136 FAMILY HERBAL. 



of Europe, but with us only kept in gardens. We 

 have no kind of the fir native : wnat is called the 

 Scotch fir, is not a fir, but a pine. 



The fir-tree grows to a considerable height, and 

 with great regularity. The trunk is covered with 

 a rough and cracked bark, of a resinous smell ; the 

 leaves are numerous, and stand very beautifully on 

 the branches. They stand in two rows, one oppo- 

 site to the other, and are oblong, but somewhat 

 broad and flat. They are of a pale green, and of 

 a whitish hue underneath. The tree is hence called 

 the silver fir, and, from the disposition of the leaves, 

 the yew-leaved fir, for they grow as in the yew- 

 tree. The fruit or cones stand upright ; in this kind, 

 they are long, thick, and brown. 



The tops of this kind are great sweeteners of the 

 blood, and they work powerfully by urine. They 

 are best given in diet drinks, or brewed in the beer, 

 which is commonly drank. 



Red Fir Tree, or Pitch Tree. Picea. 



A tall tree, but not so regular in its growth, 

 or in the disposition of its leaves, as the other. The 

 trunk is thick, the bark reddish, and the wood soft. 

 The branches are numerous, and they stand ir- 

 regularly. The leaves are oblong, narrow, and 

 sharp-pointed ; and they do not grow in two even 

 rows, as in the other, but stand irregularly on 

 the twigs. The cones are long, slender, and hang- 

 downwards. The whole tree has a strong resinous 

 smell. 



The tops of this are boiled in diet drinks against 

 the scurvy as the other, but they make the liquor 

 much more nauseous ; and not at all better for the 

 intended purposes. 



Pitch and tar arc the produce of the fir-tree, a? 



