130 AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



as a preventive of scurvy. The beer is made by boiling leaves and twigs, and adding 

 molasses to the concoction which is allowed to pass through mild fermentation. 

 Foresters will probably never pay much attention to black spruce because ottu-r 

 pecies promise more profit. It is little planted for ornamental purposes, as it does 

 not grow rapidly, is of poor form, and the accumulation of dead cones on the branches 

 gives it a poor appearance. Besides, planted trees do not live long. 



WHITE SPRUCE (Picea canadensis) is of more importance in Canada than in the 

 United States, because more abundant. It is one of the most plentiful timber trees 

 of Alaska, and it is found west to Bering strait and north of the arctic circle. It is 

 said to approach within twenty miles of the Arctic ocean. Its eastern limit is in 

 Labrador, its southern in the northern tier of states from Maine to Idaho. A little 

 of this species is cut for lumber in northern New England and in upper Michigan, and 

 westward, just south of the Canadian line. The light blue-green foliage gives the 

 tree its name. It is known by other names as well, single spruce, bog spruce, skunk 

 spruce, cat spruce, double spruce, and pine. Some of its names are due to the odor 

 of its foliage. The largest trees are 100 feet high and three in diameter, but most are 

 smaller. Having a range so extensive, and in climates and situations so different, 

 the tree naturally varies greatly in size and form. The wood of well-developed trees 

 is white and handsome, the thin, pencil-like bands of summerwood having a slightly 

 darker tone than the springwood. The two parts of the annual ring possess different 

 degrees of hardness. The springwood is softer than the summerwood. The medul- 

 lary rays are numerous, and the surface of quarter-sawed lumber has a silvery 

 appearance, due to the exposed flat surfaces of the rays. In the markets, no distinc- 

 tion is made between white spruce lumber, and that cut from other species. The 

 uses of the different species are much the same. As a pulpwood, white spruce is in 

 demand wherever it is available. The largest output in the United States comes from 

 northern New England. The tree is often planted for ornamental purposes in Eruope 

 and in northern states. When grown in the open, the crown -is pyramidal, like that 

 of balsam fir. It does not thrive where summers are warm and dry. 



