75 



XXV. 

 ABIETINE^. 



THE SILVER FIR. 



A BIES. 



The fir is not extensively cultivated in Great 

 Britain, although the common species, A . pectinata, 

 was introduced at the beginning of the Seventeenth 

 Century, or much earlier than most of our foreign 

 conifers. PVequently confused with the spruces, 

 the two species are rather widely differentiated. 

 The cones of the fir are ereft, cylindrical, and 

 deciduous ; those of the spruce are pendent, 

 persistent, and pointed. The white silvery lines, 

 running on each side of the mid-rib on the under- 

 side of the leaves of the fir, are absent in the 

 spruce. The outline of the fir has not the 

 easy, waving disposition of the spruce ; there is a 

 sort of general stiff formality about the whole tree, 

 though the colour of the foliage is exceedingly 

 rich. The fir is more delicate in our variable 

 climate than the spruce, but is less particular with 

 regard to soil. One point of resemblance is that 



