6i 4 THE SPRUCE. 



and point in every direction, except when on the lower boughs they 

 all lie horizontally. On the Hemlock Firs the leaves are flattened 

 and arranged in two rows, and all take a horizontal position. 



The cones offer another mark of distinction. Spruce cones are 

 six inches long, those of the Hemlock Firs only an inch long. Both 

 are pendent, and the Spruces can be distinguished by this mark from 

 the Silver Fir, which has its cones standing upright on the twigs. 



The leaves on the latter tree, unlike the Spruce, are usually 

 arranged in two rows, and they have also two silvery lines on the 

 under-side, while the tree, in its old age, has a flat top very different 

 from the spires of the Spruces. It has already been pointed out (in 

 the description of the Scots Pine) that the leaves of the Firs can be 

 distinguished from those of the Pines by the way in which the former 

 spring singly from the twig, while the latter grow two or more from 

 the same point and are held together by a sheath at the base. The 

 Spruce reaches a height of seventy to over one hundred feet, 

 and has a cylindrical trunk covered with thin, scaly, red-brown bark. 

 The branches are slight and short in comparison with the trunk. 

 Trees which stand alone retain their lower branches ; in plantations 

 these die off, though they remain in their places often for years. It 

 is these numerous thin dead branches which give the effect ot mist 

 to anyone standing inside a Spruce plantation. The Spruce shares with 

 other evergreens a certain prominence when deciduous trees have lost 

 their foliage, and in the Spring shows a contrast of pale bright green 

 young shoots with sombre elder leaves. 



THE BRANCHE S. 



A wonderful regularity of outline is noticeable in a Spruce 

 standing by itself. Whorls of branches spring from the vertical 



