The cones are the same size as on the red spruce, but they persist in remaining on the tree for several years. The wood is soft and weak and is used for sounding-boards, pulp, and light framing for houses.
Fig. 126. Black Spruce
The white spruce is similar to the other two, but lighter in color, cones a trifle longer and softer, and needles more slender. It is a northern tree; its wood is very white and clear-grained, and is used for finishing the interior of houses.
Norway spruce, as its name implies, is an importation from Europe, where its majestic height graces the mountains from the Alps to Norway and Sweden. It grows very tall, sometimes a hundred and fifty feet, and flourishes as well in America as in Europe. The cones are four or five inches long. Its wood is known in Europe as deal.
64. Cypress. In the swamps of our southern states, from Maryland south along the Gulf of Mexico, are found great dark forests of the bald cypress.
Fig. 127. Cypress
They grow directly out of the water and are famous for a peculiar formation of the roots called cypress knees,—lumpy growths which come up out of the water as if they were in search of air. The cypress is a tall, spirelike tree, which has the most delicate, feathery needles imaginable. They drop off in the fall, so that the tree is sometimes called deciduous cypress. The cones are roundish and about an inch long. The timber furnished by this tree is very handsome in grain and valuable for many parts of buildings, especially inside finishing.
65. The Balsam Fir, or our famous Christmas tree, is noted for its great healing qualities. In fact, sanitaria for invalids, especially consumptives, are frequently built in the midst of great fir forests, that the sufferers may inhale the pure mountain air, laden as it is with the odors of the balsam fir. The needles are often used to fill pillows, which are said to soothe tired and worn-out people to sleep.