The Black Spruce. 285 



spruce as it occurs in the forest usually attains an altitude 

 ranging from fifty to eighty feet and the basal diameter of 

 the trunk is from one to two feet; but occasionally trees 

 are found that have a diameter of nearly or quite three 

 feet. The trunk is comparatively straight, very gradually 

 tapering upwards and free from branches two-thirds to 

 three-fourths the entire length of the tree. It is covered 

 with a thin grayish-brown bark slightly roughened with 

 small scales. This is not deemed valuable for tanning pur- 

 poses, but it affords a very good covering for shanties and 

 the log houses of backwoodsmen. The altitude of the tree 

 increases by the annual growth of a single leading terminal 

 shoot which in young and moderately vigorous trees ad- 

 vances about one foot in a season. This mode of growth 

 is characteristic of all our pines and spruces. As this 

 terminal shoot pushes its way upward it sends out annually 

 from its base a whorl of branches. These branches are 

 gradually shorter as we pass from the lower to the upper 

 whorls, each successive one having one year's less growth 

 than its immediate predecessor. They, therefore, as a 

 whole, give to the tree a more or less regular conical out- 

 line. In process of time the lower branches decay and 

 drop off, thus leaving a naked trunk. It is this peculiar 

 mode of growth that makes these trees so available for 

 ship masts and flag-staffs. The branches of the spruce are 

 directed slightly upwards and are surrounded on all sides 

 by the leaves. These are usually about half an inch long, 

 somewhat four-angular and very narrow or needle-shaped. 

 They remain on the branch about five years. The cones 

 are pendent, ovate or oblong-ovate, three-fourths of an inch 

 to an inch and a half in length and are somewhat variable 

 in color, before maturity. The shape of the cone serves as 

 a convenient character by which to distinguish the black 

 spruce from the white, whose cones are narrow and almost 

 cylindrical. The wood is light and strong and has con- 

 siderable elasticity. It is of a brighter color than either the 



