260 TREES GROWING IN SANDY SOIL. 



is made from the wood, and much of the spruce beer that is 

 manufactured owes its existence to this tree. In many places 

 it springs up where once the white pine was known. 



NORWAY SPRUCE. {Plate CXLI.) 



Plcea excelsa. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Pine. Pyramidal ; branches, low, 50-120 feet. Widely cultivated. April, May. 

 inclined to droop. 



Bark: greyish black; rough. Branchlets: brown; stout. Leaves: dark olive- 

 green; simple; scattered singly and closely about all sides of the branches; 

 needle-shaped; four-sided; slightly curved; sharp. Cones : five to seven inches 

 long; reddish brown; almost cylindrical, and hanging from the ends of the 

 branches. Scales: large; pointed. 



From the great forests of Norway this tree has been taken, 

 and it is now so widely planted in this country that many re- 

 gard it as a native. To all hardly any tree is more familiar, for 

 its great size, its conspicuous cones and its 

 drooping branches, with which it is often 

 clothed to the ground, make it a marked 

 figure anywhere. There are many vari- 

 eties of it which are sold at the nurseries. 

 From cultivation it sometimes escapes 

 and apparently attempts to enjoy a state 

 of freedom and abandon similar to that 

 it has known in its native land. To 

 watch the new leaves come on the 

 spruces in the budding days of spring is a 

 great delight. The extremities of all 

 the branches are then tipped very deli- 

 cately with a soft yellow-green, quite dif- 

 ferent from the weather-beaten look of 

 the rest of the foliage which has upheld 



Picea excelsa. - . , , , 



masses of ice throughout the winter. 

 To the tree these young bits give a wonderful appearance of 

 freshness and newness of life. 



