of 

 150 feet and a diameter of 3 

 or 4 feet. It has a narrow and 

 symmetrical conical shaped 

 crown, and is usually very 

 beautiful. Because of the 

 odor given off by its leaves 

 when crushed it sometimes 

 bears the more graphic than 

 elegant title of skunk spruce. 

 The black spruce (Picea 

 mariana) enjoys its name 

 from the very dark cast to 

 its leaves and occupies much 

 the same range as the white, 

 but is more common in the 

 United States. It is a small 

 and straggling tree, mostly 

 confined to swamps and 

 semi-barren hilltops. Its only 

 value lies in the occasional 

 specimens which happen to 

 get large enough to be har- 

 vested with red or white 

 spruce (Picea rubens). It is 

 difficult for any but the ex- 

 pert to distinguish absolutely 

 between these two trees, in- 

 deed for many years they 

 were considered as one 

 705 



