THE FIR 



THE Fir and the spruce are readily distinguished from 

 the pine by their botanical characters and by those gen- 

 eral marks which are apparent to common observers. 

 They have shorter leaves than the pine, not arranged in 

 fascicles, but singly and in rows along the branch. The 

 cones of the American species are smaller than those of 

 the pine, and they ripen their seeds every year; their 

 lateral branches are smaller and more numerous, and are 

 given out more horizontally. They are taller in propor- 

 tion to their spread, and more regularly pyramidal in their 

 outlines. The principal generic distinction between the 

 Fir and the spruce is the manner in which they bear 

 their cones ; those of the Fir stand erect upon their 

 branch, while those of the spruce are suspended from it. 

 Botanists have lately separated the spruce from the Fir, 

 which they describe under the generic name of Picea, 

 As my descriptions of trees are physiognomical rather 

 than botanical, I shall have no occasion to adopt or to 

 reject this innovation. The spruces, however, are always 

 described by travellers as firs. Whenever they speak of 

 Fir woods, they include in them both the Fir and the 

 spruce. 



THE BALSAM FIR. 



This tree is the American representative of the silver fir 

 of Europe, but is inferior to it in all respects. The silver 

 fir is one of the tallest trees on the continent of Europe, 

 remarkable for the beauty of its form and foliage, and for 



