Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/550

SPRUCE. 474 SPUE. excelsa) , the principal European species, is of rapid growth, attains a lieight of 150 feet or more, and is extensively planted both as a forest tree and as an ornamental. The timber is valu- able for fuel and for house buildinp. and is large- ly exported from Nor«a.y and Sweden for masts and spars of sailing vessels. The tree yields resin and turjientine; its bark is used in tanning and for basket-making, etc. The wood is used for wood pulp and paper manufacture. In Nortli America the prevailing species over the greatest extent of territory are the white and the black spruce {Pirra alba and Picea nigra), although in lumbering the two species are seldom recog- nized. The former is found from New York to British Columbia and northward to Newfound- land, Hudson Bay, and Alaska. It is a hand- some tree 50 to 150 feet high. The wood is light, soft, compact, nearly odorless, light yellow, and with scarcely distinguishable sap wood. It is largely used for general building, spars, flooring, etc. It also yields some of the spruce gum of commerce. The latter has a distribution some- what similar to the white spruce, except that it descends along the movmtains to North Carolina and Tennessee and probably does not reach Alas- ka. It is a somewhat smaller tree, but is other- wise very similar to the white spruce. It forms immense forests in JIaine. New York, Canada, and elsewhere, and is largely used for wood pulp and paper. These two species are the chief and best source for wood paper-making. The gum of the black spruce is used for chewing. The branches are used in the preparation of essence of sprvice, and by adding sugar or molasses and slightly fermenting, spruce beer is obtained. The hark contains tannin and is used to some extent in tanning leather. The roots are often split into narrow strips and made into bas- kets, coarse mats, ropes, etc. The Sitka or tide- land spruce {Picea sitckensis) is a large tree oc- curring abundantly from northern California to Alaska, following the coast as far as the island of Kadiak. It is one of the largest trees of North America, attaining in its lower regions a heiglit of more than SOU feet and a diameter of 7 or 8 feet at 100 feet from the base. Specimens upon the Islands in southeastern Alaska measured more than 200 feet in height and 25 feet in circum- ference -t feet from the ground. The timber of tliis tree is very valuable, entering into all kinds of building operations. In the tree-planting oper- ations in the West the spruces, especially the white and the Norway, have proved among the most adaptable of evergreen species. The black, being of slower growth, less ornamental, and not so well adapted to dry soils, is less frequently planted. For ornamental planting none excels the blue spruce, which is of rather slow growth. All are hardy and all have been extensively planted in Europe. Each of the American species has develo])ed several well-known varieties, which vary principally in the character of their foliage, branching habits, etc. A tree known as Douglas spruce or Douglas fir (Psciidoisiipa Doiiplassi) is one of the important timber trees from the Rocky Mountain region to the Pacific and north to British Columbia. Upon the Pacific Coast it attains a height of more than 300 feet and a diameter of 10 to 12 feet. The timber is fine, straight-grained, heavy, and very strong, and is iiseful for all kinds of building, masts, etc. It has been very successfully jilanted in Minnesota, where it is believed it will supersede the other species for general planting. SPRUNER VON MERZ, Karl (180.3-92). A German chartographer, liistorian, and poet, born at Stuttgart. He entered the Corps of Cadets at JIunich in 1814. became lieutenant in 1825 and had attained the rank of lieutenant- cohmel in 1855, when King Maximilian II. ap- jiointcd him his aid-de-camp. Favored with that monarch's special confidence, he was a steadfast advocate of Pan-German and liberal principles at the Bavarian court. In 1804 King Ludwig II. appointed him his adjutant-general and in 1883 general of infantry. He retired from service in 1880 and died in Munich. His principal work is the great Historisch-fieoqraphischcr Bandatlas (118 maps, 1837-52; 4th ed. by Sieg- lin, 1803 et seq. ); besides which he published a model Atlas sur Geschichtr von Baycrn (1838); Handatlas fiir die Geschichte dcs Mittelalters iinil dcr neucroi Zeit (00 maps, new cd. by Menke, 1879); Hin1oriscli-r;eor/raphischer Schulatlas (10th ed., 1880) : and others. He wrote a Leit- faden ::iir Geschiclite roil Bayern (1853); Pfalx- fjrof Rupert der Karalier (1854): Charalter- hilder mis der hnyrischen Geschiclite (1878); several historical dramas and, anonymously, Jamhcn elites greisen GhiheUinen (1876), and Alls dcr Mappe des greisen GhiheUinen (1882), both strictly Christian, but anti-papal. SPULLER, spuTar', ErcfexE (1835-06). A French publicist and political leader, born at Seurre (Cote d'Or). He was educated at the col- lege at Dijon and studied law at the University of Paris, but in 1803 became identified with journalism. After the proclamation of the Re- public in 1870 he became Ciambetta's secretary and one of his most trusted supporters, and with him escaped from Paris in a balloon on October 7, 1870, in order to assist him in re- organizing the provincial governments. He was elected by a Paris constituency to the Chamber in 1876, and became one of the most influential leaders of the Union Republic group. Upon the formation of Gambetta's short-lived Cabinet, in November, 1881, Spuller was made Under-Sec- retary of State for Foreign Afl'airs. He returned to the Chamber in the following year, and in 1884 was chosen one of the vice-presidents of the body. He was Minister of Public Instruction in the Rouvier Cabinet in 1887. and Minister of Foreign Afl'airs in the Tirard Cabinet in 1889-90. In 1892 he was elected Senator, and in 1893-94 held the portfolio of Public Instruction in the Cabinet of Casirair-Perier. -He published; Petite histoire du second empire (1870); Ignaee de Loyola et la coinpagnie de Jesus (1876); Miche- let, sa vie et ses a-uvres (1876). SPUNGING-HOUSES. In the law of Eng land, the private houses of the bailiflfs, who may detain there a debtor who has been arrested for debt for 24 hours, to admit him or his friends to arrange to settle the debt. The name is derived from the extortion often practiced on the debtor. The name is not used in the United States. SPUR (AS. spora, OHG. sporo, Ger. Sporn, spur, from AS. speonian. OHG. spurnan, to kick, spurn : connected with Lat. sperncre. to despise, Gk. (TiralpHv, spairein, to flounder. Lith. spirti, to tread, Skt. sphur, to thrust with the foot).