The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-11-30
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director.
Washington, D. Q.
CHRISTMAS FIxINGs.


now practically a great Christmas
tree farm, according to the American
Forestry association, and one which is
being badly overworked. This state
furnishes annually about 5000, 600
| trees for decorative purposes. These
I trees are by far the most profitable
! crop which many hill sections of the
state can grow, but unless the cutting
is better regulated, the association
J says, the crop will be exhausted. Re
! forestation of large areas and better
fire protection are also needed.
4 The association gives us a most in
/ teresting account of all the evergreen
! plants which suddenly invade the
cities about this time of the year
| Christmas trees, it says, are mostly
| either frs or spruces. The balsam fir
| is unquestionably the best known and
most widely distributed of our native
| frs. It is one of the most beautiful
! evergreen trees native to North Amer
! lea. 1t frequents boys, swamps and
| other wet places. The balsam fir is a
| tree which satisfies many human
| wants, but the greatest of all its gifts
| is the Christmas tree. AS a Christmas
! tree it has no superior.
The European fir, SO common thru
| out 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.
| Careful examination of the trunk
| of the balsam will reveal a large num-
| Der of little blisterlike sacs of balsam.
| If one takes a knife and punctures
| them the balsam will flow freely.
This balsam when refined is used in
/ our scientific laboratories to attach
| cover class to microscopic slides. Bal
sam is regarded as an excellent medi-
cine in the treatment of throat and
| pulmonary troubles. Many noun
| taineerS collect the balSam from the
1 blisters on the trees and then store it
| away for family use. 1t is a common
practice in the north woods to collect
/ large quantities of balsam leaves and
use them in filling pillows and cush-
| ions, for the leaves when dried emit a
very fragrant balsam odor. The wood
| is soft, does not contain resin passages
| and ranges in color from white to
| brown. 1t weighs about twenty-four
pounds per cubic foot and is used ex-
| tensiVely in the manufacture of pa
per pulp, crates and packing boxes.
There are twenty different kinds of
spruce trees in the world. All of them
| are beautiful evergreen trees. They
| occur in every country in the northern
| hemisphere. Eight of them are ma
| tive to North America, three being
| found in the eastern part and five in
the western part of the country.
What Holly Is.
The Christmas holly can readily be
recognized at all seasons of the year
| by its deep green leaves which are
armed with spines along the margin.
The leaves are bright and they often
! reflect light as mirrors. The small
| bright red berries are also a helpful
/ means of Identification in fall and
winter. An old manuscript in the
British Museum states that the ''holy
| hath berys as red as any rose" De-
Vout people regard the leaves of the
holly as a symbol of the Savior's
crown OF thcrns.
| The. belly wreath is attractive and
popular, but unfortunately the nsth-
| DDS of collecting the branches are very
| destructive. In many instances the
tops of the trees are cut out complete
| ", leaving nothing but an erect bare
trunk. We need the holly sprig for
decorative purposes at Christmas. the
American Forestry Association sa-s
| but in order that a future supply may
| be insured, special steps must be TAX
en- at once to regulate the cutting in
such a way that all the existing trees
may continue to produce annually an
abundant supply of thrifty branch
let's.
The American holly. also called
Christmas holly, and the closely re-
lated European holly, are linked in
separately with our Christmas tradi-
TONS Many people are familiar with
| the holly leaves and berries but few
| of them know that they grow upon
trees which are common in the coastal
plain regions of the South and found
locally as far north as Pennsylvania
and along the Atlantic coast to south
ern Maine.
While the Christmas holly may
reach a height of so feet and a
diameter of to feet in Arkansas
and Texas, it rarely exceeds 20 feet
In height and few inches in diameter
in the, extreme northern part of it's
natural range.
| Another Christmas gift of the forest
| is the mistletoe. 1t is the only para
site plant that is used for adornment
| at Christmas time. 1t is sometimes
| called a tree thief, for 1t gets all its
which 1t lives. Travelling turnout the
| south one may see thousands of trees
literally festooned with the mistletoe,
It sometimes grows in the form of
witch's broom. or one may see 1t
dangling down from the branches of a
tree in graceful array. 1t always ap-
| propFiates for it's own development
| the life blood of the tree upon which it
feeds.
There are more than 400 species of
| mistletoe known in the world. Most
of them occur in the tropics, and near
| ly all of them are parasitic. Many
varieties are found in the United States.
They occur from the coast of New Jer-
sey southwark and westward.
How Afistletoe Grows.
The mistIetoe is so common in the
state of Oklahoma that it has been
selected as the state flower. If you
question an Oklahoman about the
| parasitic plant as a state flower, he
is likely to answer that II man may
tap maple trees fer sugar, and the
pine tree for turpentine, it is fair for
the rnistletoe to tap trees so that 1t
may develop and become available for
decorative use.
The mistletoe is not only unique in
its appearance, and in its Towering
habits, but also because of its struc-
lture A careful examination of the
faaves of the mistIetoe will reveal that
they are almost nerveless, thick and
fleshy and if one has magnifying
glass and examines the lower surface
OF the leaf he will find only about 200
| breathing pores to the square inch,
while in the common lilac there occur