Arborvitae

“ Noble trees they are that fill the hollow. Some have long since passed their prime. Their mighty branches are thick with moss and lichen, and fringed with green tongues of fern. In rifts that time and storm have carved in their huge columns, rowan and bramble and young holly trees are rooted. Grey arms of ivy, almost as broad and vigorous as they, are twined with fatal clasp about their sturdy stems. Where the pathway crosses at the ford, there stands a blasted tree: a giant oak, whose top, wrecked and shattered though it is, rises high above its forest brothers. ”

“ Small, recent growths of timber, even where they have succeeded an ancient forest, are not, as a rule, attractive. Their newness is too evident, and, except for a few passing birds, they are not apt to harbor much wild life. As I look at the mingled foliage of oaks and elms, beeches, hickories, and wild cherry, I give little heed to that before me and recall forests worthy of the name, doing precisely what I have declared unwise. A naturalist could find more material in these few acres of woodland than he could “work up” in a lifetime. ”

“ The bark of some of them, as the hemlock and larch, is of great value in tanning, and from others are obtained the various kinds of pitch, tar, turpentine, resin and balsams,' The pines and firs have circles of branches in imperfect whorls around the trunk, and, as one of these whorls is formed each year, it is easy to calculate the age of young trees. In thick woods the lower whorls of branches soon decay for want of light and air, and this leaves a smooth trunk, which rises without a branch, like a beautiful shaft, for a hundred feet or more. ”

“ In some cases the resemblance of different species is so close that only one other expedient will make distinction possible, namely, a knowledge of the region from which the wood has come. We know, for instance, that no longleaf pine grows in Arkansas and that no white pine can come from Alabama, and we can separate the white cedar, giant arbor vitæ of the West and the arbor vitæ of the Northeast, only by the difference of the locality from which the specimen comes. ”

“ Its white front, and massive stone chimnies, were completely embowered by a clump of superb maples, whose heavy branches twining their dark foliage, form a delightful arbor over the very entrance, from the first bursting forth of the tiny buds into perfect life and beauty, until autumn [327] comes with its garment of mourning, and the sere and yellow leaves slowly forsake the limbs which have been their birth-place. ”

“ The black-cherry-wood grows sometimes to that bulk, as is fit to make stools with, cabinets, tables, especially the redder sort, which will polish well; also pipes, and musical instruments, the very bark employ’d for bee-hives: But of this I am to render a more ample account, in the appendix to this Discourse. I would farther recommend the more frequent planting and propagation of fir, pine-trees, and some other beneficial materials, both for ornament and profit; especially, since we find by experience, they thrive so well, where they are cultivated for curiosity only. ”

“ There is a difference in color between the outer and inner wood, the older wood becomes darker and is called the heart-wood, the outer is the sap-wood. In Birds-eye Maple, and some other woods, the abortive buds are seen. They are buried in the wood, and make the disturbance which produces the ornamental grain. In sections of Pine or Spruce, no ducts can be found. The wood consists entirely of elongated, thickened cells or fibres. In some of the trees the pith rays cannot be seen with the naked eye. ”

“ It is, therefore, no derogation to the admirable qualities of our native oak, ash, and pine that it has been found to our advantage to cultivate such exotic species as larch, spruce, sweet chestnut, and sycamore. Among the vast variety of foreign forest trees introduced to this country during the nineteenth century, it is almost certain that some will prove of great economic value when submitted to scientific treatment. ”

“ They are not made of dwarf trees. There are little woods, as well as big woods, of oak, elm, ash, pine, willow, birch, beech, and larch. In some cases the little woods are composed of the growth which shoots up when the principal trunk of the tree has been cut down, but they are generally little merely because they are young, and are cut down for use before they have time to grow into forest-trees. ”

“ We cannot gather an orchid of any kind without marvelling at its intricate construction. And when we are looking at the orchid in its natural surroundings in the forest itself and see the enormous numbers and the immense variety, in size and form and habits, of the insects around the orchid, and think how the orchid has to select its own particular species of insect and cater for that, and the insect among all the flowers has to select the particular species of orchid ”

“ Several of the coniferous trees drop their leaves or needles in the fall, like the larch or tamarack, and some woods from evergreens are harder than some woods from broad-leaved trees. Yellow pine is harder than basswood, which, according to the rule, should be a hard wood. As a matter of fact, it is softer than the majority of woods cut from evergreens. The only way to gain a comprehensive knowledge of this interesting subject is by experience and study. Making a collection of woods, leaves, and seeds is one of the most fascinating studies a [533] boy can take up. ”

“ A close inspection also will discover curious creepers and climbers; and among the branches strange orchids hide their eccentric flowers. But the outward type of tree is the same as we have at home—trees resembling the ash, the beech, and the elm, only seldom so large, except by the streams, and never so beautiful. ”

“ Beating living Trees, Shrubs, and Vines.—The success of beating into the umbrella branches of living trees and shrubs depends on the particular kind of tree or shrub, on the condition and situation of these, and largely also upon the season. Pine trees are very productive from early in the spring to early in the summer, but much less so in midsummer and later on. Young Oak trees or Oak shrubs are much more preferred by the leaf-eating Coleoptera peculiar to this tree than the older trees. ”

“ In trees the terminal bud and certain axillary ones, differing according to the species or variety of tree, are, during the winter, much larger than the rest. These are the ones which naturally form the new growth, and upon their arrangement the character of branching and thus the form of the tree depend. Each species has some peculiarity in this regard, and thus there are differences in the branching of all trees. In opposite-leaved plants the terminal bud may be small and weak, while the two buds at its side may be strong and apt to grow. This causes a forking of the branches each year. ”

“ In the dense primeval forest we see nature's pruning exhibited upon a grand and perfect scale; tall, straight, and noble trunks rise majestically on every hand; not a twig nor limb breaks the symmetry of the gradually tapering shafts, that are clothed in bark which does not indicate that they had ever been furnished with branches; and yet they have borne branches from their base to their summit, and nature has so neatly removed them that we cannot detect the marks of her pruning-saw. How this has been effected, may be seen in any dense thicket of young forest growth. ”

“ Hence, perhaps, the fact that herbs so much oftener have finely cut leaves than is the case with trees. In the Umbellifers, for instance, almost all the species have the leaves much divided—more, I need hardly say, than is the case with trees. Shrubs and trees are characterized by more or less entire leaves, such as those of the laurel, beech, hornbeam, lime, or by similarly shaped leaflets, as in the ash, horse-chestnut, walnut.
There are, however, many groups of plants which, while habitually herbaceous, contain some shrubby species, or vice versa. ”

“ Even the trees most tolerant of shade in youth, like spruce, must have light later or perish, and hence in a forest there is the constant upward reach. This produces the characteristic "long-bodied" trunk of the forest tree, Fig. 71, in contrast to the "short-bodied" tree of the open, where the branches reach out in all directions, Fig. 72. In this constant struggle for existence is involved the persistent attempt of scattered seeds to sprout whenever there is an opening. The result is that a typical forest is one in which all sizes and ages of trees grow together. ”

“ The tree progresses very slowly in thickness of bole all this time, and generally soon falls a prey to disease. On the other hand, when the tree has its naturally fine large roots preserved, and is situated in open forest, and mixed with other kinds, these large roots diverging widely from the tree and each other, have a much larger less-sought space to forage in; and the tree enjoying a long period of luxuriant growth before it fall much into seed-bearing, acquires strength of constitution to thrive and increase for ages under this drain. ”

“ As the season for Arbor Day and tree-planting comes on, just before the buds begin to swell and are getting ready to cover the trees with a fresh mantle of leaves, it is well—as it is also when the leaves have fallen from the trees in autumn—to give attention to the bare trees and notice the characteristic forms of the various species, the manner in which their branches are developed and arranged among themselves, for a knowledge of these things will often enable one to distinguish the different kinds of trees more readily and certainly than by any other means. ”

“ These amazing trees, members of the genus ficus, sometimes extend to cover an acre or more of ground. To walk under one is like entering the darkness of a forest of young trees. By the clearing away of most of these aërial branches, a great arbor is made for the comfort of people in regions where the sun's rays are overpowering in the middle of the day.
Our own fig trees in North America are but sprawling parasitic trees, unable to stand alone. They are found only in the south of Florida, and therefore are generally unknown. ”

“ The trees here grow on a sort of amphitheatre of rocks, all of colossal size, and the most widely different forms, no two of the same species adjoining each other, their stems and branches adorned with the most beautiful parasites and the blood-red leaves of innumerable creepers, which in their lavish luxuriance now stretch like garlands from tree to tree, now hang perpendicularly down from the very highest branch of the tree like a network of green lace, till they sweep along the ground. ”

“ The Western arbor-vitae [24] (Thuja gigantea) grows to a size truly gigantic on low rich ground. Specimens ten feet in diameter and a hundred and forty feet high are not at all rare. Some that I have heard of are said to be fifteen and even eighteen feet thick. Clad in rich, glossy plumes, with gray lichens covering their smooth, tapering boles, perfect trees of this species are truly noble objects and well worthy the place they hold in these glorious forests. It is of this tree that the Indians make their fine canoes. ”

“ The climbing of the arboreal species is almost like flight, if I may so speak—for their skill among the branches surpasses all expectation. Leaps of from eight to ten yards are to them quite possible achievements. From the topmost boughs of a tree they leap to a lower one, which is forcibly bent downwards by the shock, from this at the moment of rebound they give themselves a strong impetus, and, stretching tail and hind-legs out behind them to steer their course, shoot like an arrow through the air. ”

“ In some parts, more especially where the woods have been undisturbed by the axe, trees of fair height and girth may be found; but most of the wood is of stunted growth, consisting chiefly of fir-trees about twenty or thirty feet high, and not more than three or four inches in diameter. These commonly grow so closely together that their twigs and branches interlace from top to bottom, while among them may be seen innumerable old and rotten stumps and branches, or newly-fallen trees, which, with the young shoots and brushwood, form a tangled and often impenetrable thicket. ”

“ Other timber trees are known here by the names of Pink-wood, Carpodontos lucida, Hard-wood, a species of Olea, Sasafras, Athosperma moschata, Stinkwood, Zieria arborescens, &c. Forest Tea Tree, a species of Leptospermum, is valued for fuel; some crooked portions of its trunk are finely veined, and well adapted for fancy-work. The black substance forming part of the stems of tree ferns, is used for reeding, in inlaying, for which purpose it is superior to Ebony. ”

“ An arboretum is a collection of trees and shrubs, [Pg 224] in which all the different species of natural order are planted together; and it does not necessarily imply that these orders should be arranged in any particular manner; as indeed botanists are not agreed as to how they should be placed, Jussieu having adopted one plan, De Candolle another, and Dr. Lindley another. The only essential point is, that all the plants which agree sufficiently to form an order should be placed together ”

“ Even when dying, its foliage takes on the earliest and richest hues of autumn.
The trees about our door become in a sense our companions. They appeal to the eye, fancy, and feelings of different people differently. Therefore I shall leave the choice of arboreal associates to those who are to plant them—a choice best guided by observation of trees. Why should you not plant those you like the best, those which are the most congenial? ”