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399 



purplish hue, and when quite ripe are of a deep brown. 

 They remain upwards of a year on the tree, appearing in 

 May, and ripening the seed in the October of the follow- 

 ing year. The general outline of the tree, when standing 



THE SILVER FIR. 



alone, is a lengthened pyramid. "It has all the regu- 

 larity of the Spruce without its floating foliage. There 

 is a sort of harsh, stiff, unbending formality in the stem, 

 the branches, and the whole economy of the tree, which 



