SCOTCH FIR. 335 



or nestling among the soft dry leaves till the coining 

 back of spring and the waking of nature from her long 

 winter sleep. Beautiful is that waking up, even in the 

 sternest regions. The air is rendered fragrant by our balmy 

 exhalations, and even the most aged and solemn-looking 

 of our tribe no longer present a dark, glaucous, unvaried 

 hue, but suddenly become enlivened with light terminal 

 green buds; some even present the appearance of vast 

 pyramids of verdure, tastefully adorned with golden-coloured 

 tufts of anthers. 



Our boundary terminates on the Lapland Alps, at 

 two thousand eight hundred feet below the line of per- 

 petual snow. Even there our ministry is beneficial to the 

 occupiers of small farms, who chiefly support themselves 

 by fishing, with the addition of turnips and potatoes ; for 

 such are cultivated even higher up the mountains, although 

 barley ceases to ripen, and the elegant smooth speed- 

 well is the only small flower that braves the severity of 

 the cold. 



