CHAP. CXlli. CONl'FERiE. ^'BIES. 2295 



planted ; at Kenwood, Harapstead, it is 3 ft. liigli, alter being 8 years 

 planted ; at Dropmore, it is 2 ft. 6 in. high ; and in the Horticultural 

 Society's Garden, after being 10 years planted, it is .3 ft. high. At 

 Cranmore, near Belfast, it is 3 ft. high ; diameter of the stem 2 in., 

 and of the head 3 ft. It appears to us very doubtful whether such 

 a stunted variety as this was ever found in a bed of seedlings: we 

 think It much more probable that it is a continuation by cuttings of 

 one of those bird-nest-like monstrosities that are occasionally found 

 on all trees, anil which are to be met with on several trees of the 

 common spruce at Pain's Hill, and various other places. A. e. Clan- 

 brasili««ff, like the other varieties of the spruce fir, is readily pro- 

 pagated by cuttings, and makes a beautiful little fir for growing in 

 a pot. 



« A £". 7 C/anhrasi/nina sfrictn. — This variety was found in the park at 

 Florence Court, by IMr. Young, gardener there, who sent us a 

 drawing of the bush, and a specimen, in 1834. Tiie bush has a clear 

 stem of about 1 ft. in height ; the head is of a narrow ovate conical 

 form; and the shoots are of upright rapid growth; forming, Mr. 

 Young observes, a very beautiful shrub for a lawn, Plants of it 

 have been sent, by Mr. Young, to Mr. Knight of the Exotic Nursery, 

 King's Road, and to Messrs. Smith, nurserymen, Ayr. 



tt- A. e, 8 p^gmce^a, A. niina in the Horticidtural Society's Garden, A. 

 elegans Smith of Aj/i\ is said to be a dwarfer [)lant than A. e. Clan- 

 hrasiliriim. A specimen in the Horticultural Society's Garden, 2 

 years planted, was, in 1837, 6 in. liigh. 



» A. <?. 9 teniii folia, A. tenuifolia Smith of Ayr, has very slender leaves and 

 shoots. A plant in the Hackney arboretum is 1 ft. high. 



• A. e. 10 giganfcn, A. gigantea Smith ofAt/r. — There is a plant at Messrs. 



Loddiges's 1 ft. high, with leaves rather larger and stronger than 

 those of the species. 



* A. f . II monstrosa, A. monstrosa Hort., has the shoots and leaves thicker 



than those of the species, and is said never to make any lateral 

 branches. The plant in the Horticultural Society's Garden, after 

 having been 12 j'ears plantetl, consists of a single, upright, unnatural- 

 looking, thickened shoot, 3 ft. in length, and densely covered with 

 leaves. 



Other Varieties. Bosc mentions a variety which was cultivated in the 

 royal nurseries at Paris, and had been sent thither from the Vosges. It 

 had the leaves flatter and more pointed than the common spruce, and 

 different cones. Bosc says that this kind might, perhaps, form a distinct 

 species ; but that the plant was torn up when the royal nurserj' in which 

 it grew was destroyed, and he had neglected previously to describe it. 

 Hayes speaks of a seminal variety of the spruce, which has been deno- 

 minated the long-coned Cornish fir, the cones being freciuentl}' nearly 

 1 ft. long ; and of which, in the year 1790, there was a fine tree in the park 

 of Avondale, in the countv of Wicklow. (Pracf. Treat., p. 165.) Linnaeus 

 has five varieties in his F/nrn Siieciea ; but, as we are not aware of their 

 having been propagated in British nurseries, we have not enumerated them. 

 According to GfErtner, the species is exhibited in two forms, called the 

 white and the red Norway spruce; one with pale, and the other with deep- 

 coloured, cones ; but the timber of both is white. Although these dis- 

 tinctions are not known in British gardens, we have thought it right to 

 direct attention to them. 



Description. The Norway spruce fir is the loftiest of European trees, 

 attaining the height of from 123 ft. to 150 ft., or even, in some cases, 180 ft.; 

 with a very straight upright trunk, from 2ft. to Oft. in diameter; and 

 widely extending branches, which spread out regularly on every side, so 

 as to form a cone-like or pyramidal shape, terminating in a straight arrow- 



