work. In connection with the spruce, and on the same ground, 

 I gathered data from a fewer number of trees for tables on white 

 pine, balsam fir and tamarack. 



The white spruce, Picea canadensis, is a very common tree 

 in the northern part of Itasca county, and ranks third or fourth 

 in abundance among the trees of this part of the state. It grows 

 in mixture with all other species, and flourishes to the best ad- 

 vantage on slopes leading to lakes, streams and swamps, reach- 

 ing loo feet in height and 30 inches in diameter. The stem of 

 the spruce is very straight with small branches, of which the dead 

 ones on the lower part of the trunk are a very conspicuous 

 feature of the tree on account of their persistent habit. The 

 crown occupies from a third to a half of the length of the tree, 

 and is of a dense, compact, and neatly conical form. 



A straight, undivided stem renders the spruce capable of eco- 

 nomical coilversion to commercial purposes. The limbs contain 

 no present value here, but the trunk may be utilized to a small 

 size — the lower portion for saw timber and the upper length for 

 pulp wood. In developing a volume table for spruce I have 

 considered this utility and scaled the logs down to five inches 

 at the top. One might go even farther and take them down to 

 three inches inside the bark, but the top tapers off so rapidly that 

 little length of value remains below five inches, and I have 

 thought it better to underestimate, the volume of a tree than to 

 run short in the cut. 



A volume table for any tree, as has been suggested, should 

 embrace the measurement of as large a number of trees as it is 

 practicable to get, and where the conditions of growth vary, a 

 fair percentage of trees under each condition must be taken if the 

 intention is to group them together for general application. This 

 volume table foi spruce was constructed from the measurements 

 of 654 felled trees on the right of way of the Minnesota and Inter- 

 national Railway, the Northome Townsite, and in the vicinity. 

 The configuration of the country is rolling, but the conditions 

 of growth vary only slightly from point to point, and the clearing 

 of the Minnesota & International Railway in a direct line gave 

 me opportunity to secure measurements of a sufficient number 

 of trees in various situations, up and down hill, to insure reliable 

 average results. This table, which was primarily prepared for 

 use on a particular tract of forest land, and is properly applicable 

 to this immediate vicinity only, and to stands of timber as now 



