Show what W ath is christ h in h u a T A V y I 1 J M 4 M 1 f 14 Q INC 4 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON HAT Is christmas without a 0 christmas tree not much of 0 a day every one w will 11 agree to for the absence of tills this emblem e of christmas would mean ikenn that something very essential to our yuletide Yule tlde cole ccle b ration would bo be looking yet 11 how ow jnnny of us give any thought to to tills this very i cry necessary part of our christmas celebration liow how many anny are used every year where they tome from who gets them bliem for uv fire there different varieties of ever evergreens greens Is tile cutting of christmas trocia trees n factor in the alic depletion tion of our forests against which we tire constantly I 1 y being warned tind a dozen other interesting questions which re readily come to mind some of those questions can be answered briefly but others require more extended explanation As for the number required to fill our needs it Is in lie file neighborhood of six fix million trees tree s annually the trees which find greatest favor in the east cast come from nova scotia one fourth to one half of the trees used in the north and east cast come from new england and new york while tile the middle west draws small quantities from minnesota wisconsin and michigan canada however Is the largest contributor of christmas trees and supplies well veil over half tile the total quantity used in common with other christmas preparations tile the of christmas trees begins long before shoppers have begun their worrying worn ing about gifts most of the lie trees sold in the ininger cities are cut in the forest depths and hauled forty or fifty miles to the nearest railroad operations must he be completed before snowdrifts snow drifts block the forest brulls and render them lin impassable passable hundreds of men labor for almost a month before christmas eve unloading sorting ind and distributing trl trees to the millions who want them now new york alone requires to carloads car londs of trees annually Chic chicago ligo uses to carloads carion ds n and nd philadelphia about the same amount other oilier large centers like boston baltimore pittsburgh cleveland find detroit require from to carloads each A car contains about 1800 trees the annual bill for Christ christinas trees and othor other greens such as holly and mistletoe Is a tremendous lou 8 one conservatively estimated at least ten int million lion collais Is spent for the lie family christmas treo tree with its attendant holly wreaths and sprays of mistletoe As for the llie question of tile cut of Christ christmas trees depleting our forests let a forestry expert answer ns as was done in a recent issue of the nature by albert A hansen thus A question hint is brought up tip every christmas season by the conservative conservationists Is th the c restriction of the use of trees in tile lie interest of forest conservation it Is true that in order to meet tile annual demand somewhere in the he neighborhood of six million trees are arc needed but when the facts tire looked at in proper perspective spec tive no one need hesitate in celebrating tile the Christ christmas season by a custom that has been handed down from generation to generation since the lays days when our pagan ancestors gathered around the blazing yule yale log in the first place most of our christmas trees tire the result of thinning heavy stands of evergreen that are actually improved by tills this process INn nature ture you know Is so BO larash that there are practically railways more trees present than can possibly mature although wise foresters hove have no sympathy with ith the joy killing and ill informed conservationist who advocates a treeless christmas they are in accord decord with the alie movement to regulate tile trade to prevent the annual waste represented by the wholesale destruction of trees to holster bolster up tip the prices on overstocked over stocked markets a waste lias has been estimated during some sen sell sons to reach the appalling total of ar 25 per cent of the entire supply there should be smine way of ascertaining market demands or else of ing of tile the surplus to noody families that c can 11 n ill afford to buy their own trees there must be many families fani illes without the cheer of christmas evergreens ever greens and truly ehni ft hat Is christmas without the decorated tree in tre the cor aglow with the lights und and with be V A 1 ex president and mrs coolidge beside the great living christmas tree around which the community celebration in the national capital centers on christmas eve 2 workers alna up bundles of christmas trees which w hi h have been cut down in the maine forests to prepare for the coming christmas season 3 even old dobbin has his christmas treel tree mrs M R blumenberg vice president of the animal rescue league in washington Is shown with two guests at the annual christmas party and dinner given by the league S rib boned presents it Is one of the most u I 1 symbols of Chilst christendom endom and every home should have hae one instead of let us have BO christmas trees one for every family let the season that celebrates the birth of him who loved little children bring to each house ft where here children dwell the lie decorated tree that means so much in their lives As for the lie different kinds of evergreens ever greens used for christmas trees there are many which can be obtained for this purpose hut but there are several which are definite favorites for this important annual role the aristocrats tire are the lie irs firs mainly because of their line pyramidal shape beautiful deep green color and 11 11 d soft fragrant frn grant needles which do not shed easily after the tree begins to dry these trees can usually be recognized by the fact that the flattened leaves are arranged in two rows on the horizontal hoi bionto branches es due to the twisting of the lent leaf base each needle Is a shiny dirk green above and except for the lie prominent pi eminent midrib Is silvery white underneath due to the multitude of breathing pores on the under surfaces the llie species of fir vary with the locality but the most popular kind hind offered in the lie fast east Is the balsim fir ir the bark baik of which yields the well known canada balcain used tn in medicines and perfumes in the southern states tile the fraser fir or site she balsam very similar to the northern balshin ir fir Is common on an the marl maket et while on the iacino coast the lie favorite Is the handsome white or ir fir a species that frequently graces graas eastern lawns as an ornamental competing with the lira firs for christmas popular ity it in the east are the spruces spruced with their scattered four sided needles that hint seem to point in till all directions spruces spruced are frequently confused with pines but they are easily distinguished by the fact that pine leaves novais occur in groups of from two to five while spruce leaves leaver grow singly on the big city markets of the eastern seaboard the black and red spruces spruced predominate but these two species to a large extent give way to the less desirable norway spruce in the middle west the black spruce the wood of which Is used in violin malting making and tile the twigs formerly in spruce beer has haa short thick pale bluish green greca leaves while tre the foliage of the red spruce jis Is slender and of a dark green or yellowish green cast the ors firs and spruces spruced comprise the best grades of christmas trees Th the eless less expensive kinds tire are usually pines or hemlock in in the enst cast the white pine with its needles in bundles of five to in the south the scrub pine with needles in pairs and in the west tile well known lodgepole pine are the principal species much more used for christmas trees it if for no other reason than that thai it Is much more widely distributed distribute and much loss less valuable as lumber Is the small scrubby jack pine and its numerous related species I 1 As for the hemlock it Is one pi of the noblest of the evergreens ever greens most of the conifers fers stand on the edges oil abir ends of forest katics holding territory tile the farthest north the highest up the mountains the deepest into tile the swamps and bogs and other oilier marginal lands hinds that the broad leaved summer forests hove have no use for rill but the hemlock consorts with the finest of the hardwoods hardwood 1 the llie highest typo type of northern forist in the world Is the beech mople lt 5 hemlock aren area of michigan in europe also where the forest Is mostly straight beech instead of beech mople tile hemlock goes with the beech the of which german children sing nt at christmas Is a hemlock tile the german tannenbaum Is similar to tile the english bou to tan for the bark of the hemlock Is one of the best sluices sources of tanning material and indeed was for many years the tiling filing for which the tree ans chiefly valued the wood of the hemlock while fairly strong Is rattier rather coarse and brash not comparing with pine or spruce but in tile the evil lays days that ore are upon us now with timber growing ever scarcer hemlock Is considered a n rather valuable lumber tree the firs spruces spruced and pines from tile the new england forests and the appalachians in the hast east the northern enste lands in the lie central states and the mountainous regions of the pacific hinterland supply the bulk of the christmas dem demands hut but there are a number of minor species of considerable importance should not be overlooked it Is by no means unco uncommon to find a familiar ornamental ornament nl species with flattened scaly foll foliage offered among the better class of trees and the common red cedar or juniper source of cedar cli chests ests fence posts and matches sold among the less expensive offerings another evergreen which Is often used for a christmas tree Is deserving of mention out in the pacific northwest the commonest forest tree Is the douglas fir or douglas spruce Botanic nIly the tree Is a sort of orphan it Is not really a fir though it resembles it in some respects neither Is it t a spruce though it Is coiled called douglas spruce about as often as it Is called douglas fir lumbermen sometimes sell it as douglas pine though its kinship to the pines Is much more remote than to lie firs and cpru aps cps even its latin lail n name falls to give it a home for translated into english it means simply false hemlock and the tree Is ns as far from being n hemlock as it Is from being a pine even its latin name Is not good latin for pseudo ps cudo is greek and tsuga is in japanese a weird combination indeed but though the tree Is hard to place botanically it is easy enough to tell it apart from its relatives its leaves place it intermediately between spruce and irs firs for the needles are somewhat stilt stiff and prickly but not so much so as those of tile the spruce I 1 it Is the cones of the douglas fir ho however weier which really identify it they are unique among cones there is no confusing them with those of any other tree They hang hing downward as do those of the spruce but from between each two scales find over the next nest scale below it grows a peculiar three pointed appendage there is ii an entirely different class of christ tons mas trees live specimens purchased froni from nurseries to be planted in tile open as living reminders of tile season of good cheer this Is a new find delightful custom caused by high prices tin the rapid growth of the conservation attitude wild trees and an increasing desire for benti beautifying tIrY home surroundings although wild trees dug out of woods and fields may be used they are more dini cult to handle less attractive and for far more fragile of life than nursery grown plants the latter are usually supplied with a ball of earth around tile the roots on which an overcoat of burlap has been fitted the alie burlap co covered ered hall of earth may aset be set into n tub lub of directly on the floor and the burlap hidden with colored crepe paper when ill the festivities are arc over the tree may be maintained la in a thriving condition by mei merely rely keeping the soil moist until the ground has thawed out to permit tile the digging of a hole for its reception there Is no need even to remove tile the burlap which soon rots anil and Is easily penetrated when root growth Is resumed in the cpr spring ing th the e chances for successful transplanting are excellent and the little christmas tree will soon grow to robust proportions with its irlue constantly enhanced by tle tile pleasant memories it inspire Ins lrea and by its cier ever increasing beauty Q by western newspaper union |