SPRUCE (ME. Spruce, Truce, from OF. Prove, from ML. Prussia, Prussia), liven. A genus of about twenty species of coniferous trees, indigenous to the Northern Hemisphere, nearly half being natives of North America. The genus was formerly combined with All's (see Fin), from which it differs in having pendulous cones, leaves jointed on the twigs. keeled on both sides and not arranged in ranks, but scattered and pointing in every direction. The spruces occur as trees farther north than most others, forming forests within the Arctic Circle, and extending south, especially in the mountains as far as the Pyrenees in Europe, and North Carolina and Arizona in the States. Some of the species occur in pure forests over immense tracts, the white spruce and also the black spruce cover ing extensive areas in Canada to the almost total exclusion of other trees. In Europe the Norway spruce is similarly distributed. The species are pyramidal in habit of growth, the lower branches drooping when old. The Norway spruce (Picea.
exeelsa), the principal European species, is of rapid growth, attains a height of 150 feet or more, and is extensively planted both as a forest tree and as an ornamental. The timber is valu able for fuel and for house building. and is large ly exported from Norway and Sweden for masts and spars of sailing vessels. The tree yields resin and turpentine; its bark is used in tanning and for basket-making, etc. The wood is used for wood pulp and paper manufacture. In North America the prevailing species over the greatest extent of territory are the white and the black spruce (Picea alba and Picea mgrs), although in lumbering the two species are seldom recog nized. The former is found from New York to British C'olumbia and northward to Newfound land, 'Hudson Bay, and Alaska. It is a hand some tree 50 to 150 feet high. The wood is light, smft, compact, nearly odorless. light yellow, and with scarcely distinguishable sap wood. It is largely used for general building, spars, flooring, etc. It also yields some of the spruce gum of commerce. The latter has a distribution some what similar to the white spruce, except that it descends along the mountains to North Carolina and Tennessee and probably does not reach Alas ka. It is a somewhat smaller tree, but is other wise very similar to the white spruce. It forms
immense forest. in Maine. New York. Canada, and elsewhere, and is largely used for wood pulp and paper. These two species are the chief and best source for wood paper-making. The gum of the black spruce is used for chewing. The branches are used in the preparation of essence of spruce, and by adding sugar or molasses and slightly fermenting, spruce beer is obtained. The bark contains tannin and is used to some extent in leather. The roots are often split into narrow strips and made into bas kets, coarse mats, ropes, etc. The Sitka or tide land spruce (Pieca sitehensis) is a large tree oc curring abundantly from northern California to Alaska. following the coast as far as the island of Kadiak. It is one of the largest trees of North America. attaining in its lower regions a height of more than 300 feet and a diameter of 7 or S feet at 11(o feet from the base. Specimens upon the islands in southeastern Alaska measured more than Dm feet in height and 25 feet in circum ference 4 feet from the ground. The timber of this tree is very valuable, entering into all kinds of building operations. In the tree-planting oper ations in the West the spruces, especially the white and the Norway, have proved among the most adaptable of evergreen species. The black. being of slower growth, less ornamental, and not so well adapted to dry soils, is less frequently planted. For ornamental planting none excels the blue spruce, which is of rather slow growth. All are hardy and all have been extentively planted in Europe. Each of the American species has developed several well-known varieties, which vary principally in the character of their foliage, branching habits, etc. A tree known as Douglas spruce or Douglas fir (Pscudotsuga Douglassi) is one of the important timber trees from the Rocky :Mountain region to the Pacific and north to British Columbia. Upon the Pacific Coast it attains a height of more than 300 feet and a diameter of 10 to 12 feet. The timber is fine, straight-grained. heavy, and very strong, and is useful for all kinds of building, masts, etc. it has been very successfully planted in Minnesota, where it is believed it will supersede the other species for general planting.