153 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND BLOSSOMS. 



the sea. It is a large tree growing to a height of sixty or 

 seventy feet, but its timber is so soft that it has little value for 

 the builder, though the carpenter finds many uses for it, and 

 much of it is used in the preparation of resin, turpentine and 

 tar. The tree may be readily identified by its long, dark leaves 

 (in twos), forming large, brush-like clusters. These leaves vary 

 from six to twelve inches in length. The cones are as large again 

 as those of the Scotch-pine, and each scale bears in the centre of 

 the raised portion a hard, sharp point of a grey colour. This 

 is the tree which has proved of such great service in France in 

 turning to use considerable areas of barren sea-sands. In the 

 Departments of the Landes and Gironde troublesome rolling 

 sands have been rendered fit for agriculture by making planta- 

 tions of P. pinaster ) which can thrive in such poor stuff, even so 

 near the sea. 



The SilYer-fir (Abies fectinatci). 



Here we have a true fir, which will be seen on examination to 

 differ in several points from the pines. It will at once be noted 

 that the leaves are not gathered into bundles of two, three, or 

 five, but grow solitarily in two rows, on opposite sides of a 

 branch. They are flat, with blunt ends, whitish or silvery under- 

 neath, and evergreen. The cones, too, are very different from 

 those of the pines, for whereas those were found to be conical, 

 these are really cylindrical, and consist of a number of woody 

 cones of pretty equal thickness throughout, not thickened at the 

 tips as in Pinus. The firs are excellent timber trees, and are 

 rich in turpentine. 



The Silver-fir gets its popular name from the silvery under- 

 sides of its leaves. The cones stand erectly from the branches ; 

 at first they are green, then reddish, finally purplish-brown. 

 They are six or eight inches in length. Each scale has a long, 

 tapering bract attached to its outer surface, and turned over at 



