In my childhood, the local Christmas trees were all Eastern Red Cedar, cut from the woods. The first local Christmas Tree lots were the same species of tree, and those from town could go and cut their own. Not sure when it changed, but it was within the last three decades. All of a sudden, another species predominated, delivered in town or grown locally.
Maybe this is because there are problem with Eastern Red Cedar as a Christmas tree. The needles dry out, which is a fire hazard, and become hard and brittle and something not quite like sand spurs, but uncomfortable to step on. The stand was either the nailed-on cross-piece, as seen on the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, but you couldn't water the tree. The other choice was a trash can or lard bucket filled with dirt, wrapped in wrapping paper. At least you could water the tree. The tree still dried out. The "store bought" stands were already making inroads, but don't remember seeing one on sale locally.
It was the problems with Eastern Red Cedar that led to us getting an artificial tree. It had a two-piece "truck" made of wood, with a circular mortise for attaching the top to the bottom. The stand was a "store bought" Christmas tree stand, the limbs and needles were plastic and metal and were like a toilet brush, except it was green and not looped together. Lasted a long time, too. Those needles might have played havoc with satin ornaments, but they were robust.
Maybe this is because there are problem with Eastern Red Cedar as a Christmas tree. The needles dry out, which is a fire hazard, and become hard and brittle and something not quite like sand spurs, but uncomfortable to step on. The stand was either the nailed-on cross-piece, as seen on the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, but you couldn't water the tree. The other choice was a trash can or lard bucket filled with dirt, wrapped in wrapping paper. At least you could water the tree. The tree still dried out. The "store bought" stands were already making inroads, but don't remember seeing one on sale locally.
It was the problems with Eastern Red Cedar that led to us getting an artificial tree. It had a two-piece "truck" made of wood, with a circular mortise for attaching the top to the bottom. The stand was a "store bought" Christmas tree stand, the limbs and needles were plastic and metal and were like a toilet brush, except it was green and not looped together. Lasted a long time, too. Those needles might have played havoc with satin ornaments, but they were robust.