Evergreens

Evergreen.

       Everybody knows and loves a Christmas tree, and you will agree that without a tree no Christmas celebration is complete. As far back as two thousand years ago, people in northern countries decorated trees with bright ornaments and lighted candles. Their feast, held the last of December, celebrated the beginning of longer days. Children would dance in circles about the decorated tree, believing that the imp who lived in the tree and who was imprisoned in their dancing circle would grant any gift they desired, in return for his freedom. Because they were so straight and tall and because they were the only trees that could hold leaves in spite of the cold and snow, people chose to decorate evergreen trees. When the early Christians came to these countries, they adopted the custom of decorating evergreen trees, but they did so in honor of the Christ child.
       Here in the  United States usually spruce, balsam, and fir are used for Christmas trees. Some of the other American members of the evergreen family that are sometimes used are the pine, juniper, and arborvitae.
       An evergreen tree does lose its leaves, but not all at one time. In the course of one year from two or four to as many as eight to fourteen leaves are gradually shed, and new ones appear each season; however, since the tree does not shed all its leaves at any one time, it is always green.
       Pines are easy to distinguish because their "needles" or leaves occur in clusters. Around Chicago we have two native pines: the tall white pine bears its needles in bundles of five, and the short, scrubby jack pine has two stubby needles in each cluster. The pinon pine, which grows in the southwestern part of the United States, has small, knobby pine cones that, when they burst open, drop sweet pine nuts. The Native Americans gathered these nuts and feasted on the kernels when plentiful long ago. The squirrels and mice still hide them away for winter use, while some people today gather these for food to send to the market place.
       France and England import juniper from the United States for their pencils. Usually evergreens have cones, but the junipers and yews have blue, berry-like fruit which is eaten by birds and mice.
       Most evergreens have a gummy liquid called resin in their wood. The sweet smell of pine and cedar wood is due to the resin. Insects do not like resin, so people make bags and cedar chests of juniper wood for storing clothing, and bundles of fragrant cedar chips are placed in closets to discourage moths from setting up housekeeping in Mother's fur Coat.
       The ancient Egyptians believed that they were going to need their bodies and belongings in the after world. They constructed their coffins and funeral boats of cedar wood because they knew resinous woods are usually more durable than those without resin.
       The arborvitae, or tree of life, is an evergreen commonly planted about houses. The Natives called the tree feather-fan‚ and, as the wood was tough and readily split into thin sheets, they used arborvitae wood for canoe frames. Today the wood is used for roof shingles.
       Evergreens grow in cold, dry climates where most broad-leafed trees cannot live. High on the mountain side where the cold becomes intense, evergreen trees are found clinging on the rock walls where there seems to be no root hold. Those trees that grow farthest up the mountain are often twisted and stunted by the fierce winds. The branches on the windward side are broken and the bark wounded, causing the trees to grow in unusual shapes.
       Across the northern and southeastern areas of our country there once stretched forests of tall, straight evergreens. Many of the trees in these forests were cut for their valuable timber, and often destructive forest fires broke out and destroyed the trees that were still standing. More important than the lumber is the fact that forests hold moisture from rain and snow. The deep, rich soil of the forest holds water and allows it to run off gradually, thus irrigating farmland throughout the summer when water is most needed. Marie B. Pabst