70 



ABIES, OR SILVER FIRS 



Fifteen are smooth-surfaced in branchlet and twig, 

 and may be, to pursue the metaphor, compared to 

 the unruffled surface of a mill pond, and in one or 

 two instances, when described as wavy, likened to 

 the little ripples we sometimes see making commotion 

 in still waters which the winds of heaven have 

 agitated. 



Three of these Silver Firs, just to complicate 

 attempts at finality of elucidation and make con- 

 fusion more confounded, change their coats or rinds 

 at different stages of life, from smooth to rough or 

 from rough to smooth. Two of this trio of per- 

 versities show signs — more in accord with the laws 

 of Nature — of a more roughened exterior as they get 

 older, while one, as befits its name Religiosa, becomes 

 more softened thereupon as it advances in life. 



We append list and illustrations in exemplification 

 of these different surface characteristics of branchlets 

 among the Silver Firs. 



TWIGS AND BRANCHLETS CORRUGATED AND FISSURED 



