Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 73, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 December 1916 — A Beautiful Tree. [ARTICLE]

A Beautiful Tree.

The fir tree, generally used for the Christmas tree, la one of the moat beautiful of the large coniferous family of trees. In youth Its branches point upward, full of the ardor of life, eagerly aspiring, but as It grows older, its long arms sweep to the earth with lowly genuflections, though its crown still retains the uplifted attitude of youth. But In every stage of its life It retains so attractive a symmetry that It is sometimes chosen for the central ornament of a large lawn. The name of “flr” was originally given by our Scandinavian forefathers to the pines, then later on it was transferred to both spruces and flrs. But modern botanists now divide the spruces and flrs, placing the spruce in the genus Plcea and the flr in genus Abies.—Craftsman.