10 BULLETIN 544, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Too much dependence can not be placed on any of these values 

 except for the purposes of general comparison, for the reason that 

 through a process of adulteration of the purity of the product, so to 

 speak, the true rise in value for a period of years is not shown by 

 average stumpage price quotations. To illustrate: The average 

 stumpage values per 1,000 feet in a certain locality might have been 

 $2 twenty years ago, $3 ten years ago, and $4 to-day, while the quality 

 of the cut in those years might have been 100 per cent first quality 20 

 years ago, worth $2 per 1,000 feet, 67 per cent first quality 10 years 

 ago, worth $4, and 40 per cent first quality to-day, worth $8, the 

 differences being made up in the latter instances by cheap, low- 

 grade material which 20 years ago could not have been given away. 

 Thus the true rise in stumpage value, instead of being from $2 to $4, 

 as indicated by the average stumpage figures, should be $2 to $8, 

 based on the same class of product throughout the period. This is 

 but one of many shnilar conditions which help to obscure the true 

 rise which has taken place and is taking place not only with spruce 

 but with all stumpage and which must be understood in making use 

 of any general stumpage figures. 



RANGE AND DISTRIBUTION. 



Regarding the range and distribution of red spruce, the various 

 botanical authorities are in disagreement. This condition arises 

 largely from the fact that the red spruce and the closely allied black 

 spruce are not perfectly distinguishable under some circumstances. 

 When red spruce is segregated from the black spruce, its range is 

 given as from Prince Edwards Island to the valley of the St. Law- 

 rence River, southward to the coast of Massachusetts, along the 

 interior hilly parts of New England and New York to the Allegheny 

 Mountains, to western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and the 

 higher peaks of South Carolina. When the black and red spruce are 

 considered as a single species, the range extends, in addition to the 

 above, from Labrador and Newfoundland to the valley of the McKen- 

 zie River in latitude about 65° north and, crossing the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, from the interior of Alaska to the valley of the White River 

 and from the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta 

 through northern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba to central 

 Wisconsin and Michigan. The accompanying map (fig. 1) shows 

 these ranges graphically as well as those for the other species of this 

 genus which are indigenous to the United States. 



The red spruce occurs chiefly on well-drained uplands and moun- 

 tain slopes. In the northern portion of its range it is found on the 

 better-drained soils at or near sea level. Within the United States 

 its commercial range is rarely below 1,000 feet elevation, although 

 under some conditions it may extend somewhat lower, as, for instance, 

 in swamps. In these situations the red and black spruce find their 



