ABIES. 



317 



Spruce. Loudon says : "It is of the tallest of European Firs, 

 with a very straight, but riot thick, trunk. It is a native of the 

 north of Germany and Russia, and particularly abundant in 

 Norway. The tree is peculiarly valuable as a nurse, from being- 

 evergreen and closely covered with branches, by which radi- 

 ated heat is retained ; from its conical shape and rigid stem, 

 by which it does not suffocate or whip the adjoining trees ; 

 from its being valuable at whatever age it is thinned out ; and 

 from its being an excellent shelter for the most valuable game. 

 It is also an excellent hedge plant or shelter." Mr. Downing, 

 in speaking of it, says : " In fact, it is so useful and valuable a 

 tree, that it is destined to become much more popular still. So 

 hardy, that it is used as a nurse plant, to break off the wind in 

 exposed sites, and shelter more tender trees in young planta- 

 tions ; so readily adapting itself to any site, that it thrives upon 

 all soils, from light sand and dry gravel, to deep, moist loam or 

 clay ; so accommodating in its habits, that it will grow under 

 the shade of other trees, or in the most exposed positions. There 

 is no planter of new places, or improver of old ones, who will 

 not find it necessary to call it in for his assistance. Then, 

 again, the variety of purposes for which the trees maybe used, 

 is so indefinite. Certainly there are few trees more strikingly 

 picturesque than a fine Norway Spruce, forty or fifty years 

 old, towering up from a base of thick branches, which droop and 

 fall to the very lawn, and hang off in those depending curves, 

 which make it such a favorite with the artist." 



" Abies pukherr'mm of Virgil. The European Silver Fir. 

 Similar and superior to the Balsam Fir, and which grows 

 to the height of one hundred or one hundred and fifty feet, and 

 even more ; grows with great vigor in our gardens and nur- 

 series, and wherever else it has been tried. It is an inhabitant 

 of the mountains of the South of Europe. 



" But still more remarkable and desirable trees of this genus 



are found on the western side of the continent. Such is the 



tree called Douglass' Spruce Fir, Abies Douglassii, from the 



name of the person who introduced it into England. In its 



27* 



