48 FORESTRY IN NEW ENGLAND 



starting approach the period when they should be reproduced. 

 Artificial reproduction will always have to be the method of 

 securing another stand of Norway spruce. 



Even with these objections it cannot be denied that the Nor- 

 way spruce, on account of its rapid growth, is a much more 

 encouraging tree to plant than red spruce; it should have a large 

 field in localities not adapted to pine, especially in the northern 

 part of New England. 



Balsam or Fir (Abies halsamea). 



This tree is a northern species extending from Labrador 

 to the Rockies, and southward in the Appalachians to West 

 Virginia. It is not native to southern New England, though 

 in the west it extends through the Berkshires into northern 

 Connecticut. 



The fir is less tolerant of shade than spruce, and it is a common 

 thing in the woods to find small trees dead from lack of light. 

 For the same reason the lower limbs die out more, making lumber 

 freer from large knots. Balsam should be classed, however, as 

 a tolerant tree. The fir is even more cosmopohtan as regards 

 soil and moisture than the spruce, but, in general, prefers more 

 moisture. It seldom occurs on dry, sandy soils, though it is 

 common on high mountains where there is httle soil, and that 

 very dry; in swamps also it often occurs pure. 



Both spruce and fir are subject to damage by wind but in 

 different ways. A heavy wind that will uproot a spruce on 

 account of its shallow- root system, will break down a balsam 

 four or six feet above the ground. This breakage is possible 

 because the balsam is seriously attacked by a fungus which 

 weakens the stem. 



The fir is distinctly a rapid-growing tree, a height growth of 

 one and one-half feet and a diameter growth of one-half inch 

 per year being not uncommon. This is nearly twice the growth 

 made by the average red spruce. 



The fir is short-lived. Trees over eighteen inches in diameter 

 are rare. On the lower lands fir begins to deteriorate between 



