BALSAM FIE, 
7 
MOUNTAIN TOP. 
Higher up the slopes, as the number of sugar maples gradually 
increases, balsam fir becomes more and more scattering, until it is 
found only as single specimens here and there, and on the middle 
slope, the driest portion of the mountain, disappears entirely. 
Approaching the top, however, at 2,500 or 3,000 feet above sea level, 
balsam fir reappears, often, forming pure stands. Together with 
black spruce, it is the last to give way to the Alpine flora on moun- 
tains rising above timber line. 
Conditions on a mountain top, where the prevailing low tempera- 
ture retards evaporation and helps the condensation of moisture hi 
the air, are similar to those in the swamp, and balsam fir shows much 
the same development in both places. The chief difference is that 
on the mountain top the trees are shorter. The principal ground 
cover is the same sphagnum moss found in the swamps. Balsam fir 
of the mountain top has no commercial value, because of the diffi- 
culty of lumbering it, coupled with its small size and slow growth. 
Approaching timber line, balsam fir becomes dwarfed, procumbent, 
or spreading, with a short trunk and long, horizontal branches 
spreading near the ground. On the lower surfaces of the lower 
branches touching the ground, roots are often formed. When such 
a branch becomes detached from the main stock it may even give 
rise to an independent tree. The capacity to transform branches 
into roots has also been observed in balsam fir seedlings that have 
germinated in wet moss. Often in such cases, as the tree grows 
larger, additional roots are formed at the lower nodes of the stem 
beneath the moss, where originally branches grew. 
In Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota balsam fir, when growing 
in mixture with tamarack, arborvitee or white cedar, spruce, aspen, 
or black ash, under conditions similar to those existing in the swamps 
of the northeastern States, is of poor development, with a diameter 
seldom larger than 11 inches and a height of 30 or 35 feet. 
PRESENT STAND AND CUT. 
The total stand of balsam fir throughout its range of commercial 
occurrence may be placed somewhere in the neighborhood of 
5,000,000,000 board feet. 
Table 1. — Present stand of balsam fir 7 by States, in million board feet: 
Maine 3,000 
New York 250 
New Hampshire 400 
Wisconsin 395 
Michigan 200 
Vermont 110 
Minnesota 1,000 
Total 5,355 
