The Post-Star from Glens Falls, New York • 3

t. Sunday. DoirnlHir 5, 1993 The Post-Star. Glims Kails, NY A3 Christmas Trees American Lung Association Th3 Christmas Coal Pecpla Programs for peepb with chronic lung disease, children with Dslhma, smokers who want to quit 7S3-CC51 Sales expected to surpass last year's Tradition From Page A1 has dwindled to huy, vegetables and a plantation of Frascrs that slowly decreases as Samuel and his wife, Frances, also 84, slowly advance in years. In the spring Samuel plants his fir transplants, secured from private nurseries.

Ther. he shears and mows, sprays for insects and disease, culls the ones that succumb to the elements or the bugs anyway, losing 20 percent or so each year. He docs this season after season, for seven years or longer, until the firs are ready to tan for the. were 20 percent, white pine and balsams were cuth 8 percent, and Frascr firs were 7 percent. The sales of Christinas trees in New York stale apparently aren't being tracked this year, either by the New York Christmas Tree Growers Association Inc.

in Rochester, or the stale Department of Agriculture and Markets in Albany. But Mindi Barnes, executive secretary of the Christmas Tree Growers Association, says the group's men ibcrship Ups 1 ,400. Most are wholesalers, some are retailers and a few are choose-and-cut farms. Many families, said Barnes, arc turning their Christmas tree purchase into a family event, with the encouragement of choosc-and-cut farms that offer such peripheral pleasures as wagon rides, visits from Santa or hot apple By Christmas Day, about 35.4 million Christmas trees will be sold across the country. Most of them, according to the National Christmas Tree Association in Milwaukee, will be Scotch pines.

The estimated sales this year are a slight increase over last year, when 35.1 million trees were sold, but still under 1991 sales of 35.7 million. The dip in sales last year is most likely attributable to the dip in the economy, claims Joan Oeiger, associate executive director of the and not to a consumer switch to artificial trees. "(People) possibly even were not buying trees at all," Geiger said. "Because of the (improved) economy, tilings are looking a little bit brighter for some people." Last year, 36 percent of all live Christmas trees sold across the country were Scotch pines. Douglas fir sales sr 279.

DXQU0 6 DISC CAROUSEL CHANGER WREMOTE Home, Car Portable Audio Video Car Security Priced Right LESOUNDE 587-0303 447 Broadway, Saratoga 10-9; Sat. 10-6; Sun. 15 chainsaw. He piles the harvested trees on a hay wagon, carts them to an ODCn Clot, hare hut fnr th it's cold outside. TKEADMI iUlU Till Falls, Chestcrtown and Schroon Lake.

He used to offer them on a choose-and-cut basis, but found he lacked the manpower to keep up with individual customers. Samuel estimates that artificial trees have gobbled up half the Christmas tree market, but that's not why he's cutting back on his own production. "It's 'cause people think you're not supposed to work so hard when you're as old as 1 am," he said, standing beside a long row of firs he'd just harvested. He and Frances haven't their own tree yet; as always, they will wait until a few days before Christmas. As always, it will be a tree grown and tended and sheared on their own land.

"We've never had an artificial, that's for sure," he said jjj 624 Meplo Ave. (Rl. 9), U'Uton i weathering stumps of Christmas trees past, and lays them out in rows to wait for his wholesale clients, wno come with trucks sometimes semi tractor-trailers to haul them away. In its heyday the farm yielded more than 2,000 firs a year; nowadays Samuel has cut back to about 700 on about 20 acres. Each year he leases more land to his neighbor, Ralph Pereau, who is diligently expanding his own Christmas tree plantation.

"It's a pretty rocky place to make a living as far as farming," said Samuel, slight but sturdy, sitting with his wife around a table in his living room. His eyes are a mild, milky blue, his nose sharp as a blade, his features as smooth as the soapstone inlaid on the woodburning stove behind him. "The crop that grows the best here are trees. Forest, or in this case, plantation. Some people settled in the valley, and a few came up here because the wind blew cold and trees grew better up here.

He studied forestry at a state ranger school in Wanakena in St. Lawrence County in 1931. After World War II, where he'd been Many of the interior doors still have their original latches instead of knobs. The red outbuildings hay bams, horse bam, com house and hog house are well-tended. In October the Starbucks were among seven area farm owners in Saratoga and Warren counties honored as Century Farm Award finalists at the annual meeting of the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Saratoga County.

The Starbuck farm was the only finalist from Warren County. The Century Farm Awards program, begun in 1937, is conducted by the New York State Agricultural Society. It recognizes those farms that have been in continuous family ownership and operation for a hundred years or longer. One of the seven finalists will be honored at the Society's annual meeting in January. Samuel said he begins cutting trees in early November.

A prerequisite is temperatures below 50 degrees, when trees are more dormant and less apt to shed their needles. On a good day, he can fell 75 or so. He sells his trees to wholesale clients in Delmar, Halfmoon, Glens Germany, and won six battle stars for six campaigns, he returned to take up ownership of the family farm', bypassing ata older brother who was a professional engineer. "He wouldf ve stayed on here when I came home," Samuel said, "but I had less education, so I stayed. I thought it was up to me.

"I wasn't particularly anxious to be a farmer." He was 36 years old when he married Frances, who worked in a bank in Glens Falls and, bom on farm near wasn't particularly eager to return to rural "I said I'd never marry a farmer," explained with a laugh. "That's what happens when you say those things." Together they reared two sons, David and James, and updated the farmhouse, a long, compact home now painted white wjth green trim. The old milk room, where Frances used to chum milk into butter, is now part of the kitchen, which still has a hook in the ceiling that was used to hang apples to dry in the winter. The ceilings are low-slung, the walls wainscoted and so irregular the Starbucks say it's near, impossible to wallpaper them. roadway Arcade 1 r'Gtt 1 IOOO CHRISTT.IAS TREES "The Best Around" Wreaths Roping Bough Birthday Party Specials Hours: Wei.

Thurs 2pm-8pm: Fri 2pm-10pm 274 Broadway. Ft. Edward stationed tn fcngland, North Attica, Southern Italy, France, Algiers and 2H IU ifaka IU ma tm mi AMaw Mali, l.ema isik, Jl.l I II vwvvwvvAyv P.S. Deal From Paso A1 Coordinator Marvin F. Lemery said artificial trees must be used.

"People have to remember that in places of public assembly they cannot have any live trees," he said. "They (artificial trees) will support flame but they are noncombustible, and that's what is recommended for use now in all the classrooms and stuff. We don't have any schools here now that have any live trees in them." life-likeness of a real tree is almost duplicated to the point that it looks real," Sommo said. The trees also are usually fire-resistant and can often be dismantled and tucked away in storage when not being used. In places where the general public may tread, such as malls, churches, banks, motels and hotels or schools, Warren County Fire a hassle than not irn i Yd- '1 1 I 5 1 9 i I i I i i i -ffi i r.i 9 k- tfS A eg Vi MJ4 Jt W4 A eV TOUCH OF THE SEASON -e a it 4 Ad v4.it e-Ke i 1 "tif "There's nothing like a real tree.

But the mess. I'm tired of the mess," she said. The Mohrs said they were surprised at how costly real-looking artificial trees could be, but were; weighing the roughly $200 price tags against what it would cost to continue bringing home live trees each year. They also were surprised by how closely fake trees resemble their natural counterparts. Fake trees come in varying sizes from 1 to 7 feet tall and also in varying price ranges.

Doyle's used to sell real trees a few years ago, but Carm Sommo, who works at the nursery, said people could be extremely finicky 7 when choosing their own. "Some people are so selective that you may show them, like, 10 or 15 trees, like a person who goes in to get shoes," he said. "It would be 30 degrees below zero 1 and you're standing outside showing someone 10 trees, and 1 they're twisting them around. not a pleasant experience for anybody." Sommo admits it can be a lot of fun bringing home a real tree, "But I think as you get older that fun is not fun anymore." Artificial trees, while sometimes pricey, have also improved in quality in recent years, he said. "The technology that has gone into making artificial trees has improved over the years so that the enlarged to show detail far Yczr! Current Lets P.zts Nentsi Rati Sterling Silver Wreath Accented with a 14k Yellow Bow 1 ul ill 0 I in 1 hi 1 50 W4T You're gtumnttti Prime Rate 0 forth first fultgtirof your 1 Equity Line.

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