As summer moves toward autumn in our neck of the woods, cones command my attention. Perhaps, as along roadsides I give in to the temptation of vanilla and chocolate, pistachio and maple, black raspberry and orange-vanilla swirl, I’m bracing for winter scarcity. In Adirondack forests, cones are on offer, too. These, too, come small, medium, and large.
Among the small in the woods are tamarack, eastern hemlock, northern white-cedar, and black spruce. Tamarack and northern white-cedar cones measure only about a half-inch long. Hemlock cones extend about three-quarters of an inch, and black spruce cones around an inch.
The point at which a small cone grades into a medium is highly subjective, just as it is at ice-cream stands. In the medium class I put red spruce (around an inch…
