THE ADIRONDACK BLACK SPRUCE. 57 



Direction. Trees. 



North 471 



Northeast 81 



East 106 



South 1 



West 27 



Southwest 6 



Northwest . 8 



700 



There seems to be no satisfactory explanation of this tendency 

 of the black spruce to a one- sided growth. After careful observa- 

 tions in search of some reason, no regular conditions of slope, 

 exposure or environment were found upon which to base any 

 theory. It has been asserted frequently, however, that this 

 uneven growth on either side of the heart was due to an uneven 

 distribution of the roots ; and that the greater accretion in the 

 tree trunk would be found on the side of the tree on which lay 

 the largest roots. 



In the preceding tables the indicated age of the tree is based 

 upon the number of rings revealed by the stump ; but in each 

 case if the tree had been cut close to the ground a greater num- 

 ber of rings would have been found and consequently a greater 

 age indicated. This should be borne in mind in connection with 

 the statistics referred to. The stumps varied in height from one 

 to four feet, the height of the stump depending in each case upon 

 the convenience of the axeman and the position in which he 

 stood while at work. 



One column of figures in Table IV indicates the length of the 

 section taken by the lumbermen for their logs, and represents 

 one, two, or three logs of 13 feet 4 inches each, that being the 

 length cut by the log- choppers in the Adirondack forests. For 

 instance; in Specimen No. 6 (right-hand page), 26 feet and 8 

 inches of trunk were taken, showing that two logs were obtained 

 from that tree. Specimen 19 shows that a section of the trunk 

 40 feet long was removed, from which it appears that this tree 

 furnished three logs ; and specimen 60, that 53 feet and 4 inches of 

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