Oregon, a distance of 1,000 miles. It does not usually go far inland,
and consequently the range is narrow in most places. North of the
international boundary the tree seldom reaches an altitude of more than
2,000 or 3,000 feet, but in Washington and Oregon it is occasionally met
with at elevations of 4,000 and 5,000 feet. The species reaches its best
development on the islands off the coast of southern Alaska and British
Columbia, where the air is moist, the winds warm in winter, the rainfall
abundant, and the snowfall often deep. Well developed trees under such
circumstances are from ninety to 120 feet high, from two to six in
diameter. The blue-green leaves remain active two years, and then die,
but they do not usually fall until a year later. The presence of the
dead leaves on the twigs tones down the general color of the tree
crowns.
The cones are about half an inch long and have four, five, or six
scales. From two to four seeds lie beneath each scale until September or
October when they ripen and escape. Their wings are large enough to
carry them away from the immediate vicinity of the parent tree, and
reproduction under natural conditions is generally good. Yellow cedar is
abundant within its range, but nature has circumscribed its range, and
it shows no disposition to pass the boundary line.
The bark is thin and exhibits cedar’s characteristic stringiness. It is
shed in thin strips.
The wood is moderately light, and is strong and stiff. It is probably
the hardest of the cedars, and the grain is so regular that high polish
is possible. Under favorable circumstances trees grow with fair
rapidity, but when conditions are unfavorable, as on high mountains
where summers are short and winters severe, growth is remarkably slow,
and twenty years or more may be required for one inch increase in trunk
diameter. The wood of such trees is hard, dense, and strong.
The grain of yellow cedar is usually straight. The bands of summerwood
are narrow, the annual rings are indistinct, and an attempt to count
them is often attended with considerable difficulty. The wood is easily
worked, satiny, susceptible of a beautiful polish, and possesses an
agreeable resinous odor. The heartwood is bright, clear yellow, and the
thin sapwood is a little lighter in color. In common with all other
cedars, yellow cedar resists decay many years. Logs which have lain in
damp woods half a century remain sound inside the sapwood. Sometimes
fallen timber in that region is quickly buried under deep beds of moss
which preserves it from decay much longer than if the logs lie exposed
to alternate dampness and dryness.
Statistics of sawmill operations in the Northwest do not distinguish
between the different cedars, and the cut of yellow cedar is unknown. It
is considerable, but of course not to be compared with the more abundant
western red cedar. Statistics of uses are as meager as of the lumber
output. In Washington the factories which use wood as raw material
report only 7,500 feet of yellow cedar a year. Doubtless much more than
that is used, but under other names. There is no occasion to disguise
this wood under other names. It has a striking individuality and
deserves a place of its own. In some respects it is one of the best
woods of the Pacific Northwest. In nearly every situation where it has
been tried, it has been found satisfactory. Its rich yellow presents a
fine appearance in furniture and interior finish, and the polish which
it takes surpasses that possible with any other cedar, with the probable
exception of some of the scarce, high mountain junipers. It has been
used for pyrography and patterns, two hard places to fill, and for which
few woods are suitable. Indians long ago in Alaska learned that it was
the best material for boat paddles which their forests afforded. It
possesses the requisite stiffness and strength, and it wears to a
smoothness almost like ebony. Boat factories have many uses for the
wood, decking, railing, and interior finish being among the most
important. It is said to be a satisfactory substitute for Spanish cedar
in the manufacture of cigar boxes, but its use for that purpose is not
yet large.
It is said that occasional exports of this wood go to China where it is
finished in imitation of scarce and expensive woods of that country.
Yellow cedar is a wood with a future. Its splendid properties cannot
fail to give it a place of no small importance in factories and in
general building operations. The supply has scarcely yet been touched,
but it cannot much longer remain an undeveloped asset. It is apparently
a high-class cooperage material, but it does not seem to have been used
much if at all in that industry. The same might be said of it for doors.
It is heavier than spruce, white pine, and redwood, but where weight is
not a matter for objection, it ought to equal them in all desirable
qualities.
In much of its range it is generally exempt from forest fire injury,
because its native woods are nearly always too wet to burn.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN JUNIPER (_Juniperus scopulorum_) is scattered over
the mountains from Dakota and Nebraska to Washington and British
Columbia, and southward to western Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
Except near the Pacific coast, it is usually found at altitudes
above 5,000 feet. It clings closely to dry, rocky ridges where it
attains a height of thirty or forty feet, and a diameter of three
feet or less. The trunk usually divides near the ground into several
stems. The bright blue berries ripen the second year. The wood
resembles that of red cedar, and is used in the same way, as far as
it is used at all. It is not a source of lumber. A little is sawed
occasionally on mountain mills, and the lumber is used locally in
house building, particularly for window and door frames; but sawlogs
are short, and because of their poor form, the output of lumber is
negligible. Some of it finds its way into Texas where it is
manufactured into clothes chests and wardrobes, and these are sold
as red cedar. A choice mountain juniper log, with large, sound
heartwood, produces lumber with a delicate grain and is more
attractive than red cedar when made into chests and boxes. By habit
of growth, it includes patches of white sapwood in the darker
heartwood. When these are sawed through in converting the logs into
boards, the islands of white wood scattered over the surface produce
a unique effect not wanting in artistic value. Some of the other
western junipers possess similar characteristics. Sometimes patches
of bark are also found imbedded in the interior of the trees.
[Illustration]
RED SPRUCE
[Illustration: RED SPRUCE]
RED SPRUCE
(_Picea Rubens_)
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 principal spruce growth of northern New England
and New York is black spruce, although interspersed with it in some
localities is a considerable quantity 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 altitudes over the
South Carolina line, is largely red spruce. This botanical analysis 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, altitude or latitude, 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 clustered along the branches, and are simple and slender,
pointed at the apex. They become lustrous 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 quantity. 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 constitutes the
principal 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
passes 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 molasses to the
concoction which is allowed to pass 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 accumulation 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.
[Illustration]
SITKA SPRUCE
[Illustration: SITKA SPRUCE]
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 entitled 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 quantity 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 quantities 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 balusters, 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.