American Forest Trees Part 10

In New York the tree is called yellow spruce, while in foreign literature it is known as North American red spruce. The tree is sometimes difficult to distinguish from black spruce (_Picea nigra_), the main points of difference in the appearance of the two trees being the size and shape of the cones and of the staminate blossoms. The cones of red spruce are larger than those of black, and they mature and drop from the branches during their first winter, while those of the latter named species frequently remain on the trees for several seasons.

Certain eminent botanists incline to the belief that the two are different varieties of one species, inasmuch as even the timber of red spruce bears a close resemblance to that of the black spruce. Other botanists dispute this theory, saying that the trees are entirely different in appearance; that the red spruce is a light olive-green, while black spruce is inclined to a darker olive with perhaps a purplish tinge, so that when seen together they have no resemblance in point of color. They further say that the cones are not only different in size but that the scales are quite unlike in texture, those of black spruce being much thinner and more brittle. The same authorities maintain that the tiny twigs of red spruce are more conspicuous on account of their reddish tinge.

Generally speaking the princ.i.p.al spruce growth of northern New England and New York is black spruce, although interspersed with it in some localities is a considerable quant.i.ty of red spruce. On the contrary the chief stand of spruce in West Virginia, Virginia, western North Carolina, and eastern Tennessee and the other high alt.i.tudes over the South Carolina line, is largely red spruce. This botanical a.n.a.lysis of the two species of wood is based entirely on the authority of botanists, but from the viewpoint of the average lumberman there is absolutely no difference between red and black spruce and none in the physics of the two woods except that which rises from varying conditions of growth as soil, rainfall, alt.i.tude or lat.i.tude, or general environment. The larger spruce of West Virginia and the mountain region farther south, has certain qualities of strength and texture, combined with a large percentage of clear lumber that is not approximated by the spruce of New England and the British maritime provinces. In shape the tree is pyramidal, with spreading branches. It reaches a height of from seventy to a hundred feet. Its bark is reddish brown, slightly scaly. The twigs are light colored when young and are covered with tiny hairs. The leaves are thickly cl.u.s.tered along the branches, and are simple and slender, pointed at the apex. They become l.u.s.trous at maturity. The staminate flowers are oval, bright red in color; the pistillate ones are oblong, with thin rounded scales. The fruit of the red spruce is a cone, from one to two and a half inches in length; it is green when young, turning dark with age, and falling from the branches when the scales open. The seeds are dark brown, and winged.

Formerly spruce was little thought of for lumber and manufacturing purposes in this country, though some use was made of it from the earliest settlements in the regions where it grew. White pine could generally be had where spruce was abundant, and the former wood was preferred. As pine became scarce, spruce was worked in for a number of purposes. The tree's form is all that a sawmill man could desire. The trunk has more knots than white pine, for the reason that limbs are a longer time in dying and in dropping off; but knots are small and generally sound. By careful culling, a moderate amount of clear lumber may be obtained. The wood is light, soft, narrow-ringed, strong in proportion to its weight, elastic, and its color is pale with a slight tinge of red, the sapwood whiter and usually about two inches thick. The contrast between heart and sapwood is not strong. The medullary rays are numerous, but small and obscure. The summerwood is thin and not conspicuous. It is the wood's red tinge which gives the tree its commercial name.

It is believed that the yearly cut of red spruce in the United States for lumber is about 500,000,000 feet, one-half of which comes from West Virginia and southward, where this species reaches its highest development; and the pulpwood cut in the same region is about one-tenth as much in quant.i.ty. The long fiber and white color of spruce make it one of the most satisfactory woods for pulp in this country. Red spruce is only one of several species of spruce which contribute to the supply.

The total output of spruce pulpwood in the United States yearly is equivalent to about 1,000,000,000 feet of lumber.

Red spruce lumber has a long list of uses. Much flooring is made of it, and it wears well, but not as well as hard pine from the South. It is more used for shipping boxes in the northeastern part of the United States than any other wood, except white pine. Its good stenciling qualities recommend it. Manufacturers of sash, doors, and blinds find it excellent material, combining lightness, strength, and small tendency to warp, shrink, or swell. Coopers make buckets, tubs, kegs, and churns of it; manufacturers of refrigerators use it for doors and frames; and makers of furniture use it for many interior parts of bureaus, tables, and sideboards. Textile mills use spruce clothboards as center pieces round which to wind fabrics; and a further use in mills is for bobbins.

It has many places in boat building, notably as spars and yards; and for window and door frames.

The makers of piano frames employ red spruce for certain parts; but as material for musical instruments its most important use is as sounding boards. All the commercial spruces are so used. Wood for this purpose must be free from defects of all kinds, and of straight and even grain.

The sounding board's value lies in its ability to vibrate in unison with the strings of the instrument. Spruce has no superior for that place.

Red spruce bears abundance of seeds, the best on the highest branches.

The seeds are winged, and the wind scatters them. They germinate best on humus. In spruce forests, clumps of seedlings are often seen where logs have decayed and fallen to dust. Seedlings do not thrive on mineral soil, and for that reason red spruce makes a poor showing where fires have burned. It does not spread vigorously in old fields as white pine does. It must have forest conditions or it will do little good. For that reason it does not promise great things for the future. It grows very slowly, and land owners prefer white pine, where that species will grow.

If spruce is to be planted, most persons prefer Norway spruce (_Picea excelsa_) of Europe. It grows faster than native spruces. It is the spruce usually seen in door yards and parks.

BLACK SPRUCE (_Picea mariana_) grows much farther north than red spruce, but the two species mingle in a region of 100,000 square miles or more northward of Pennsylvania and in New England and southern and eastern Canada. Black spruce grows from Labrador to the valley of the Mackenzie river, almost to the arctic circle. It is found as far south as the Lake States where it const.i.tutes the princ.i.p.al spruce of commerce. In some of the swamps of northern Minnesota and in the neighboring parts of Canada it is little more than a shrub, and trees three or four feet high bear cones. On better land in that region the tree is large enough for sawlogs. It pa.s.ses under several names, among which are double spruce, blue spruce, white spruce, and water spruce. The common name black spruce probably refers to the general appearance of the crown. The small cones (the smallest of the spruces) adhere to the branches many years, and give a ragged, black appearance to the tree when seen from a distance. The wood is as white as other spruces. Trees vary greatly in size. The best are 100 feet high and two and a half feet in diameter; but the average size is about thirty feet high and twelve inches in diameter. That size is not attractive to lumbermen; but cutters of pulpwood find it valuable and convenient, and much of it is manufactured into paper. The wood weighs 28.57 pounds per cubic foot, and is moderately strong, and high in elasticity. It is pale yellow-white with thin sapwood. In Manitoba, lumber is sawed from black spruce, and it is cut also in the Lake States, but it is preferred for pulp. It gives excellent service as canoe paddles.

Spruce chewing gum is made of resinous exudations from this tree, and is an article of considerable importance. Spruce beer is another by-product which has long been manufactured in New England and the eastern Canadian provinces. It was made in Newfoundland three hundred years ago and has been bought and sold in the markets of that region ever since. Fishing vessels carry supplies of the beverage on long voyages as a preventive of scurvy. The beer is made by boiling leaves and twigs, and adding mola.s.ses to the concoction which is allowed to pa.s.s through mild fermentation.

Foresters will probably never pay much attention to black spruce because other species promise more profit. It is little planted for ornamental purposes, as it does not grow rapidly, is of poor form, and the acc.u.mulation of dead cones on the branches gives it a poor appearance. Besides, planted trees do not live long.

WHITE SPRUCE (_Picea canadensis_) is of more importance in Canada than in the United States, because more abundant. It is one of the most plentiful timber trees of Alaska, and it is found west to Bering strait and north of the arctic circle. It is said to approach within twenty miles of the Arctic ocean. Its eastern limit is in Labrador, its southern in the northern tier of states from Maine to Idaho. A little of this species is cut for lumber in northern New England and in upper Michigan, and westward, just south of the Canadian line. The light blue-green foliage gives the tree its name.

It is known by other names as well, single spruce, bog spruce, skunk spruce, cat spruce, double spruce, and pine. Some of its names are due to the odor of its foliage. The largest trees are 100 feet high and three in diameter, but most are smaller. Having a range so extensive, and in climates and situations so different, the tree naturally varies greatly in size and form. The wood of well-developed trees is white and handsome, the thin, pencil-like bands of summerwood having a slightly darker tone than the springwood. The two parts of the annual ring possess different degrees of hardness. The springwood is softer than the summerwood.

The medullary rays are numerous, and the surface of quarter-sawed lumber has a silvery appearance, due to the exposed flat surfaces of the rays. In the markets, no distinction is made between white spruce lumber, and that cut from other species. The uses of the different species are much the same. As a pulpwood, white spruce is in demand wherever it is available. The largest output in the United States comes from northern New England. The tree is often planted for ornamental purposes in Europe and in northern states. When grown in the open, the crown is pyramidal, like that of balsam fir. It does not thrive where summers are warm and dry.

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SITKA SPRUCE

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SITKA SPRUCE

(_Picea Sitchensis_)

This is largest of the spruces. In height and in girth of trunk no other approaches it. The moist, warm climate of the north Pacific slope is its favorite home, though its range extends far northward along the islands and coast of Alaska. Toward the extreme limit of its habitat it loses its splendid form and size and degenerates into a sprawling shrub. The limit of the species southward lies in Mendocino county, California. Its range in a north and south direction is not less than 2,000 miles; but east and west the growth covers a mere ribbon facing the sea. It climbs some of the British Columbia mountains, 5,000 feet, but it prefers the low, wet valleys and flatlands, or the rainy and snowy slopes set to catch the sea winds. There it is at its best, and the largest trunks are 200 feet high, fifteen feet in diameter, and about 850 years old. All sizes less than this are found. It is not easy to name an average size when variation runs from giants to dwarfs; but in regions where this spruce is cut for lumber, the average height of mature trees is about 125 feet, with a diameter of four feet.

Tideland spruce is one of its names. That has reference to its habit of sticking close to the sea. Its other names are Menzies' spruce, great tideland spruce, and western spruce. The last may be considered its trade name in lumber markets, for it is seldom called anything else when it is shipped east of the Rocky Mountains. The name is appropriate, except that other spruces grow in the West, and are equally ent.i.tled to the name. This applies particularly to Engelmann spruce of the northern Rocky Mountain region; but its lumber and that cut from Sitka spruce are not liable to be confused in the mind of anyone who is acquainted with the two woods. The name Sitka refers to the town of that name in Alaska.

The leaves of this species are usually less than one inch in length, and in color are light yellowish green. They stand out like bristles on all sides of the twigs. Cones are from two to four inches long, and hang by short stems, usually at the ends of twigs. They ripen the first year, release their seeds, which fly away on small but ample wings, and the cones drop during the fall and winter. Sitka spruce bark is generally less than half an inch in thickness. Trunks which grow in forests prune themselves well, and are usually clear of limbs from forty to eighty feet. The bases of trees which grow on wet land are much enlarged like cypress and tupelo, and lumbermen frequently cut above the swell, leaving from 1,000 to 5,000 feet or more of lumber in the stump. Sitka spruce's characteristic root system is shallow; but on mountain sides where soil is dry, roots penetrate deep in search of moisture.

The wood of this spruce varies greatly in color, but it is usually a very pale brown, with the faintest tinge of red. It is a little heavier than white pine, considerably weaker, and with less elasticity. The size of the trunks, with their freedom from limbs, insures a high percentage of clear lumber when Sitka spruce is manufactured. The tree grows slowly, the annual rings are narrow, and the bands of summer growth are comparatively broad, to which fact the rather dark color of the wood of the spruce is due.

Sitka spruce is an important source of lumber. The total cut in Washington, Oregon, and California in 1910 was about 255,000,000 feet.

It is below red spruce in quant.i.ty of sawmill cut, but above all other spruces in the United States. The people of the Pacific coast use much of it at home, but large quant.i.ties are shipped to markets in eastern states, and some to foreign countries. Nearly 4,000,000 feet were bought by Illinois manufacturers in 1909, in addition to what was used rough in the state. The commodities manufactured of this spruce in Illinois indicate with a fair degree of accuracy the uses made of the wood in most parts of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains and north of the Ohio river and the Potomac. Among articles so manufactured in Illinois are playground apparatus, porch and stair bal.u.s.ters, doors, blinds, sash and frames, poultry brooders, sounding boards for pianos and other musical instruments, parts of mandolins and guitars, pipes for organs, cornice brackets, store and office fronts, decking and spars for boats, wagon beds and windmill wheel slats, refrigerators and cold storage rooms, ironing boards and other wooden ware.

Twenty times as much Sitka spruce is made into finished commodities in Washington as in Illinois. That is to be expected, since Washington is the home of the tree and the center of supply. A partial list of its uses in that state will show that the wood is liked at home. Douglas fir was the only wood bought in larger amounts by Washington manufacturers.

They made 55,429,000 feet of it into boxes, and coopers employed 12,000,000 more. The next largest users were pulpmills, while 2,000,000 feet went into sounding boards, many of which were for shipment abroad.

Other users were basket makers, and the manufacturers of furniture, fixtures, finish, caskets, veneer, trunks, pulleys, vehicles, boats, and patterns. Sitka spruce decays quickly when exposed to rain and weather.

Sitka spruce can be depended upon for the future. Though it grows slowly it may be expected to keep growing. Its range lies in regions generally too wet for woods to burn, and it will suffer less from forest fires than trees of inland regions. It is an abundant seeder, and its favorite seedbed is moss, muck, decayed wood, and wet ground litter of various kinds. For the first few years seedlings are sensitive to frost, but not in later life.

Sitka spruce is often planted as an ornamental tree in western Europe, and occasionally in the middle Atlantic states. The New England climate is too severe for it.

ENGELMANN SPRUCE (_Picea engelmanni_) was named for Dr. George Engelmann. It has other names. In Utah it is called balsam, white spruce in Oregon, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho, mountain spruce in Montana, Arizona spruce farther south, while in Idaho it is sometimes known as white pine. That name is misleading, for Idaho has a species of white pine (_Pinus monticola_). In eastern markets the wood is known as western spruce; but that, also, is indefinite, for Sitka spruce is also a western species and is found in the same markets as Engelmann spruce.

This tree's range extends from Yukon territory to Arizona, fully 3,000 miles. It is a mountain species and is found in elevated ranges. In the southern part of its habitat it ascends mountains to heights of nearly 12,000 feet. It grows in the Cascade mountain ranges in Washington and Oregon. The species' best development occurs in British Columbia. At its best, trees are 150 feet high and four or five in diameter; but every size less than that occurs in different parts of its range, down to a height of two or three feet for fully matured trees. Such are found on lofty and sterile mountains where frost occurs practically every night in summer, and winter snows bury all objects for months at a time.

Though the stunted spruce trees may be only two or three feet high, their branches spread many feet, and lie flat on the rocks. Though such situations are exceedingly unfavorable to tree growth, the stunted spruces survive sometimes for two hundred years, and during that long period may not grow a trunk above five inches in diameter and four feet high. The Engelmann spruce is naturally a long-lived tree, and large trunks are 500 or 600 years old; and trees ordinarily cut for lumber are 300 or 400 years old. When the tree is young, its form is symmetrical, the longest branches being near the ground, the shortest near the top; but in crowded stands the trunk finally clears itself. Engelmann spruce lumber is usually full of small knots, each of which represents a limb which was shaded off as the tree advanced in age. The wood is lighter than white pine, and is the lightest of the spruces, the weight being 21.49 pounds per cubic foot. It is not strong, and it rates low in elasticity. The wood is pale yellow, tinged with red. The thick sapwood is hardly distinguishable from the heart. It would be difficult to compile a list of this tree's uses, because in markets it hardly ever carries its right name. It is used for fuel and charcoal in the region of its growth; also as farm timber, and as props and lagging in mines.

When it goes to market, it is manufactured into doors, window frames, sash, interior finish for houses, and for purposes along with other spruces. Large quant.i.ties of this wood will be accessible when lumbermen penetrate remote mountain regions where it grows. It may be expected to increase in importance. It is occasionally planted in eastern states as an ornament.

BLUE SPRUCE (_Picea parryana_) is found among mountains in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, from 6,500 to 10,000 feet above sea level. It attains a height of 150 feet and a diameter of three under favorable circ.u.mstances, but its usual size is little more than half of that.

Its name is given on account of the color of its foliage, but it has other names, among them being Parry's spruce, balsam, white spruce, silver spruce, Colorado blue spruce, and p.r.i.c.kly spruce, the last name referring to the sharp-pointed leaves which are an inch or more in length. Cones are three inches long, and usually grow near the top of the tree. It is not unusual for blue spruce trees to divide near the ground in three or four branches. In its youth, particularly in open ground, blue spruce develops a conical crown.

The wood is lighter than white pine, is soft, weak, and pale brown or nearly white in color. The sapwood is hardly distinguishable from the heart. This is a valuable tree for ornamental planting; but in later years it loses its lower limbs, and becomes less desirable.

WEEPING SPRUCE (_Picea breweriana_) is of little commercial importance because of scarcity. It grows among the mountains of northern California and southern Oregon, at elevations of from 4,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level. The leaves are an inch or less in length, the cones from two to four inches long. They fall soon after they scatter their seeds. This tree is named on account of its drooping branchlets, some of which hang down eight feet. The wood seems not to have been investigated, but its color is pale yellowish to very light brown, and the annual rings are rather narrow. The tree ought to be valuable for ornamental planting, but nurseries have experienced much difficulty in making it grow. It grows on high and dry mountains where few ever see it, but refuses to become domesticated or to grace eastern parks.

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CYPRESS

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CYPRESS

(_Taxodium Distichum_)

The name cypress has been used quite loosely in this country and the old world, and botanists have taken particular care to explain what true cypress is. It is of no advantage in the present case to join in the discussion, and it will suffice to give the American cypresses according to the authorized list published by the United States Forest Service.

Two genera, one having two and the other six species, are cla.s.sed as cypress. These are Bald Cypress (_Taxodium distichum_), Pond Cypress (_Taxodium imbricarium_), Monterey Cypress (_Cupressus macrocarpa_), Gowen Cypress (_Cupressus goveniana_), Dwarf Cypress (_Cupressus pygmaea_) Macnab Cypress (_Cupressus macnabiana_), Arizona Cypress (_Cupressus arizonica_), and Smooth Cypress (_Cupressus glabra_). The first two grow in the southern states, and the others in the Far West.

Bald cypress, which is generally known simply as cypress in the region where it grows, is more important as a source of lumber than are all the others combined. It probably supplies ninety-nine per cent of all cypress sold in this country. Its range is from southern Delaware to Florida, westward to the Gulf coast region of Texas, north through Louisiana, Arkansas, eastern Mississippi and Tennessee, southeastern Missouri, western Kentucky and spa.r.s.ely in southern Illinois and southwestern Indiana. It is a deep swamp tree, and it is never of much importance far from lagoons, inundated tracts, and the low banks of rivers. Water that is a little brackish from the inwash of tides does not injure the tree, but the presence of a little salt is claimed by some to improve the quality of the wood. It is lumbered under difficulties. The deep water and miry swamps where it grows best must be reckoned with. Some of the ground is not dry for several years at a time. Neither felling nor hauling is possible in the manner practiced in the southern pineries. Owing to the great weight of the green wood, it will not float unless killed by being girdled for a year or more in advance of its being felled. In the older logging operations, cypress was girdled and snaked out to waterways and floated to the mills. Lately many cypress operations are carried on by the building of railroads through the swamps, which are largely on piling and stringers, although occasionally earth fills are utilized. The usual size of mature cypress ranges from seventy-five to 140 feet in height and three to six in diameter.

The wood is light, soft, rather weak, moderately stiff, and the grain is usually straight. The narrow annual rings indicate slow growth. The summerwood is comparatively broad and is slightly resinous; medullary rays are numerous and obscure. The wood is light to dark brown, the sapwood nearly white. At one time specimens of the wood in the markets of the world were known as black or white cypress, according as they sank or floated. Much of the dark cypress wood is now known as black cypress in the foreign markets, where it is employed chiefly for tank and vat building. Individual specimens of the wood in some localities are tinted in a variety of shades and some of the natural designs are extremely beautiful.