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The Christmas Spirits and the Trees: December: Tamarack

Tamarack: Is also a Larch--frequently called simply "the Larch." L : separate, 4-angled, 1-1 1/2 long; 2 X 60. Newfoundland to Minnesota, south to Pennsylvania. Hiawatha, so they say, when he wanted to build that canoe, asked the Tamarack to help him: "Give me of your roots, O Tamarack! Of your fibrous roots, O Larch Tree!" And because the Tamarack has roots that are just the thing, and because Hiawatha was so nice and polite about it, he got his canoe built and went and called on Minnehaha. In our prosaic days the Tamaracks put in most of their time helping make ties, posts, poles, ship timbers, and other things for which a hard, heavy, strong, and durable wood is wanted. Douglas Spruce. (L : separate, 3/4-1 1/4; C : 4-6; 12 X 250.) Grows in all western mountain States. Heavy, hard, durable, strong wood. Used for general lumber, ties, and ship-building.

Red Spruce. (L : separate, 1/4-1/2; C : 1 1/4-2; 3 X 10.) St. Lawrence Valley, along Appalachians to North Carolina. Light, soft, close-grained, not durable. Used mainly for paper pulp, sounding-boards, and dimension timbers. (I see that Doctor Curtis, of the Department of Botany of Columbia, in a little guide-book to trees, just published, quotes a statement to the effect that a single issue of a Sunday paper requires the destruction of fifty-four acres of trees; and, I infer from what he says in this connection, that he doesn't think the trees are thus fulfilling their highest destiny!) Sitka Spruce. (L : separate, 1/2-1; C : 2 1/2-4; 16 X 200.) Alaska to northern California along the coast. Lumber, cooperage, boats, pulp, and woodenware. White Spruce. (L : 1-1 1/4; C : 2; 5 X 50.) Rockies, Arizona, to British Columbia. Light, soft wood; used locally for general lumber. Hemlock. L : 1/3-2/3; C : 1/2-3/4; 4 X 125.) Maine to Minnesota and south along the Appalachians to Georgia. Soft, weak, brittle. Used only for coarse lumber and small dimensions.

Western Hemlock. (L : 1/4-3/4; C : 3/4-1; 8 X 250.) Alaska to California and Montana. Light, hard, tough, durable. Rough lumber and construction timbers. White Fir. (L : 3/4-1 1/4; C : 3 1/2-6; 6 X 50.) Oregon to British Columbia along Pacific coast. Light, rather soft, and weak. Rough lumber, packing-cases, etc.

Noble Fir. (L : 1-1 1/2; C : 4-5; 8 X 250.) Pacific coast, Washington to California. Light, hard, strong. Used for lumber, construction, and cases. Red Fir. (L : 3/4-1 1/2; C : 6-9; 10 X 200.) Western slopes of the Sierras. Light, soft, rather weak. Used for rough lumber, construction, and boxes. Bald Cypress. (L : 1/2-3/4; C: like a mass of tiny apple dumplings, all stuck together, the whole making a ball about an inch in diameter; 12 X 150.) Del. to Tex., along the coast and up to Ind. and Ill. Very workable, light, soft, and durable. Ties, posts, cooperage, doors, and inside trim. Sequoias: At once the Goliaths and the Methuselahs of the world of trees, some of them being several thousand years old. One species, known as the "Big Tree" (35 X 320) (L: 1/4-1/2; C: 2-3 1/2), grows on the western slopes of the Sierras; another, called simply the Redwood, in the northern coast region. Both are California trees. (L : 1/4-1/2; C : 3/4-1; 20 X 350.) Their wood--light, soft, and weak, but durable--is used for shingles, grape-stakes, ties, and general lumber.