The Gardener's New Director. 



467 



The Fir. 



COMMONLY called the Scots Fir. Moft authors 

 who have wrote oF this tree, have treated it in 

 Inch a fuperficial manner, that they either feem not to 

 value it, or, what I rather believe to be the cafe, they 

 neither know the tree, nor its culture: I therefore think 

 it my duty to give you my own practice in which I fuc- 

 cecdcd extremely well. 



This tree is only propagated from feeds, which are 

 contained in cones or clogs, as they are called, which 

 are ripe or fall from the trees in December and Januaryt 

 at which time you fhould gather them, obferving alwa\s 

 to make ufe of thofe cones which fall from the eldeil, 

 tallefl:, ftraighteft and beft grown trees you have. There 

 is fomeiimes a difficulty to get the feeds out of the cones, 

 and if you are not favoured with much fun, which will 

 make thefe cones burft, it is extremtlv difficult to bring 

 out the feeds. The method of getting out thcfe feeds 

 which fucceeded beft with me, was this: In my fecond 

 ftove, where the air was kept up to temperate, I fpread 

 my mats upon the brick floor, under which there was no 

 heat, the air in the room only being warmed moderate- 

 ly. Upon the mats I laid my dogs, which in about three 

 or four weeks opened, and yielded me plenty of feed. A 

 friend of mine that was prefent at the operation, ob- 

 jected, that this was very near kiln-drying, which might 

 deftroy the feeds; to which 1 anfwered that I was not 

 afraid of their being too much dried, as the air in the 

 room was but moderately warm, and there was no heat 

 beiov/ them, and that every two days I took out what 

 feeds had burfl: from the cones ; nor was the heat com- 

 parable to a kiln, which is v/arm below, where confe- 

 quently the feeds muft be roaftcil. The efTeS was, that 

 ■when I fowed my feeds thev all came up to great per- 

 fection, notwithftanding that I hail broupjit them out in 

 this manner from the comes. However, pcrlons that 

 have not the fame convenience I had, may open their 

 cones in the fun, which no doubt is a very good meihrd, 



ai.d 



