air programming exploring our nation's past. >> ♪ >> christmas tree farming is a rapidly increasing industry in

the pacific northwest as people demand more and better christmas trees the numbers available from uncultured natural stent is steadily decreasing. at the same time christmas tree farmers are learning to culture and shape both plantation grown and national trees to make them more full and bushy. harvest time on the christmas tree farm begins in the latter part of november. on this, the cutter selects and chops down the trees that are ready to harvest. several workers called draggers gather up the fallen trees and carry them to the truck for loading.

>> and anchored cable around the trees pulls off the load. the processing yard, where trees are prepared for shipment, is a beehive of activity at cutting time. weather at this time of year is very changeable. rain although uncomfortable to the workers, keeps the trees moist and fresh. each tree is inspected for quality and its height determined by the measuring rod on the conveyor. ♪ >> the color of the attached tag signifies the grade and height of each tree.

the gold tag represents the highest possible quality at this yard. after tagging, the trees are -- according to height and grade. the balers carefully compact the trees into bundles of the same size and grade. the purpose of bailing is for ease of handling, space-saving, and prevention of damage in transit. the last operation before shipment is trimming the handles to proper length. the activities of processing

and shipping are confessed compressed into a period of only two weeks. trees are shipped from the pacific northwest by car, truck, railway car, and airplane -- orders consigned to the most distant markets are shipped first. different yards use different loading techniques. and different yards like this one use different bailing techniques. here they are using plastic netting instead of bailing twine. an experienced retailer displays each tree individually for customer inspection.

♪ >> a good tree attractively displayed will sell itself. a freshly cut tree is still a thirsty living plant. to maintain its freshness, it is wise to place the handle in a bucket of water as soon as it is brought home. a water stand when replenished daily helps to maintain maximum freshness and fireproofing in the home. basically there are two types of trees, the sheared and the un-sheared. the un-sheared type lends itself best to pendant type ornaments or decorations. the sheared bushy type are decorated best with a garland type trimming. what we have

seen is the end result of man's ingenuity on improving on a natural product. -- ♪ >> while many holiday traditions will be different this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, we can still remember festivities from years past. >> we are now entering the east room -- in this room we have you can see -- the theme this year is the white lights with gold ornaments, and 800 pounds of fake snow are here, and in this room you will see the portraits as well of misses washington and president washington is on the other side and that is the

portrait that dolly madison saved when the white house was burned down. and here we have the -- and it has been on display here since 1967, and it has been displayed each year. >> on december 31 -- she talked about this year's theme. >> welcome to the white house, i want to first point out the dutiful christmas trees that are all over the house -- this year we decorated them with snow and icicles and so we will have a white christmas and even if we do not end up with a white christmas --

>> seasons greetings from all of us at american history tv.

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>> you are watching american history,k c-span style. -- all weekend every weekend on c-span 3. >> david reynolds, coeditor of --