350 



THE FIR TRIBE. 



CONIFERJE. 



Glass MONCECTA. Order MONADELPHIA. 



THE trees of this Order seem, from their structure and 

 habit, to be especially designed to occupy stations which 

 are, in more than an ordinary degree, exposed to the vio- 

 lence of wind and weather. Accordingly we find all the 

 species, with very few exceptions, nourishing in extreme 

 magnificence on the mountains of the cold and temperate 

 regions of the earth ; but, even when planted on the low- 

 lands, they retain their characters so constantly, that we 

 can at a glance distinguish them from any other trees with 

 which they may be associated, whether deciduous or ever- 

 green. The mountains are their natural haunts, but some 

 of them will flourish with tolerable luxuriance in other 

 situations, while others, like human mountaineers torn 

 from their beloved Alpine homes, dwindle away and soon 

 perish, their very decay being accelerated by the nursing 

 and pruning and other means adopted to promote their 

 welfare. 



The principal characters by which the Fir-tribe are fitted 

 for their native haunts are these : Springing from the 

 bare crags, or a stratum of dry soil, which is incapable of 

 affording nourishment to any moderately-sized plant fur- 

 nished with roots having a downward tendency, the Firs, 

 both young and old, extend their roots horizontally, or in 

 a direction parallel to the surface of the ground, tap-root 

 they have none, for such an appendage would be useless 

 to trees often growing in soil but a few inches deep. The 

 roots being, moreover, close to the surface, or even partially 

 above it, acquire a hardness and toughness which enable 

 them to resist the action of the wind on the head of the 

 tree much more effectually than in the case of trees whose 



