202 THE BOOK OF EVERGREENS. 



the young plants being liable to lose their terminal buds 

 in excessively cold weather, and recommends tying a little 

 cotton around the main shoot to protect it. We have 

 never experienced any ill effects from this cause, although 

 our plants, even at the age of three and four years, have 

 been left in the open air. 



London remarks of the wood : " The timber of this tree 

 is said to be very hard and of great durability. General 

 Napier informs us that in pulling down some old houses 

 in the town of Argostoli, which had been built from 150 



<J 7 



to 300 years before, all the wood-work of Black Forest 

 fir was as hard as oak, and perfectly sound." 



26, A. Frascri, Pursh. ERASER'S BALSAM FIR. Syn. 

 Picea Fraseri, London / A. balsamifera, Michaux. 

 Leaves closely resemble those of A. balsamea ; " cones, 

 1 to 2 inches long, oblong-ovate ; bracts, oblong-wedge- 

 shaped, short pointed, the upper part much projecting and 

 reflex e d ." ( Gray. ) 



This species, according to Gray, inhabits the "moun- 

 tains of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and southward on the 

 highest Alleghanies. Also on the mountains of W. New 

 England." It is quite a small tree, scarcely ever exceeding 

 20 feet in height, and is generally distinguished from A. 

 balsamea by its shorter, denser, and more erect foliage, as 

 well as the very compact shape and numerous small 

 branchlets. Nuttall says " it was discovered on the high 

 mountains of Carolina by Fraser, and on the Broad Moun- 

 tain in Pennsylvania, by Mr. Pursh, who first describ- 

 ed it." 



As an ornamental tree this can never occupy a promi- 

 nent place, being liable to the same defects as those here- 

 tofore noticed in our description of the Common Balsam 

 Fir. It is also smaller and less beautiful in form, although 

 the specimens that have fallen under our notice may not 

 have been fair examples as to shape and general character. 



The Evans specimen is about 10 feet high, and is grow- 



