BALSAM FIR. 7 



MOUTSTTAIN TOP. 



Higher up the slopes, as the number of sugar maples gradually 

 increases, balsam fir becomes more and more scattering, until it is 

 found only as single specimens here and there, and on the middle 

 slope, the driest portion of the mountain, disappears entirely. 

 Approaching the top, however, at 2,500 or 3,000 feet above sea level, 

 balsam fu- reappears, often forming pure stands. Together with 

 black spruce, it is the last to give way to the Alpine flora on moun- 

 tains rising above timber line. 



Conditions on a mountain top, where the prevailing low tempera- 

 ture retards evaporation and helps the condensation of moisture in 

 the au', are similar to those in the swamp, and balsam fir shows much 

 the same development in both places. The chief difference is that 

 on the mountain top the trees are shorter. The principal ground 

 cover is the same sphagnum moss found m the swamps. Balsam fh" 

 of the mountain top has no commercial value, because of the diffi- 

 culty of lumbering it, coupled with its small size and slow growth. 



Approaching timber Hne, balsam fir becomes dwarfed, procumbent, 

 or spreading, with a short trunk and long, horizontal branches 

 spreading near the ground. On the lower siu-faces of the lower 

 branches touching the ground, roots are often formed. When such 

 a branch becomes detached from the main stock it may even give 

 rise to an independent tree. The capacity to transform branches 

 into roots has also been observed in balsam fir seedlings that have 

 germinated in wet moss. Often in such cases, as the tree grows 

 larger, additional roots are formed at the lower nodes of the stem 

 beneath the moss, where originally branches grew. 



In Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota balsam fir, when growing 

 in mixture with tamarack, arborvitse or white cedar, spruce, aspen, 

 or black ash, under conditions similar to those existing in the swamps 

 of the northeastern States, is of poor development, with a diameter 

 seldom larger than 11 inches and a height of 30 or 35 feet. 



PRESENT STAND AND CUT. 



The total stand of balsam fir throughout its range of commercial 

 occurrence may be placed somewhere in the neighborhood of 

 5,000,000,000 board feet. 



Table 1. — Present stand of balsam fir , by States, in million board feet:, 



Maine 3, 000 



New York 250 



New Hampshire 400 



"Wisconsin 395 



Michigan 200 



Vermont 110 



Minnesota 1, 000 



Total 5, 355 



