162 THE BOOK OF EVERGREENS. 



ing, feathery branches hang down in the most graceful and 

 pleasing manner." 



Gilpin, who was almost a cynic in his dislike to regularly 

 formed trees, and who disliked the White Pine on account 

 of its smooth bark, even, conical form, and the exact dis- 

 position of its branches, thus speaks of the Norway 

 Spruce: "The Spruce Fir is generally esteemed a more 

 elegant tree than the Scotch Pine, and the reason, I sup- 

 pose, is, because it often feathers to the ground and grows 

 in a more exact and regular shape ; but this is a principal 

 objection to it. It often wants both form and variety. 

 "We admire its floating foliage in which it sometimes ex- 



~ ~ 



ceeds all other trees ; but it is rather disagreeable to see a 

 repetition of these feathery strata, beautiful as they are, 

 reared tier above tier in regular order, from the bottom 

 of a tree to the top." The same author further speaks of 

 having its interest heightened by an accidental loss of 

 branches, etc. Gilpin, it appears, is not alone in this opinion 

 of the Norway Spruce, for it seems that the author of the 

 Planter's Calendar says "that next to the Lombardy 

 Poplar and the Scotch Pine, it is the least ornamental of 

 common trees." 



The writings of Sir James Edward Smith, and Sir 

 Thomas Dick Lauder, abound in praises of this tree, espe- 

 cially when seen in its wild, native beauty, and associated 

 with the grandeur of the Alpine scenery. 



To the uninformed planter who has but a limited space 

 to devote to ornamental trees, we say plant the Norway 

 Spruce, but at the same time bear in mind that the little 

 plot of 10 or 12 feet square is not the place for it. A too 

 common error in our rural villages is that of crowding 

 species of the largest size into a small place that would 

 scarcely contain a large-sized shrub, and the consequence 

 is that after a few years, the tree has to be removed or 

 destroyed. 



Another advantage that this species has over most other 



