152 AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



West Virginia, within a few miles of the Maryland line, at an altitude 

 of 3,300 feet. The tree is not found in all regions between its northern 

 and southern limits. Its best development is in the southern part of its 

 range. 



On the upper limits of its habitat the tree presents a decidedly 

 picturesque appearance, being gnarled and twisted and plainly showing 

 the results of its long struggle for life and development. It is always 

 noticeable that on the exposed side the limbs are so short as to be almost 

 missing and on the opposite side they grow out straight and long, appear- 

 ing to fly before the wind. These limbs are sometimes of as great a 

 girth for five or six feet of their length as any part of the main stem, 

 and have a singular look, seeming to be all out of proportion to the rest of 

 the tree. The older trees are vested in a smooth, yellowish-gray, mossy 

 bark, which is quite different from that of the balsam fir. The bark is 

 thin, about one-fourth of an inch on young trunks, and half an inch near 

 the ground on old ones. The leaves are usually half an inch long, 

 sometimes one inch, and their lower sides are whitish, which tint is due 

 to abundant white stomata. In that respect they resemble leaves of 

 balsam fir and hemlock. 



The cones, like those of other species of fir, stand erect on the 

 branches, and average about two and a half inches in length. They 

 are smoother than the cones of most pines. They mature in September. 

 The winged seeds average one-eighth inch in length, and are fairly abun- 

 dant. The Eraser fir grows as tall as balsam fir, from forty to sixty 

 feet, and the trunk diameter is greater, being sometimes thirty inches, 

 though half of that is nearer an average. When of pole size, that is, 

 from five to eight inches in diameter, Fraser fir is often tall, straight and 

 shapely. Its form, however, depends upon the situation in which it 

 grows. If in the open, it develops a relatively short trunk and a broad, 

 pyramidal crown. This fir differs from balsam fir in its choice of situa- 

 tion. The latter, though not exactly a swamp tree, prefers damp 

 ground, while Fraser fir flourishes on slopes and mountain tops. 



On the mountains of western North Carolina fir grows in mixture 

 with red spruce. Sometimes the fir is fifty per cent of the stand, but 

 usually it is less, and frequently not more than fifteen per cent. Few fir 

 trees in that locality are two feet in diameter. They grow with fair 

 rapidity in their early years, but decline in rate as age comes on. It 

 may be observed in traveling through the stands of mixed spruce and fir 

 among the high ranges of the southern Appalachian mountains that the 

 proportion of spruce is much higher in old stands than in young. That is 

 due to the greater age to which spruce lives. Trees of that species 

 continue to stand after the firs have died of old age. On the other hand, 



