Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1890-01-22
NEW ENGLAND CONlFERS.

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ceedinsly Useful Trees.
The conifers, or cone bearing trees.
are divided into three families: The
pines, the expresses and the yews. or
the pines, the most common are the
white pine, the yellow or pitch pine and
the rel pinn These can b readily dis
EaE9..5hal Gs9u each a.aar by noticing
That the wn.te ptaahas il leaves in c,as-
,,r5 Of Gr>, the yo,!o" Ii clusters Of
.hrea ana In FL ii c,-...s Of two.
TIE Nlt.o -.-5 .e..4 - -.-.iagl and
graceful tro,.. 10 wa.ch lie yellow, in
this latitude, with iIa acraSgy branches
and yellowi8h green foliage. is an I'M
pleasant and striking contrast. The
cones of these trees do not ripen till the
year after blossoming. and this is dis
tinguishing feature between these true
pines and the other members of the pine
family-the spruces, frs and larches.
The spruces have their leaves four sided,
and arranged around the stem, instead
of being in clusters, as in the pines. The
cones are very graceful, being suspended
near the end of the branches, and form
ing pleasing contrast to the green of
the foliage.
The Norway spruce, though a native
of Europe, is SO common here as to de-
serve place among our New England
trees, and from the time of its bright
red blossoms in the spring, during the
growth of its cones, which are purple at
first, but change to q rich brown, till
blossoms come again, forms a most at
tractive sight. The hemlock, or hemlock
spruce, has small cones; the leaves, in
stead of being arranged around the stems,
spread in two directions, and are bright
green above, with silvery white be-
meath. This grows to be large tree,
but is often cut back and used as an or
namental shrub, and, cared for in this
way, is one of the most graceful of
spruces. The frs are distinguished from
the spruces in that they have their cones
erect on the upper side of the branches,
instead of pendulous. The only repre-
sentative in New England is the balsam
fir, which is quite common among the
mountains.
The last member of the pine family is
the larch. The larch is distinguished
from all other conifers by its shedding
its leaves in the fall, and is also marked
by the bright red flowers which it bears
in the early spring. The only native
larch is the American larch or tama.
rack, but the European larch is found
here quite extensively, and is hand
somer and more graceful tree than the
native variety.
The cypress family includes the arbol
vitae, the cypress and the juniper. The
arbor vitae is readily distinguished by
the oppressed, scale like leaves, arranged
in four rows on the two-edged branch
lets. The American variety is often
called white cedar, but the name more
properly belongs to a variety of cypress
closely resembling ar5or vitae, but hav.
ing more slender spray, finer leaves,
and growing thirty to seventy feet high.
while the arbor vitae ranges from twenty
to fifty feet.
We have two varieties Of the juniper;
one known as the juniper, and the other
as red cedar. Both have q berry like
fruit, in color black, covered with a
white bloom; the juniper has awl shaped
leaves, arranged i'll threes, large fruit,
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