NORWAY SPRUCE 185 



Mississippi River. In the high altitudes and on the steep 

 declivities, planting trees will not be likely to prove success- 

 ful because of the comparatively slight rainfall, and the only 

 aid that can be given, aside from keeping out the fires and 

 leaving sufficient trees for seed, will be planting seeds where 

 the trees are to grow. In the East nearly all the seed trees 

 are gone, hence reforestation cannot there take place nat- 

 urally, but the abundant rains make transplanting in the 

 East not only possible but practicable, as experiment shows. 

 There is no invariable rule to fit all cases. Our work must 

 conform to surrounding conditions. 



NORWAY SPRUCE : Picea excelsa 



HERE is a foreigner which will undoubtedly find a per- 

 manent home with us and prove a valuable addition to the 

 list of important timber trees of our country. A strong, 

 hardy, and rapidly growing tree in its native home in cen- 

 tral and northern Europe, Norway Spruce has thus far 

 shown its ability to accept the conditions it must meet over 

 a large portion of our country. Although it has been 

 planted here mainly as an ornamental tree and for a wind- 

 break, its vigor, rapidity of growth, and freedom from dis- 

 ease give proof that it will do well as a forest tree. In its 

 European home it will, if allowed, reach a height of one 

 hundred feet with a diameter of three feet, and occasionally 

 it exceeds these dimensions ; but it is seldom permitted to 

 grow beyond two feet in diameter, because compound in- 

 terest on the money invested in the plantation will, after 

 that period, increase more rapidly than the increased value 

 through growth of wood can bring to its owner. 



It is known to thrive throughout the area bounded on 

 the north by a line drawn from southern Maine through 

 central New York westward to the Mississippi River, 

 thence south to central Kansas, and from there eastward 

 through Washington, D. C., to the Atlantic Ocean. It 

 grows quite well south of the area named, but coming from 



