FOREST TREES. 181 
ing to consider that they will ever require room for 
development. JI have repeatedly seen three or four 
Norway Spruces growing on a cemetery lot twenty 
fect square. 
Whatever opinion may be entertained respecting 
its ornamental character, there can be no doubt that 
the Norway Spruce is pre-eminently fitted for planta- 
tions designed for shelter. In the discussions of the 
Horticultural Societies of Illinois, the advantages of 
evergreen belts for the protection of orchards, of 
houses and farm buildings, have been for years 
persistently pressed upon the attention of cultivators 
of the soil. The Norway Spruce has been designated 
as the most suitable tree for this purpose. No other 
evergreen is more easily raised from seed, no other is 
more cheaply obtained from nurseries—no other is 
more successfully transplanted. Itis perfectly hardy, 
its growth is vigorous and rapid, its branches and 
foliage dense and compact, and it readily adapts itself 
to a variety of soils and climates. Its lower branches 
are persistent, its growth is perfectly upright, and 
where room is allowed it pushes its limbs out on all 
sides in defiance of the force of the winds. 
Although the timber of the Black Spruce is in 
some, perhaps most respects equil to that of the 
Norway Spruce, yet the latter is much the most rapid 
grower; it ultimately attains a much greater size, and 
more easily accommodates itself to different soils and 
situations. These considerations seem to render it 
the more eligible tree for forest culture even in those 
regions where the Black Spruce naturally grows. 
16 
