1848. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



159 



THE SILVER FI R— ( Picea Pectinata. J 



This beautiful evergreen is yet comparatively 

 rare in American collections, and particularly 

 in this part of t le country. The American 

 species, Picea halsamea, is common ; indeed it 

 may be found in almost every collection of trees, 

 large or small. There is a striking difference 

 in the character of the two trees. The balsam 

 fir is of a conipact, upright growth ; the foliage, 

 as well as the branches, have an erect, dense 

 habit. The Silver Fir attains a much larger 

 size, the branches diverging in a horizontal di- 

 rection, and the foliage in the same way, comb- 

 like, as the name implies, and the silvery lines 

 underneath are much more distinct. It succeeds 

 well in this country. We have seen noble 

 specimens at the east, and we have on our own 

 ground one that is 7 years planted, and has now 

 attained 12 feet high. Its annual growth is about 

 2 to 2h feet. Among evergreen trees, a taste 

 for which is rapidly increasing, the Silver Fir 

 is eminently worthy of a place. We copy the 

 above figure and the following description from 

 the London Horticultural Magazine: — 



PicKA, D. Don, (the silver fir.) — Derived 

 from pix, in allusion to the pitch which the trees 

 produce. Evei green trees. 



Picea pectinata, Don (comb-leaved Silver 

 Fir.) — Leaves nearly flat, disposed in rows like 

 the teeth of a comb, solitary, turned up at the 

 points, on the upper side dark green, with two 



silvery lines underneath, whence the name of 

 Silver fir. Cones large, cylindrical, erect, six 

 to eight inches long, with blunt closely pressed 

 scales of a brown color when ripe. 



An erect growing noble tree, scattered over 

 a great many countries, and long since praised 

 by the prince of Latin poets for its unequalled 

 beauty. It fills some of the forests of the Alps, 

 the Carpathian mountains, the South of Ger- 

 many, theUralian, Altaic, and Baikal mountains, 

 and may be considered to be indigenous to the 

 mountains of Central Europe, and those of the 

 west and north of Asia. It assumes its most ma- 

 jestic appearance in Italy, in Germany, and 

 especially in the neighborhood of Strasburg, on 

 low, deep, loamy lands near to the Rhine. It is 

 not to be found naturally in Scotland, and there 

 is very little ground for supposing that it is a 

 native plant in England. Its most celebrated 

 locality is thatof Olympus, the treesof this species 

 contributing to form that noble wood, by which 

 that famous seat of the gods is surrounded. 



The silver fir has been planted in consider- 

 able numbers around gentlemen's seats, and it 

 will be generally observed in such situations 

 towering above all other trees. When young 

 the tree is an exceedingly slow grower, often 

 losing its leading bud from the effects of spring 

 frosts. In their young state the plants grow 

 much better in Scotland than in England, and 



