EVERGREEN ORNAMENTAL TKEES. 291 



display the same symmetiy as full grown trees. The deep 

 green color of the verdure of the Balm of Gilead Fir is 

 retained unchanged in all its beauty through the severest 

 winters, which causes it to contrast agreeably with the 

 paler tints of the Spruces. On the trunks of trees of this 

 species are found small vesicles or blisters, filled with a 

 liquid resin, which is extracted and sold under the name 

 of Balm of Gilead,* for its medicinal virtues. 



The European Silver Fir (A.picea) strongly resembles, 

 when young, the Balsam Fir. But its leaves are longer 

 and coarser, and the cones are much larger, while it also 

 attains twice or three times the size of the latter. In the 

 forests of Germany it sometimes rises over 100 feet ; and 

 it always becomes a large tree in a favorable soil. It 

 grows slowly during the first twenty years, but afterwards 

 advances with much more rapidity. It thrives well, and 

 is quite hardy in this country. 



The Norway Spruce Fir (A. communis^) is by far the 

 handsomest of that division of the Firs called the Spruces. 

 It generally rises with a perfectly straight trunk to the 

 height of from 80 to 150 feet. It is a native, as its name 

 denotes, of the colder parts of Europe, and consequently 

 grows well in the northern states. The branches hang 

 down with a fine graceful curve or sweep ; and although 

 the leaves are much paler than those of the foregoing 

 kinds, yet the thick fringe-like tufts of foliage which clothe 

 the branches, give the whole tree a rich, dark appearance. 

 The large cones, too, always nearly six inches long, are 



* The tnie Balm ot Gilead is an Asiatic herb, Amyris gileadensi*. 

 t Abies excelsa. 



