THE SPRUCE 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



HE Spruce is, as one might say, the sentinel among trees. 

 It is set as a protecting belt round the covers near at 

 hand, and holds the boundary between the paddocks and 

 the " wilderness," which an oak paling shuts off from 

 the outer world. In the paddocks there are ornamental firs, grouped 

 in rings, and iron railings, all neat and dull. But past the spruces, 

 in their trim decorum, beauty has stepped out into the wilderness. 

 There the hand of cultivation has done its work and then successfully 

 effaced itself. Rhododendrons in a gay profusion are reflected in the 

 ponds, well stocked with fish. Stately swans and the humble moor- 

 hen, sometimes even a timid wild duck, nest undisturbed amongst 

 flowering Rushes, Willow-herb and the exotic Bamboo. There are 

 Barberries, Laurel, the Snowball Tree and the pink Hawthorn, 

 growing side by side and blossoming each in their season, while 

 double Daffodils and the sweet Jonquils make a home in the grass. 



SPRUCE FIRS. 



There arc twenty-five varieties of the Common Spruce. Many 

 of them bear a resemblance to the Hemlocks Firs, but there are 

 clear points oi difference between the species. The leaves of the 

 Spruce are angular ; they usually spring from all sides of the twig, 



