The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-12-18

and most widely distributed of our native frs. It is one of the most beautiful evergreen trees native to North America. It frequents bogs, swamps and other wet places. Among its chief associates are the Ameri- can larch. Arbor Vitae, Black spruce and Red spruce. Its companion spe- eies are not many, for few trees can withstand the extreme wet and cold conditions of our northern bogs and swamps.
 'fThe Baisam fir is a tree which satisfies many human wants, but the greatest of all It's gifts is the Christ mas tree. As Christmas tree II has no superior. and in many locali- ties no other native tree has Christ mas tree qualities that even approach it. The European fir. so common throughout many parts of continental Europe has many characteristics in common with our -Balsam fir. It, too, has been used for centuries as a Christmas tree. The similarity be- tween these two trees is very marked. which may have helped de- yelop our high regard for the Bal sam fir and rate it as the foremost Christmas tree of the eastern United States.
 BaIsam On Trunk
 "On the trunk of the ba1sam will be found large number of little blister-iike saes of balsam. A finger rail will puncture the little blisters, and there will flow small quan- -tity of balsam, as clear as crystal. When refined, this is used in making microscopic slides in our scientific laboratories. It is used chiefly to at taeh cover glass to the slides. Bal sam is also regarded as an excellent medicine.
 Zones and buds of the baisam fir are also very distinctive. The buds are almost round, about one-six;h of an inch long, clustered at the end of the twig and appear to be covered with a coating of varmsh. The cones are from two to four inches long, cylindrical, and stand erect on the twigs. Their scales fall off soon after they reach maturity and leave a bare central axis. This is an unusual habit among evergreen trees. In the north woods many col feet the leaves and use them in fill ing pillows and cushions, for the leaves when dried emit a very frag- rant odor The wood is soft, does not contain resin passages and ranges in color from white to brown. It weighs about 24 pounds per Dubc foot, and Is used extensively in the manufacture of paper pulp, crates and packing boxes.
 There are 20 kinds of Spruce trees and they occur in every country in the northern hemisphere. Eight are na- tive to North America, three being found in the eastern part and five in the western.
 lao xtr1.f fol, ad with spines along the margin dis tinguish Christmas holly. The leaves are so bright and they often reflect light as mirrors. The small bright rt1 berries are also helpful means of identification in fall and in win ter. An old manuscript in the Brit ish museum states that the Holy hath berys as red as any rose De- vout people regard theleaves of the holly as symbol of the Saviour $ crown of thorns.
 Destructive Methods Used
 Unfortunately the methods of col leoting the branches is very destruc- tive. In many instances the tops of the trees are cut out completely, leav- ing nothing but an erect bare trunk. We need the holly sprig for decora- tive purposes at Christmas, but in orr der that future supply may be in sured, special steps must be taken at once to regulate the cutting in such way that all the existing trees may continue to produce annually an abun- dant supply of thrifty branchlets.
 The American holly, also called Christmas holly and the closely re- lated holly, are linked with our Christmas traditions. Many people are familiar with the holly leaves and barries. but few of them know that they grow upon trees which are com mon in the coastal plain. regions Of the south and found locally as far north as Pennsylvania and along the Atlantic coast to southern Maine. While the Christmas holly may reach height of 50 feet and q diameter or two to three feet in Arkansas and Texas, 1t rarely exceeds 20 feet in height and a few inches in diameter