ABIES 117 



highly coloured. On flowering and cone-bearing branches the leaves 

 frequently alter much in character, becoming shorter, stiffer, sharper 

 pointed, and more erect. 



The silver firs are undoubtedly best suited in a moist climate where 

 late spring frosts are rare. Nowhere in the British Isles, perhaps, do 

 they, as a whole, succeed quite so well as in the Perthshire valleys. 

 Where the rainfall is deficient, lack of moisture can to some extent be 

 compensated for by a good deep soil. Whenever possible they should 

 be raised from seeds, but of some sorts cuttings may be made to take 

 root. The cuttings should always be taken from leading shoots, as 

 distinct from lateral ones, which rarely develop a good leader. The 

 best plan is to head back a plant, thus inducing it to make several shoots ; 

 these are then taken off with a slight heel of old wood attached, and placed 

 singly in small pots of sandy soil in a gentle bottom heat. But both 

 cuttings and grafts should only be resorted to when seeds are un- 

 obtainable. 



Several species, amongst them amabilis, magnifica, nobilis, and Nord- 

 manniana, are liable in many places to the attacks of aphis and chermes. 

 In either case the best remedy is spraying with an emulsion of paraffin 

 and soft soap in spring, about the time the young are being produced. 



A detailed description is given in the following pages of about a score 

 of species ; the four following are sometimes seen in gardens, but having 

 little general interest, brief mention will suffice : 



A. LASIOCARPA, Nuttall (A. subalpina, Engelmann}. ROCKY MOUNTAIN 

 FIR. Apparently of little value in this country, but a fine tree in Western N. 

 America, where it is 100, occasionally 175, ft. high. The leaves are ^ to \\ ins. 

 long, jV in. broad, arranged like those of A. nobilis, and with stomata on 

 both surfaces. Cones dark purple, "2\ to 4 ins. long. Shoots downy ; buds 

 resinous. Var. ARIZONICA was introduced in 1903, and is remarkable for its 

 thick, corky, yellowish white bark, and its more glaucous leaves, but there is 

 no reason to suppose that it will thrive better than the type. [The name 

 lasiocarpa is often erroneously applied to A. Lowiana and A. concolor, q.v.~] 



A. RELIGIOSA, Schlechtendal. MEXICAN FIR (Bot. Mag., t. 6753). It is 

 only in the very mildest parts of the British Isles that this tree will thrive. 

 I have seen trees at Fota, near Cork, and at Castle Kennedy, in Wigtown- 

 shire. It has the same arrangement of leaves on the shoot as A. Nordmanniana, 

 and they are f to \\ ins. long, pointed, and usually undivided at the apex. 

 Shoots downy ; buds resinous. Cones about 4 ins. long, bluish, ultimately 

 brown. Introduced by Hartweg, in 1838, from Mexico, where the branches 

 are used for church decoration hence the specific name. 



A. SACHALINENSIS, Masters. SAGHALIEN FIR. A tree 130 ft. high, native 

 of N. Japan, Saghalien, etc., but so liable to injury by late spring frost in this 

 country as to be of no value. It has the Nordmanniana arrangement of leaf, 

 but in the forward-pointing leaves, which are f to i^ ins. long and verv white 

 beneath, it resembles A. Veitchii ; buds white, resinous. Cones 2^ to 3! ins. 

 long. Introduced in 1878, by Maries for Messrs Veitch. I saw a tree about 

 1 6 ft. high at Murthly Castle, near Perth, in 1906, but even there, not in the 

 best of health. 



A. SIBIRICA, Ledebour. SIBERIAN FIR. Allied to A. sachalinensis, this 

 is equally unsatisfactory. It has similar leaves, but they have only four or 

 five lines of stomata in each band beneath, whilst A. sachalinensis has seven 

 or eight. The shoots also are not roughened with the raised leaf bases as in 

 that species. Introduced in 1820, and a native of Siberia, etc. 



