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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.