244 The Canadian Horticulturist 



HEIGHT OF TREES.— A SIMPLE WAY TO 

 ASCERTAIN IT. 



I^EOPLE often make incorrect statements and far- 

 off guesses concerning the height of trees. This 

 can be averted and the true measurement ascer- 

 tained, if the ground in which the tree is growing is 

 almost level and the sun casts a shadow, as shown 

 in the illustration. Measure the shadow 

 from the base of the tree to its tip. Then 

 measure the shadow cast from a vertical 

 ten-foot pole. As many times as the 

 shadow cast from the pole is contained 

 in that cast from the tree, just so high 

 Fig. 60.- Measuring Trees. the tree will be. For instance, the pole 



is ten feet, its shadow cast in mid-forenoon or mid-afternoon is five feet 5 

 and the shadow of the tree, measured at the same time is twenty feet ; 

 20-5-5=4. This number multipHed by ten, the height of pole, gives forty 

 feet as the height of the tree. 



NORWAY AND WHITE SPRUCE. 



ROBERT DOUGLAS, the best authority on the subject, claims that our 

 native White Spruce is superior to the Norway Spruce in vitality. After 

 the Norway Spruce has reached the age of thirty years and assumed a 

 grand size it begins to decay, first, by loss of its foliage near the trunk, and 

 which gradually extends towards the extremities of the branches, and then 

 its leader dies, and the annual lateral growth is very small, and the whole 

 tree takes on a rusty, unhealthy appearance, its disfigurement increasing 

 until death ensues. 



The White Spruce, Abies alba, is a much longer lived tree ; it is a slower 

 grower than the Norway Spruce, but continues in vigor long years after the 

 latter has lost all claims to beauty. In planting it is best to group these 

 two trees together in such a manner that a good effect will be retained when, 

 on account of old age, the Norway Spruce shall have been removed. — Vick's 

 Magazine. 



