56 



VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



supply niisrht be raised in every county, are at pre- 

 sent lying idle. 



^ 



Spruce — Pinus abies. 



The Norway Spruce Fir (Pm//s abies) is probably 

 the loftiest of the pine tribe in Europe. Though it 

 has not reached so great an elevation in this country, 

 it has been found in Norway, from one hundred and 

 tifty to two hundred feet in height. The history of 

 it in Britain reaches back for at least a hundred years ; 

 and as it grows very rapidly, forms excellent shelter, 

 has a majestic appearance, and is always in leaf, it 

 has been introduced more generally perhaps than 

 the quality of the timber deserves. The timber is 

 white, soft, and far from durable. The American 

 spruces are, the Hemlock Spruce, the white, the 

 black, and the red, — the colours of the latter re- 

 ferring to the bark, and not to the timber, that 

 being of the same white colour in them all. The 

 spruce which grows in this country is seldom used 

 but for the coarsest purposes, in consequence of its 



