Evening star., 1924-12-21

the crack Of axes and the
l. shouts of woods bosses.
Stand by" some one yells
as mighty fir comes crashing to
earth. Heavy sleds haul the harvest
to the local freight yards. where the
trees are stacked high on gondolas
and dispatched southwark to gladden.
the hearts of children and grown-ups
on Christmas day.
The history of Christmas tree usage
extends far into the mists of an
tiquity. Some say it is connected with
the legendary Tree Of Time, ''Ygdra-
sill" the great tree of Morse my
thology, within whose roots and
branches heaven and earth are bound
Some say the custom may be traced
to the Egyptians, who, at the time of
the Winter solstice, decorated their
portals with branches OF the date
palm-the symbol of life triumphant
over death.
The United States annually uses
between four million and five million
Christmas trees, according to esti-
mates by the United States Forest
Service. This equals approximately
the com bined consumption of Eng
land, Scotland and Wales and is about
% per cent greater than that of Ger
many New York and the New Eng
land States consume 100000 trees.
The Christmas tree ship on the
Great Lakes, which brings greenery
from the upper peninsula of Michf
gan to Chicago or Detroit for ship
ment south. is usually one of the lat
est events in navigation each Winter.
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont
the Berkshire Hills in Massachusetts,
and the Adirondacks and Catskills
in New York are the main sources of
supply for New York. Philadelphia,
Boston. Baltimore and Washington.
The trees vary in size from 5 to
35 feet in height, with prices rang
ing from 25 or so cents up to $50
each. Forest Service officials say
there is very little profit in the
business for those who furnish the
material, the trees being handled
mainly by farmers and owners of
woodlots, who look upon the trees as
a gift of nature and consider only the
labor of cutting and hauling.
Contrary to popular belief. there
is no organized business in handling
the trees. Bill Jones, a local lumber
man or grocer in a New England viii
lage. may make 1t known that the
preceding year he made a few hun
dred dollars in trees. His friend Jake
thereupon gets into the game, and
the result of all the Jakes getting in
Is that there is a surplus of trees that
year. Everybody loses money, and
the following year there is a short
age of trees, with high prices Years
of surplus and shortage thus al
ternate, depending entirely upon the
number of people engaged in the
temporary business.
The main reason for high prices to
consumers in recent years, according
to Forest Service officials, is the in
creased cost of labor and freight, and
the fact that each year 1t becomes
necessary to go deeper into the woods
or higher on the mountains to obtain
desirable stock. From five to twenty
years are required to grow a crop
of trees of usable height and thick
ness.
In European countries the cutting
of small trees for Christmas is ap-
proved as a means for improving the
forests and as source of revenue.
1t has been demonstrated, for ex-
ample, that after the cutting of
Christmas trees of certain evergreen
species above the lower whorl of
branches. the remaining limbs turn
abruptly upward and often reach a
height of six feet in less than two
years. Thus, If a crop Of trees can
be cut without actually destroying
the parent tree and new crop sprouts
within two or three years, the sys-
tenn may become Of considerable
economic. Importance to the industry.
The quarantine officers of the Fed