Douglas Spruce Black Spruce Tiger’s Tail Spruce Colorado Blue Spruce Engelmann’s Spruce Norway Spruce 
All the Firs and Spruces 
THE DISTINGUISHING TRAITS OF THESE MEMBERS OF THE EVERGREEN FAMILY—HOW TO 
RECOGNIZE THE DIFFERENT KINDS AND WHERE TO USE THEM IN LANDSCAPE WORK 
by John Noyes 
Photographs by the author and others 
A CHILD’S definition of a fir tree was, “A tree that is furry,” 
-—a definition that many an older person might give and it 
is not an inappropriate one. 
Nature has endowed our so-called “fir trees” with a very 
generous mantle of fur, furnishing protection, not only to 
the tree itself but to you and me, who would suffer from 
eye starvation but for the precious fresh greenness which the 
fir trees and their sister evergreens give to us throughout the 
year. 
Among the best of our evergreens are our fir trees. Their 
strong and rugged pyramidal forms present an appearance of 
life and warmth in the cold months, 
and a delightful coolness and restful¬ 
ness in the warm months. Though 
frequently used in parks and some 
of the large estates, they are but too 
little used nowadays in group plant¬ 
ings, a fact that interested people are 
deploring throughout the country. 
For formal effects, specimen trees, 
windbreaks and hedges they are un¬ 
surpassed, and for border and building 
groups they are almost a necessity. 
As single specimens near buildings of 
classical architecture, they are excel¬ 
lent, giving an agreeable contrast of 
vertical and horizontal lines, but from 
the very repetition of vertical lines 
when placed near buildings of that 
tendency they are not so successful. 
Just at this time the fir trees are 
the more noticeable because of their 
use as Christmas trees. If you are in 
a position to choose and chop your 
own, now is a good time to see if you 
can identify your choice. If you are 
robbed of that pleasure by the limit¬ 
ing walls of a city, learn to pick out and 
purchase a true fir or a spruce in pref¬ 
erence to a hemlock. You will find 
them much more satisfactory and “Christmasy” looking. The 
everyday use of the term “fir trees” includes the true firs and 
the spruces. These two types of trees, though quite similar in 
general appearance and outline, are readily told apart on closer 
inspection. The hemlock, though more closely related to the 
true fir than the spruce, is seldom considered a fir tree, or con¬ 
fused with the other two. It does not have that “furry” look 
characteristic of the others. 
The spruces and firs can readily be told apart at all times of 
the year. 1 heir persistent foliage makes them much more recog¬ 
nizable than the deciduous trees, some of which are very difficult 
to distinguish when in a leafless con¬ 
dition. From the leaves or needles 
and bark alone they can be told in 
all seasons, and the flowers in spring 
and the cones in the summer make 
their identification still easier. Let us 
compare some of their different char¬ 
acteristics directly in the table at the 
foot of the next page. 
The hemlock has flattened leaves 
(with short stalks), arranged in spirals 
(and in two ranks), on the branch, 
and has hanging cones. Thus in 
many respects it is similar to both 
the spruce and fir, and from this 
very mixture of similarities is easily 
distinguishable. 
Our best known and most success¬ 
ful fir trees are the Norway, the White, 
Engelmann’s, the Black, the Red, the 
Colorado and the Tiger’s Tail spruces, 
the Douglas spruce, and the White, 
Nordmann’s, the Cilician, and the 
Balsam firs. 
Easily the most popular spruce in 
cultivation is the Norway. A native 
of Europe, it maybe truly called a thor¬ 
ough American citizen from the read¬ 
iness with which it has adapted itself 
The Colorado Blue Spruce is a popular one for 
lawn grouping 
(220) 
