CHICAGO, JANUARY i, 1896. 



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THE CILIOIAN SILVER FIB. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



SILVER flR TREES. 



The bulk of the evergreen trees grown 

 ill our gardens consists of firs, spruces, 

 pines, junipers, arbor vit<ES and cedars. 

 .Ml of these genera contain some very 

 beautiful and desirable trees, and too ex- 



cept in cedar some of little worth in orna- 

 mental planting. But as the whole sub- 

 ject is too big for one paper, we shall con- 

 fine our attention at this time to the firs. 

 Abies is the botanical name of fir, and 

 P/'cea of spruce. In a general way both 

 genera resemble each other; the trees are 

 evergreen, with a tall straight trunk and 

 thickly furnished with branches from the 

 ground up, giving the plants a sharply 

 pyramidal contour. An e.xpert among 

 trees can tell, a' a glance, whether a tree 



is a fir or a spruce, but the uninitiated 

 seldom can. The cones of fir trees grow 

 upright, those of spruces hang down- 

 ward. 



We find that fir trees like good land to 

 grow in, that is, not so much land sur- 

 f.-ited with manure, but a naturally good 

 loamy soil such as would grow good 

 potatoes or corn, and good drainage. It 

 your garden is not of such soil, do the 

 next best thing; in preparing the holes to 

 plant the firs in dig them out deep, say 



