Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1883-09-01
The Dying spruce Trees IN Maine.


Som. w<s your correspondent
reported ths.fdI III the decay and deatia
of spruce ihs1e of the township int
Northern took. The total Id of
SO much ysluShle timber has, naturally.
excita1 MN$ -. among those who
owl Rthat section of the
State. n III 81 ce of the general
,nteros< in the nd6i9ot and its impor-
tanco. have talIeQ ia trouble to ascer.
tain fl16 opinions ~ Practical lumber
s %ss s e sss sss's decay Of the
Jacob Harding. .0f caribou, who for
the uSst ten yeafc has had charge of
townships Of Wild land, and whoxhas
been in, the woodaia great deal during
tlint time, s4y8 mat one-third pf8the
spruce down q eleven inches in diam
eter < in the yeSrsnges of townships
west from Il Ia Luke stream is either
dead or dyinP. N His observation is that
the young sj1fhc isunaAected. His view
of the caliseis asfollows; About Eight
years ago, late in the fall, there were
heavy rains (which )osened the earth
as had never bef( ebeeh known. These
rains were followed BY protracted
gale and a.severe winter, and in conse-
Iquence the,root fbersof the spruce trees
were broken, and decay followed. He
says that he has observed that fon}sthe
northwest slopes, where the winds had
the greatest rake, the spruce suffered
the most. He says the trees present at
first, at the top, a. scared appearance,
and year by year death passes toward
the roots, sometimes on one side, at a
time, at other times on both. = "
Samuel w. Collins, who has been In
,Aroostook for fortyyears, and was one
of the heavy operators in that section
in early days of numbering, and up to
within few years, gives his opinion
substantially as. follows: He thinks the
spruce of ,Aroostook has reached its ma
,turity, that the age Of a spruce tree is
from sixty to ninety years, it being a
rapid growing tree, and that it is simply
old age that causes the decay. He say 8
that forty years ago thespruce in North
ern Aroostook was small; and in the
townships where it has been cut there is
no loss from decay. tits principally in
those townships that have never been
cut over that the rot occurs. The loss,
he thinks, in the townships where the
spruce trees are decaying is about one
third. He does not believe in the theory
of the spider and worm, but his observa-
ton shows that in very short time aft
er the trees begin to decay worm ap-
pears.
Other gentlemen who were inter.
viewed think that the trees are dying
only from natural causes; that the
spruce after certain number of years
dies from old age. In supporJ OF this
theory they argue that it is only the old
spruce that are dying; that the young
trees are healthy and show no signs. Of
decay. They do not believe that it is
worms that kill the spruce, and claim
that in all cases it is shown that the
worms follow, not precede, decay OF the
spruce. g
Mr.. II. M. Prentiss, of this city, in 8
well-written letter published in a recent
number of the Northwestern Lumber
man, takes strong ground in favor o.
the theory that the spruce are dying
from old age. He also thinks that re
ports in regard to the dying of spruce
trees have been greatly exaggerated
Cor. Boston Journal