284 



The Black Spruce. 



this, for it extends southward along the Alleghany mountains 

 as far as North Carolina, westward to Wisconsin and north- 

 ward to the 65th parallel, ceasing to grow but a few degrees 

 this side of the Arctic circle. It delights in cold, hilly and 

 mountainous regions, attaining its largest size and growing 

 most abundantly on those moderate elevations, ridges or 

 slopes where the soil has a ready drainage and at the same 

 time retains considerable moisture by reason of its mossy, 

 shaded surface and goodly percentage of dark vegetable mold 

 or muck. No matter how rocky the soil, the tree still flour- 

 ishes. It also grows freely in low swampy lands and about 

 sphagnous marshes, but in such localities it is inferior in size 

 and quality. In places where it abounds, says Michaux, 

 it constitutes one-third part of the forest. The assertion 

 in Wood's Botany, that " dark mountain forests are ofteu 

 wholly composed of it" is scarcely sustained by any of the 

 forests of this state. 



The principal tract of spruce now remaining in this state 

 is in the Adirondack region, sometimes designated as the 

 North woods. It occupies parts of the counties of Warren, 

 Essex, Franklin, St. Lawrence, Lewis, Herkimer, Hamilton 

 and Fulton. Small outlying tracts may yet remain in 

 Oneida, Oswego, Jefferson, Clinton, Saratoga, Washington 

 and Rensselaer, but they are unimportant and destined to 

 speedy destruction. A small tract, now nearly exhausted, 

 existed in the Catskill mountain region. The remains 

 of it are still found in Greene, Ulster, Delaware and 

 Sullivau counties. 



The black spruce belongs to a group of plants named 

 botanically Coniferae or cone-bearing plants, a name derived 

 from the conical shape which the fruit of some species as- 

 sumes. It is structurally associated with some of the 

 largest, most renowned and most useful trees of the 

 world, for the giant Sequoias or redwoods of California, 

 the famous cedar of Lebanon and the invaluable pines of 

 the north temperate zone are all coniferous trees. The 



