HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1987-12-23, Page 26Page 10/Lucknow Sentinel/Wed., December 23, 1987
VEEP '1111•11111P
Blessed
Be He
May this holiday
season hold a
special meaning.
for you.
Askes Bros..
Construction
BERT, JENNY,
MARIE AND KATHRYN
WINGHAM
357.3053.
I
son's
Gr- -tins
X11!
Have a full
measure of health
and happiness this
Christmas. We
thank all our
wonderful patrons.
Ashfield
Service
Centre
Tony Miltenburg & Staff
529-7764
May you share
in the joy that
is Christmas.
Many thanks
to all.
LYNN
Lowry Farm
Systems LTD.
and Staff
AMBERLEY
395-2615
O
and through
the woods,
• . we're sending
special holiday
wishes to you! -
Thanks all.
Anderson Flax
Products Ltd.
LUCKNOW 528-3203
Snobelen
Farms Ltd.
RIPLEY 395-5167
Dungannon Grain
DUNGANNON 529-7040
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By Cherie Conley
Types of Christmas trees
Grant them, your blessing, Friend of Trees, we pray
On those who deck green boughs for Christmas Day.
(Violet Alleyn Storey)
BALSAM FIR
1!
When Christmas tree shopping time rolls around, many families set out
with only one tree in mind - the balsam fir (Abies balsamea). This
fragrant tree holds it's needles faithfully for a long time after harvesting
as if determined to see the holiday through to the very Twelfth Night.
It's short needles, one-half to one and one-quarter inches long, are flat, dark green,
and usually round. Two to three-inch purple cones, like colorful candles, stand
upright among the upper, branches, and tiny twigs, growing at right angles to the
branches, form the sign of the cross on every bough.
DOUGLAS FIR
For all-around beauty and economic importance, the Douglas fir (Psedotsuga men-
ziesii) ranks high. The name honors the horticultural explorer, David Douglas, who
sent its seeds to England in 1827. It, reaches stately heights of more than 260 feet and
is one of the most important timber trees of North America. The Douglas fir makes a
beautiful Christmas tree. The soft, pliable, narrow needles of yellowish to bluish
green are attached all around the twig instead of the flat arrangement of the balsam
fir, and the needles have 'a delightfully fresh lemony scent when rubbed.
BLACK SPRUCE
The swampy areas of northern Minnesota yield bountiful stands of black spruce
(Picea mariana), and this hardy tree grows far north in the Alaskan timberline. The
small cones, ranging from three-fourths to one and one-fourth inches long, are a dull,
gray -brown with rounded, stiff, slightly toothed scales. They can stay with the trees
for upwards of 20 years. The black spruce is primarily a source of pulpwood, but
when the Christmas season approaches they play an important part in the festivities.
They commonly spend the holidays with their four-sided, bluish -gray, short needles
dyed a deep green or boasting a coat of artificial snow.
RED PINE
Another pine, the red pine (Pinus resinosa), has been known and loved for many
years as the Norway pine. This magnificent tree, however, is totally American. The
needles, a deep glossy green grouped in pairs, are slender and flexible, sharply
pointed and about four to six inches in Length. me cones are about two inenes long,
without prickles. In the holiday home this handsome tree seems to look its best
spotlighted rather than lighted with bulbs.
SCOTCH PINE
The Setts or "Scotch" pine (Pinus sylvestris) has had a bad reputation in folklore.
Evil spirits were once believed to live in them, using its branches as broomsticks to
fly through the air. Actually, the Scots pine shares its good bounty with man. The at-
mosphere which we breathe with such appreciation when we walk in a pine forest is
caused by two of its beneficial products, resin and turpentine. Under ideal tree plan-
tation conditions, it responds to the pruning and shearing which soon produces a
shapely, bushy tree ready to wear the bells and baubles of Christmas. The interesting
blue-green needles, two to a cluster, measure from one and one-half to three inches
long.