RED SPRUCE 181 



and Fir are consumed for that purpose than all other kinds 

 of wood. The tree is a free seeder. Its cones are borne on 

 the topmost branches, thus giving the winds an opportunity 

 to carry the seeds a great distance. Like other conifers the 

 seed has a wing, and in this case the wing is large in pro- 

 portion to the weight of the seed. The scales of the cones 

 do not all open at once, thus prolonging the period of seed- 

 sowing. Natural regeneration of the Spruces, and the fre- 

 quently accompanying Fir, can be fairly well relied upon 

 on cut-over lands where fire does not succeed cutting, but 

 where it does, the chances for it are slim indeed. The nat- 

 ural seed-bed for the eastern Spruces is the decaying veg- 

 etable matter, the rotting leaves, twigs, limbs, and trunks 

 of trees, the humus, with underlying soil. Unlike most 

 conifers the young trees do not take kindly to mineral soil 

 at first ; and when that soil only is offered, germination is 

 uncertain and the life of the young tree doubtful. It is not 

 unusual to see vigorous young Spruces growing on decay- 

 ing logs in the woods, or a belt of them on the ground 

 where a tree has decayed and spread itself on the soil. 

 Thus it will be seen that even where seed trees have es- 

 caped the ravages of fire, natural reforestation is somewhat 

 uncertain at best, and where fire has burned all the humus 

 and killed all the seed trees, it requires no argument to 

 demonstrate that a forest of like species cannot reasonably 

 be expected to grow there except through planting seeds 

 or setting out young trees. 



As already stated the Spruces are slow growers, and this 

 is especially true of this tree in its early life. Where weeds, 

 grass, or other stuff will be likely to overshadow them, 

 nursery-grown plants cannot be set out until five or six 

 years old, and this will make such propagation expensive. 

 Undoubtedly the best way to reforest burned-over land 

 with young Spruce is to plant seeds, and where no fire has 

 occurred and seed trees are not numerous, to supplement 

 the work of the latter by planting. Young Red Spruce 

 plants are being grown in some forest nurseries, but their 



