RED SPRUCE 179 



supply of that wood for pulp must come from such second 

 growth as modern methods of cutting may permit and from 

 Canada's waning supply. The Spruces east of the Rocky 

 Mountains are slow growers, 1 notwithstanding a general 

 belief and frequent assertion to the contrary, and this is 

 especially so in early life, and the danger of exhausting the 

 supply of pulp wood is great and imminent. To depend 

 upon another country, and that country with a lessening 

 supply to dispose of, is not a satisfactory condition of things 

 to contemplate. 



Although the Spruces are locally given various and ab- 

 surd names, lumber cut from both of the eastern trees is 

 known in the trade as " spruce," without distinction as to 

 species. No material wrong can come to the consumer from 

 this, as the only essential difference lies in the color, but 

 putting ten or fifteen per cent of " balsam" in a consign- 

 ment is quite a different proposition. 



RED SPRUCE : Picea rubens 



THE natural range of the Red Spruce comprises a wedge- 

 shaped region, with the New England States and New 

 York for the wide end and eastern Tennessee for the apex 

 or sharp end. Throughout its range south of central New 

 York it is confined to elevated regions, although it is sel- 

 dom found on the very crests of the mountains. Its best 

 development is to be seen in its northern habitat. As it 

 requires a cool atmosphere, the region south of Virginia 

 does not produce as vigorous a growth as that farther north. 

 It never attains a very large size. Occasionally trees are 



1 In a paper read before the Canadian Forestry Association, February, 

 1909, Dr. B. E. Fernow, speaking of the growth of White Pine, adds : " The 

 Spruce, a much slower grower, makes, under most favorable forest condi- 

 tions, one inch in seven, or more frequently one in nine years, which would 

 bring a nine-inch tree in the average to one hundred years. But in virgin 

 forests, where competition among species and individuals retards develop- 

 ment, one inch in twelve to fifteen years, and more, is the usual rate of 

 growth." 



