The Pine Family 135 



III. THE FIRS 

 Genus Abies 



"I remember, I remember 

 The fir trees dark and high : 

 I used to think their slender tops 

 Were close against the sky : 

 It was a childish ignorance, 

 But now 'tis little joy 

 To know I'm farther off from heaven 

 Than when I was a boy." - - THOMAS HOOD. 



The word " fir " has been used with various meanings. It was 

 originally the name applied by the Scandinavians to the Scotch 

 pine, pinus sihestris. The term afterwards began to be used 

 in a wider sense by the early herbalists until it was applied to 

 all the true conifers. This led to confusion, and explanatory 

 words had to be used to indicate particular types, and we hear 

 of the pine firs, spruce firs and hemlock firs. In Europe the 

 word is still used to apply, not only to the firs proper, but to 

 the spruces as well. In America, however, it is seldom used 

 except when applied to the genus abies or silver firs, so called 

 on account of the color of the leaves on the under side. The 

 one notable exception to this is the Douglas fir of the Rocky 

 Mountains and the Pacific slope, which belongs to an entirely 

 different genus. 



The true firs, or silver firs as they are called in Europe, are 

 tall, graceful trees, much resembling the spruces in general ap- 

 pearance. The branches are given off in uniform whorls, pro- 

 ducing the most perfectly cone-shaped trees found in our forests, 

 when they grow where the light can reach them from all sides. 

 It is easy to distinguish the firs from the spruces by the 

 leaves and bark. The leaves are longer and more flattened, 

 especially on the older branches, dark green or bluish-green 

 above and silvery-white beneath, with a twist at the base which 



