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therefore put to every fervile office. If you 

 wim to fkreen your houfe from the fouth- 

 weft -wind, plant Scotch firs; and plant them 

 clofe, and thick. If you want to fhelter a 

 nurfery of young trees, plant Scotch firs : 

 and the phrafe is, you may afterwards 'weed 

 them out, as you pleafe. This is ignominious. 

 I wifh not to rob fociety of thefe hardy fer- 

 vices from the Scotch fir : nor do I mean 

 to fet it in competition with many of the 

 trees of the foreft, which in their infant ffote 

 it is accuftomed to fhelter : all I mean is, to 

 refcue it from the difgrace of being thought 

 fit for nothing elfe - y and to eftablim it's cha- 

 racter as a picture fque tree. For myfelf, I 

 admire it's foliage ; both the colour of the 

 leaf, and it's mode of growth. It's ramifi- 

 cation too is irregular, and beautiful ; and 

 not unlike that of the {tone-pine j which it 

 refembles alfo in the eafy fweep of it's item ; 

 and likwife in the colour of the bark, which 

 is commonly, as it attains age, of a rich 

 reddifh brown. The Scotch fir indeed, in 

 it's ftripling ftate, is lefs an object of beauty. 

 It's pointed, and fpiry moots, during the 

 firft years of it's growth, are formal ; and yet 

 I have fometimes feen a good contrail: pro- 

 duced 



