Thoreau writes in his journal:
P.M.—Got a white spruce for a Christmas-tree for the town out of the spruce opposite J. Farmer’s. It is remarkable how few inhabitants of Concord can tell a spruce from a fir, and probably not two a white from a black spruce, unless they are together. The woodchopper, even hereabouts, cuts down several kinds of trees without knowing what they are . . .