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Show It's Easy to Select A Christmas Tree That Holds Needles TF YOUR Christmas tree shed 1U needles early last winter, you probably had the wrong kind of tree-All tree-All trees will drop their leaves after aft-er they are cut and stored in a warm room, but some kinds hold their leaves far longer than otheri. Trees used most commonly on Christmas are the spruces, fir, hemlock, hem-lock, pine and redcedars. Spruces are the least desirable of all evergreens because they are the first to shed their needles. A spruce can be identified by grasping a branch tightly, as its sharp pointed needles will prick your hand. The ideal Christ mas tree is the fir. It resembles the ipruce except that its needles are not sharp. The needles stay on the tree for a long time, and become a golden brown before they finally drop. Needles of a Douglas fir are flat and soft to the touch. This popular popu-lar tree can be recognized by examining ex-amining the cones which have small appendages on each side. Hemlocks tend to shed their foliage fo-liage early when kept indoors at a warm temperature. The distinguishing distinguish-ing feature of this tree is the two white lines on the lower side of each of its needle-like narrow leaves. Pines have never been very popular popu-lar as Christmas trees, in spite of the fact they do not shed their needles nee-dles early. This is probably due to their unsymmetrical appearance, which does not closely resemble the conventional Christmas tree. Their SKI longer needles ara associated In clusters clus-ters of three or five. Redcedars are occasionally used as Christmas trees in neighborhoods neighbor-hoods where they grow wild. The foliage is tiny and scalelike, and is prickly to the touch. It grows berries instead of cones. No matter what kind of Christmas Christ-mas tree you select, it will hold ita needles longer if It is standing in water. Place a little water in the base of your Christmas tree stand, and you will be bothered less with falling needles than you were last year. |