224 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 



spruce retains its foliage for about five to seven 

 years, so that, though the needles are small and 

 short, they form a dense canopy overhead. 



Unlike the Douglas fir and Menzies spruce, 

 the common spruce is less rapid in early growth 

 than larch or pine, and this, coupled with the 

 power of bearing shade, makes it, under favour- 

 able conditions, suitable for forming mixed woods 

 in order to improve the growth of these more 

 valuable trees, and to preserve the productive 

 capacity of the soil. As in certain cases, how- 

 ever, somewhat similar advantages may perhaps 

 though experiment can alone safely determine 

 this be attainable with more profitable results 

 by means of Corsican pine, Douglas fir, and 

 Menzies spruce, the common spruce seems never 

 likely to rank as one of the more remunerative 

 kinds of timber crops in the British woodlands ; 

 and apart from this the tree has no special 

 interest, as spruce woods are among the darkest, 

 the most sombre and the most depressing of 

 woodlands, though the tree itself, when grown 

 isolated, forms a remarkably beautiful addition 

 to the pinetum or the park. One great purpose, 

 however, the spruce can serve and in this respect 



