FOREST TREES AND FOREST SCENERY 



that there is anything- awkward or 

 stiff in the appearance of the firs. 

 Young firs are among the neatest 

 and most elegant objects in a park. 

 The smooth gray bark, the hfelike air 

 in the distribution of the boughs and 

 smaller branches, the glossy green as 

 seen from the side or above, varied to 

 a blue or gray when we stand beneath, 

 redeem them from every charge of 

 conventionality.* 



The lowland fir as a young tree, 

 and where it is afforded sufficient 

 room, has more of the drooping, plume- 

 like, graceful air than is usual with 

 the members of this genus. The 

 leaves are somewhat curled and scat- 

 tered about the stem. Like most trees 

 it becomes more expressive as it grows 

 older and little by little rejects the 

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