THE EVERGREENS
[Illustration: FIG. 121. White Pines at Westbury, Long Island]
The evergreen trees, so called because their needle-like leaves remain
on the tree all winter, are fully as interesting as the broad-leaved
trees. Without them our landscapes in winter would be much more barren
and bleak, and their shade is very pleasant in summer. A pine forest
with its fresh balsam air and needle-covered floor is a sight to be long
remembered.
[Illustration: FIG. 122. A View showing how Evergreens help to enrich the
Landscape. Arbor Vitæ Hedges]
The wood of the evergreens is usually classed among the soft timbers,
although the yellow pine is far from soft.
=59. White Pine.= The king among evergreens is usually admitted to be the
white pine. Its soft, bluish-green foliage, the widespreading branches,
and the value of its fine, even-grained wood give it the first rank.
[Illustration: FIG. 123. Needles and Cone of White Pine]
Pines have needle-shaped leaves which grow in groups of two, three,
or five. White pine needles grow in groups of five and are from three
to four inches long. The cones which contain the seeds are about five
inches long. The tree grows tall and straight, and formerly grew in great
forests covering thousands of square miles; the wood is so free from
pitch and is so easily worked with tools that these great forests have
been almost annihilated by the lumberman’s ax, and white-pine timber has
become quite expensive. It takes many years for a tree to grow large
enough for timber, and unless we are more economical in the future white
pine will be only a memory.
=60. Georgia Pine.= The southern yellow pine, or Georgia pine, is a very
different tree from its northern cousin, the white pine, furnishing us
with a resinous yellow wood, much harder than white pine, and a beautiful
and valuable material for the interiors of buildings. It is also very
durable and is frequently used for exposed places, such as the decks of
ships.
The needles are very long, measuring a foot and sometimes fifteen inches
in length.
The seed cones are from six to ten inches long, and the scales have
little prickles on their ends. The tree grows throughout the southern
states from Virginia to Texas, and the cutting of its timber is a
valuable industry of the South.
=61. Yellow Pine.= The common yellow pine must not be confounded with
the long-leaved Georgia pine. The former has needles growing three in a
bunch, and the latter short needles three or four inches long, growing
two and sometimes three in a group. The cone of the common yellow pine is
also very much smaller, being only two inches long.
Its wood is very valuable and is used for flooring, ceiling, and interior
finishing.
[Illustration: FIG. 124. Hemlock]
There are several less important kinds of pine, such as the northern and
Jersey scrub pines, and the red, or Norway pine.
Spruce, hemlock, and fir are well-known members of the evergreen family.
=62. Hemlock= is a graceful, dainty-looking tree, with drooping branches
and little needles not over half an inch long. It is a northern tree
except along the Allegheny Mountains, where it extends as far south as
Alabama. The seed cones are the tiniest brown things to be found among
the common trees. They are no longer than the hemlock needles.
[Illustration: FIG. 125. The Influence of Hemlock on the Winter
Landscape. Snow Scene]
The wood is not as valuable as pine, splitting very easily and being
afflicted with _shakes_, a defect caused by the annual layers or rings
breaking away from each other when the trees are swayed by the winter
storms. The bark is valuable, however, as it is rich in tannin.
=63. Spruce.= The tall, dark, cone-shaped evergreen trees which ornament
so many of our old farm dooryards are usually some species of spruce. The
spruce is sometimes mistaken for the balsam fir, which is so commonly
used for Christmas trees, but they are so different that they need never
be confused.
There are several varieties of spruce, including the red, black, white,
and Norway, but they all bear a family resemblance.
Looking at the end of a spruce twig, it will be found that the needles
completely surround it. This is not true of the fir. Then the spruce
needles are sharp at the tip, while the fir needles are blunt.
This family is distinctly a northern group, being found as far north as
Hudson Bay and forming dense forests, particularly on mountain sides.
One may often see on the steep slopes the dividing line between the
broad-leaved trees and the evergreens, the dark spruces extending clear
up to the summit.
The red spruce is found as far south as Tennessee, but in that latitude
it grows only at high elevations. It has cones about one and a half
inches long, and its wood is light, soft, and close-grained. The wood is
used for the sounding-boards of musical instruments and for the frames of
buildings.
The black spruce is the northern brother of the red, and is really a
Canadian tree which occasionally reaches down into the United States.
It reaches the Mackenzie River on the north and covers large areas in
Manitoba.
It takes its name from the dark, somber color of its foliage, which seems
almost black against the snowy hillsides.
The cones are the same size as on the red spruce, but they persist in
remaining on the tree for several years. The wood is soft and weak and is
used for sounding-boards, pulp, and light framing for houses.
[Illustration: FIG. 126. Black Spruce]
The white spruce is similar to the other two, but lighter in color, cones
a trifle longer and softer, and needles more slender. It is a northern
tree; its wood is very white and clear-grained, and is used for finishing
the interior of houses.
Norway spruce, as its name implies, is an importation from Europe, where
its majestic height graces the mountains from the Alps to Norway and
Sweden. It grows very tall, sometimes a hundred and fifty feet, and
flourishes as well in America as in Europe. The cones are four or five
inches long. Its wood is known in Europe as _deal_.
=64. Cypress.= In the swamps of our southern states, from Maryland south
along the Gulf of Mexico, are found great dark forests of the bald
cypress.
[Illustration: FIG. 127. Cypress]
They grow directly out of the water and are famous for a peculiar
formation of the roots called _cypress knees_,—lumpy growths which come
up out of the water as if they were in search of air. The cypress is
a tall, spirelike tree, which has the most delicate, feathery needles
imaginable. They drop off in the fall, so that the tree is sometimes
called _deciduous cypress_. The cones are roundish and about an inch
long. The timber furnished by this tree is very handsome in grain and
valuable for many parts of buildings, especially inside finishing.
=65. The Balsam Fir=, or our famous Christmas tree, is noted for its
great healing qualities. In fact, sanitaria for invalids, especially
consumptives, are frequently built in the midst of great fir forests,
that the sufferers may inhale the pure mountain air, laden as it is with
the odors of the balsam fir. The needles are often used to fill pillows,
which are said to soothe tired and worn-out people to sleep.
We are all familiar with the sweet, _woodsy_ smell of the Christmas tree.
No other tree can take its place. It brings visions of the country, of
the woods and fields and flowers, and it will always be dear to us.
The balsam fir can always be distinguished from the spruce by the fact
that the needles only come out at the sides of the twig instead of from
all directions, as in the spruce, and its end is blunt, whereas that of
the spruce is sharply pointed.
[Illustration: FIG. 128. Balsam Fir]
The bark of the tree is gray and has tiny blisters which contain the
balsam, _Canada balsam_ it is usually called, well known for its healing
qualities.
The cones are from two to four inches long, stand upright on the
branches, and the wood is not very valuable.
=66. The Cedars.= No list of evergreen trees would be complete without
the cedars. In this group is the well-known hedge tree, arbor vitæ,
sometimes erroneously called _white cedar_. It is famous for its
flattened, bright green, scaly leaves, with their strong, pungent odor.
This tree is usually so trimmed that we have very little knowledge as to
its real shape and height if allowed to grow naturally; but it is said to
reach a height of fifty feet under favorable conditions.
[Illustration: FIG. 129. Arbor Vitæ]
=67. White Cedar.= The real white cedar has a more delicate leaf and is
fond of cool swamps.
It has a conical shape and is much larger than the arbor vitæ, reaching
sometimes ninety feet. The wood is very valuable, being soft but durable,
and is used for shingles, posts, and boats. It has the property of
enduring the changes such as posts or other structural members are
obliged to withstand in contact with the soil, and ranks next to yellow
locust in this particular.
=68. Red Cedar= is the tree which supplies our lead pencils. It is
remarkable for its straight, even grain, and the ease with which it
can be worked. This is the familiar tree of our roadside, where the
birds who feast on the cedar berries have stood on the fence rails and
unconsciously planted rows of cedars for future generations by dropping
the seeds on the ground.
[Illustration: FIG. 130. Red Cedar growing along Roadside from Seed
dropped by Birds]
The red cedar seems to grow where other trees cannot exist, but like
other trees responds to good treatment and reaches its best development
in the balmy and luxuriant South.
It is found from Maine to Florida and from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
In the North it rarely grows over twenty feet high, and is of compact
growth, but in Florida it reaches eighty feet.
The leaves are remarkable in that there are two shapes, the sharp or
awl-shaped, and the scale-shaped, growing upon the same branch.
The wood is valuable for many purposes and has been used so extensively
that it is becoming scarce.
Florida has furnished the world with red cedar for lead pencils for
years, and it is said that during the Civil War, when the whole southern
coast was blockaded, the European manufacturers were obliged to scour the
world to find a substitute for the Florida cedar.