The Black Spruce. By CHARLES H. PECK, A.M.

[Read before the Albany Institute, May 4, 1875.]

If we should consider merely the intrinsic beauty of the black spruce, its ornamental character and its botanical relations, we would not hesitate to bring it forward as an object worthy of the contemplation of the intelligent and the learned; but when we remember the important part it plays in the formation of our primeval forests, its great value to man, its applicability to building purposes and its utility in the arts, with much more confidence do we bespeak your indulgence while we briefly notice some of its general characters, its peculiarities, its variations and its enemies.

The common name "black spruce " has reference to the very dark green hue of the foliage. Botanically it is known as Abies nigra. It is neatly contrasted with Abies alba, the white spruce, a closely related tree whose foliage is tinged with a glaucous or silvery hue. Double spruce and single spruce are terms applied respectively to these two trees in some localities.

The home of the black spruce is in the northern and eastern parts of North America. It is said by Michaux to be found in its greatest abundance between the 44th and 53d degrees of north latitude, and the 55th and 75th degrees of west longitude. This would include the southern part of Labrador, the Rupert river region, the provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, all of Maine and the northern part of New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. Its real range, however, is much greater than

this, for it extends southward along the Alleghany mountains as far as North Carolina, westward to Wisconsin and northward to the 65th parallel, ceasing to grow but a few degrees this side of the Arctic circle. It delights in cold, hilly and mountainous regions, attaining its largest size and growing most abundantly on those moderate elevations, ridges or slopes where the soil has a ready drainage and at the same time retains considerable moisture by reason of its mossy, shaded surface and goodly percentage of dark vegetable mold or muck. No matter how rocky the soil, the tree still flourishes. It also grows freely in low swampy lands and about sphagnous marshes, but in such localities it is inferior in size and quality. In places where it abounds, says Michaux, it constitutes one-third part of the forest. The assertion in Wood's Botany, that "dark mountain forests are often wholly composed of it" is scarcely sustained by any of the forests of this state.

The principal tract of spruce now remaining in this state is in the Adirondack region, sometimes designated as the North woods. It occupies parts of the counties of Warren, Essex, Franklin, St. Lawrence, Lewis, Herkimer, Hamilton and Fulton. Small outlying tracts may yet remain in Oneida, Oswego, Jefferson, Clinton, Saratoga, Washington and Rensselaer, but they are unimportant and destined to speedy destruction. A small tract, now nearly exhausted, existed in the Catskill mountain region. The remains of it are still found in Greene, Ulster, Delaware and Sullivan counties.

The black spruce belongs to a group of plants named botanically Coniferæ or cone-bearing plants, a name derived from the conical shape which the fruit of some species assumes. It is structurally associated with some of the largest, most renowned and most useful trees of the world, for the giant Sequoias or redwoods of California, the famous cedar of Lebanon and the invaluable pines of the north temperate zone are all coniferous trees. The

spruce as it occurs in the forest usually attains an altitude ranging from fifty to eighty feet and the basal diameter of the trunk is from one to two feet; but occasionally trees are found that have a diameter of nearly or quite three feet. The trunk is comparatively straight, very gradually tapering upwards and free from branches two-thirds to three-fourths the entire length of the tree. It is covered with a thin grayish-brown bark slightly roughened with small scales. This is not deemed valuable for tanning purposes, but it affords a very good covering for shanties and the log houses of backwoodsmen. The altitude of the tree increases by the annual growth of a single leading terminal shoot which in young and moderately vigorous trees advances about one foot in a season. This mode of growth is characteristic of all our pines and spruces. As this terminal shoot pushes its way upward it sends out annually from its base a whorl of branches. These branches are gradually shorter as we pass from the lower to the upper whorls, each successive one having one year's less growth than its immediate predecessor. They, therefore, as a whole, give to the tree a more or less regular conical outline. In process of time the lower branches decay and drop off, thus leaving a naked trunk. It is this peculiar mode of growth that makes these trees so available for ship masts and flag-staffs. The branches of the spruce are directed slightly upwards and are surrounded on all sides by the leaves. These are usually about half an inch long, somewhat four-angular and very narrow or needle-shaped. They remain on the branch about five years. The cones are pendent, ovate or oblong-ovate, three-fourths of an inch. to an inch and a half in length and are somewhat variable in color, before maturity. The shape of the cone serves as a convenient character by which to distinguish the black spruce from the white, whose cones are narrow and almost cylindrical. The wood is light and strong and has considerable elasticity. It is of a brighter color than either the

wood of the pine or the hemlock. Though decaying quite rapidly when exposed to the weather it is quite durable when protected. It constitutes an important element in the lumber trade. Spruce boards are deemed more valuable than hemlock but less valuable than pine boards because of a greater liability to warp and crack. They are harder than pine and are therefore more difficult to work. Spruce is sometimes used for the frames of buildings and for floor timbers, but generally it is cut into boards, door and window casings, siding, flooring, etc. In some localities the making of spruce shingles is an important branch of industry, but such shingles are generally considered inferior to those made from pine or hemlock. From the New York census returns for 1865, we learn that the amount of spruce lumber produced in the preceding year was 71,000,000 feet, more than six-sevenths of which was produced by the counties bordering on the northern forests. The value of this at twenty dollars a thousand would be nearly one and a half million dollars. The lumbermen of these northern counties go far back in the woods along the principal streams, cut the logs and draw them to the water courses. In the spring, when the water is high, they are floated down the stream to the mills where they are to be sawed. In this way deep inroads have been made in the forests so that they are not now the vast unbroken wilderness they seem. To one passing along the upper Hudson or the valley of the Sacandaga in summer time, the numerous piles of spruce logs that have lodged against rocks or on low banks, speak plainly of the rapid destruction of the spruces and of the swiftly contracting areas that are darkened by their shadows. And yet these are but the small portion of logs that fail to get through to their destination while the spring freshets last. If we suppose five thousand feet to be the product of one acre it would require more than 14,000 acres to furnish the 71,000,000 feet above mentioned.

I come now to speak of a remarkable peculiarity of the spruce but one whose cause does not seem to be well ascertained. Singular as this peculiarity is I am not aware that it has ever been noticed or recorded by botanical writers. It seems proper, therefore, to speak of its existence though we may not at present be able to give a satisfactory explanation of its cause. In the vicinity of Rock river, in Hamilton county, many large spruces have been left standing on land cut over by lumbermen. Why were these trees left? An examination of the trees reveals the fact that they are affected by what lumbermen call seams. A chink or crack extends along the trunk following the course of the grain of the wood. If the grain is straight the seam also is straight, if the grain is oblique the seam winds obliquely around the trunk. They sometimes extend nearly the whole length of the trunk. They penetrate the wood deeply, often reaching nearly to the center, and they therefore detract much from the value of the tree for lumber. Such trees are consequently left standing when they grow far from the lumber market. If the tree is cross-grained the seam renders it worthless except for fuel. Externally these seams are bordered by a more or less abundant exudation of resin which in its dried or hardened state is popularly known as spruce gum. It is not improbable that the permanent character of the seam is due to the presence of the gum which prevents the healing of the injury. This gum is generally coated by a velvety stratum of black fungoid filaments, which give a blackish appearance to the seams.

Electricity and excessive cold have been suggested as possible or theoretical causes in the production of seams but neither is to my mind wholly satisfactory. When electricity rends the bark of a tree it carries the injury to the ground, losing itself in the earth, but the spruce seams generally cease before reaching the extreme base of the tree. Besides, a tree struck by the electric current seldom