Christmas trees: More than decoration
(AP) — A harvest of 35
million Christmas trees each
year isn’t going to disturb the
nation’s ecology very much.
However, it might upset you to
watch trucks, railroad cars and
sidewalk stalls stacked with the
fragrant, symmetrical trees that
will grace so many holiday
homes.
Most of the trees come from
Christmas tree plantations.
Every tree cut professionally —
or by cut-your-own visitors —
will be replaced on a two-or-
three-to-one basis during the
spring tree-planting season.
The National Christmas Tree
Growers Association says about
450,000 acres are devoted to
tree production in the United
States. About 15,000
individuals grow Christmas
trees and no other crops.
Many tree plantations are on
lands not well suited to other
agricultural production. The
industry generates about $70
million annually at the retail
level and provides more than
100,000 part-time and about
7,500 year-around jobs.
Christmas tree plantations
yield beautiful trees for the
holidays and contribute to a
better quality environment. The
young trees convert carbon
dioxide to pure oxygen as they
grow.
A Purdue University
Extension Service forester has
estimated that an acre of
growing Christmas trees
produces daily oxygen
requirements for 18 people.
The tree plantations also
provide green belts pleasing to
the eye and used as food and
cover areas by wildlife.
Christmas tree growers
strive, by means of new and
improved techniques, to
produce better quality trees.
They help nature by shearing
the trees in early summer,
controlling insect and disease
depredations and checking
complete vegetation.
These practices assure many
high quality, attractive trees on
retail lots shortly after
Thanksgiving.
Early settlers often found the
native Eastern red cedar was a
suitable evergreen Christmas
tree, although some objected to
the fine, flexible, quick-drying
needles.
The balsam fir has largely
been replaced by the Scotch
pine. In many areas, the Scotch
pine is the most common
Christmas tree. Because of its
natural bushy shape, it is easy
to prune. A 6- to 8-foot-tall tree
takes 8 to 10 years to grow.
To identify the type of
Christmas tree you are buying,
look at the tree’s needles.
Generally, needles will be held
on the branch either singly or in
clusters. If you can pull off the
twig needles that are held
together in twos and fives, you
are looking at a pine.
Several pines have bundles
of two needles. The Scotch pine
has two-needle bundles with
needles ranging from IV2 to 3
inches long, slightly twisted and
fairly stiff. The Scotch pine
retains needles well.
Red pine also has two
needles. These are 4 to 6 inches
long and are very flexible.
Austrian pine, not often used as
a Christmas tree, has two
needles in a cluster, 4 to 6
inches long, very stiff and sharp.
If you can pull off clusters
with five needles, the tree is
likely a white pine. The needles
of a white pine are thin and the
branches are somewhat
flexible. The white pine does
not retain needles indoors as
well as other pines, and is
generally not sold as a
Christmas tree.
Trees with single needles are
more difficult to identify. If the
needles pull off only as a single,
you may be looking at a fir,
spruce or hemlock.
If the individual needle is
square or diamond-shaped
Hanukkah happenings light December days
by Marie L. McLeod
Although Hanukkah, the
Jewish Feast of Lights, occurs in
late November or December, it
is not related to the Christian
celebration of Christmas.
The Jewish community
follows the lunar calendar, so
Hanukkah occurs on a different
day each year. This year it will
begin Dec. 15 which, according
to the calendar, is at sundown
on Dec. 14.
“Hanukkah is basically a
family thing, ” said Barry Laves,
a senior engineering technology
major and president of the Hillel
Foundation, a group of Jewish
students at Texas A&M
University.
He said since the end of the
semester occurs the same time
as Hanukkah begins, there will
not be many students left in the
Bryan-College Station area to
participate in the holiday. But
for those who do, there will be
services Dec. 15 at Rabbi Peter
Tarlow’s house.
It started in 165 B.C. when
the Macabees conquered the
Syrians in Israel, Laves said.
The Jewish people reclaimed
the Temple and spiritually
cleansed it.
Laves said they always kept
an “Eternal Light” burning in
the Temple, which was fueled
by one container of oil each
day.
After reclaiming the Temple,
miraculously, they found one
uncontaminated oil container,
which burned eight days
straight, signifying the length of
Hanukkah, he said.
The menorah, a
candelabrum that holds nine
candles and varies in shape
from family to family,
symbolizes the burning of the
container of oil, Laves said.
On the first night, the family
lights the Shamus, the ninth
candle, and also the first candle.
The remaining nights are the
same, with an additional candle
being lit each night. The end of
Hanukkah occurs when the
eighth candle has been lit and
bums down.
Scott Lewis, a senior
psychology major from
Houston, said the Jewish
celebration is fun, not serious
like Christmas.
In addition to lighting the
candles, the family says special
prayers, Lewis said. On the first
night, along with lighting the
candles, they say three prayers.
For the remaining seven nights,
they say two prayers.
Families usually get together
on the holiday’s first night for a
big meal, which includes
something fried in oil, relating
the dinner to the container of
oil, Lewis said.