12 LOGGING 
feet. It is a swamp species wherever it occurs in commercial 
quantities and its exploitation presents numerous problems not 
found in dry-land logging. 
It has been stated that at least one-third of the standing 
cypress is affected with a fungous disease, which causes holes 
in the wood from j to 1 inch wide and often several inches long. 
Timber so affected is called ''pecky" or "peggy" cypress. The 
disease is caused by a species of Daedalia which also atacks the 
incense cedar of the Pacific Coast. Decay stops as soon as the 
tree is cut and manufactured into lumber. Cypress timber on 
knolls just above the level of the water is usually unsound and 
the trees are fewer in number than on the wet lands. Sound 
timber occurs in patches in the forest without apparent regularity. 
It is difficult to distinguish pecky trees before they are cut. The 
trees in the Atchafalaya River basin are of larger size and less 
defective than those in the Mississippi River bottoms. 
Cypress is an extremely durable wood and is epecially esteemed 
for greenhouse construction, certain forms of cooperage, silos, 
tanks, shingles, interior and exterior finish for buildings, and all 
purposes where resistance to decay is important. 
The lumber cut in 1920 was approximately 625,000,000 
feet. 
Eastern Spruces. — There are three species which are found 
chiefly in Maine, northern New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, 
West Virginia and North Carolina. They are the white spruce 
(Picea canadensis), red spruce (P. rubra) and the black spruce 
(P. mariana). The present stand is estimated at 31 billion board 
feet, a large part of which is in New England and New York. 
Spruce occurs in pure stands on the higher elevations, and in 
mixture with beech, birch, hard maple and eastern hemlock on 
the lower elevations. It reaches its best form in the mountains 
of West Virginia at an elevation of from 3000 to 4600 feet. Bal- 
sam fir {Abies halsamea) is associated with spruce in the northern 
part of its range and is now marketed with it for pulpwood, 
without distinction as to price. 
Spruce is one of the most valuable species for the production 
of paper pulp and several million cords of Canadian and domestic 
spruce are consumed annually for this purpose. It also is used 
for house timbers, clapboards and general construction purposes 
although the production of spruce lumber has greatly declined 
