The Black Spruce. 



289 



cumstances or influences which are easily detected, others 

 seem to be constitutional or inherent in the plant itself. 

 Their causes are not easily discernible. To one familiarwith 

 our evergreen forests the ideal or type of the spruce is 

 that of a noble tree with a tall, straight, erect trunk sup- 

 porting a somewhat conical head of dark green spray. 

 But the tree varies greatly from this type according to its 

 age, the character of the soil and the altitude of its station. 

 In young trees growing in open places or on cleared lands 

 it is common to find the entire trunk occupied by branches, 

 the lowest whorl being but slightly raised above the surface 

 of the earth. This differs from the young trees of dense 

 woods only in retaining its lower branches for a longer 

 time. In open sphagnous marshes a form occurs so marked 

 in its appearance that in some localities it has received the 

 name of bastard spruce. 



The branches, which frequently occupy the whole trunk, 

 are generally very slender, the internodes short and the 

 leaves pale. The tree has a feeble, starved or sickly as- 

 pect and does not attain a large size. A cross section of 

 the trunk shows the concentric rings which mark the 

 annual growth of the wood lying close together, which, 

 with the short internodes of the branches, indicates a very 

 slow growth. These trees are too small to be of any value. 

 They are rarely fertile. 



In w r ooded swamps and low lands a larger form is com- 

 mon. It scarcely differs from the ordinary forest tree 

 except in its inferior size and quality. It affords a poor 

 quality of wood and is sometimes cut into piles to be used 

 in the construction of dykes and the foundations of bridges 

 and large buildings. It is not worth much for lumber. 

 It is intermediate between the bastard spruce and the 

 forest spruce having the distinct trunk of the latter and 

 the starved, unthrifty look of the former. 



Another form occurs in the Adirondack region and is 



Trans. viii.~\ 37 



