2o8 THE TREE BOOK 



Some of the tribes always chose a cedar for the 

 center of their ghost dance circle, others burned 

 a smoldering fire of cedar around the couches of 

 their sick at night, to frighten away ghosts and 

 evil spirits. Orchard men regard the red cedar 

 with baleful eyes. "Down with it!" is their 

 slogan, because of the cedar rust disease which 

 affects the fruit and leaves of the apple, the 

 quince, and the pear. 



The firs and spruces may readily be distin- 

 guished from the pines because of their short 

 needles arranged singly, in rows along the 

 branch instead of in tufts, their smaller cones 

 which ripen every year, and the horizontal 

 spread of their more numerous branches. But 

 it is not so easy to tell them from each other. 

 However, if the trees have matured cones the 

 solution is easy: firs bear their cones erect on 

 the boughs, and the spruces suspend theirs. 

 There are four or five species of the spruce. 

 Most of them grow in our northern row of states 

 and in British America. The one most com- 

 monly seen in lawns and gardens is the Norway 

 spruce. In its native land it is one of the tall- 

 est trees of the forest, and in the Alps it reaches 

 the height of one hundred and fifty feet. It 

 grows quite rapidly and is a beautiful tree, but 

 Wilson Flagg says it cannot compare in grace 



