24 
BULLETIN 1060, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
many other conifers; but thereafter it increases in size with great 
rapidity and maintains a fast growth until late in life. Its rate of 
growth naturally varies with the quality and the character of stand. 
Moisture conditions are an important factor and growth is more 
rapid on wet bottomland situations than on the drier slopes. The 
growth of Sitka spruce varies also in different parts of its range, and 
is more rapid in Oregon. Washington, and British Columbia than 
either farther south or north. Average figures on height, diameter. 
and volume growth are given in the tables that follow, but it is real- 
ized that these are not universally applicable. In the appendix will 
be found tables of growth from several different localities. 
HEIGHT. 
In the seedling stage the height growth of Sitka spruce is fairly 
rapid, but not so fast at this period as that of its associates. Douglas 
fir. western hemlock, and western red cedar. Table ~ shows the 
height growth of dominant, open-grown Sitka spruce s lings, and 
is compiled from measurements taken of young trees w ich grew in 
seven different localities and sites in Oregon and Washington. Here 
the reproduction was sometimes found in pure stands, but more often 
in mixture with other species. 
Tasle 5. 
-Height of dominant, open-grown Sitka spruce seedlings, avera< 
all sites in Oregon and Washington. 
[Based on 2,102 sectional measurements of 322 trees.] 
for 
(Curved.) 
Age. 
Height. 
Current 
annual 
growth. 
Age. 
Height. 
Current 
annual 
growth. 
1 
Years. 
Feet. 
0.2 
. 5 
1.0 
1.6 
2. 2 
2.8 
3.5 
4.4 
5.4 
Feet. 
0.2 
.3 
. 5 
:! 
.6 
'.9 
• 1.0 
10 
11 
12 
Years. 
Fed. 
6.6 
S.0 
9.8 
12.0 
14.4 
17.2 
20.2 
23. 4 
Feet. 
1.2 
2 
1.4 
3 
1.8 
4 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
2.2 
2.6 
6 
2.8- 
3.0 
8 
3.2 
9 
After fhe early years, growth increases rapidly and is maintained 
at a go a rate until late in life. In the sapling stage a growth of 3 
feet and over a year is not unusual. At the age of 50 the average 
domin. .l cree is still growing 1.7 feet per year, and at 100 years as 
much as 1 foot. At these ages the height growth of spruce compares 
very favorably with that of Douglas fir. This comparison is made 
from the available growth tables for the species mentioned, under con- 
ditions representative for each species, and not by comparison of the 
several species growing side by side on the same site. 
