286 ON EXTENSIVE FISSURES OBSERVED 
The Spruces, in most parts, had grown better than could have 
been expected on such light land, and were evidently more to be 
relied on than the Larches, although upon land of this descrip- 
tion not many of them could be expected to live to the age of 
full maturity, since the species requires either a strong soil, or 
otherwise a very regular and equable supply of moisture in the 
ground on which it stands. Under such circumstances, my ob- 
ject whilst thinning the plantation, was, first, to open out the 
Oaks, and next to give a preference and free space to the Spruces, 
in order that they should continue healthy as long possible, and 
especially that the vitality of their lower branches, so essential 
to the vigour and beauty of this tree, should not be destroyed, 
by exclusion from the air, the light, and the dew. It was neces- 
sary, therefore, to examine a vast number of Spruces indivi- 
dually and closely, to determine whether each was worthy of 
having some neighbouring Larch condemned to fall, in order to 
afford it room. 
After having gone over good part of the ground in this man- 
ner, I was much surprised to discover two Spruces (the Huropean 
Abies excelsa,) most singularly rent, almost from end to end of 
their stems, by a series of wide and extensive fissures, just as we 
see in the case of Larches that have been felled, peeled, and left 
exposed to the sun. The diameter of these two trees, at the 
lower end, was greater than that of a man’s thigh, yet the open- 
ings seemed to penetrate nearly to the centre of the wood. 
Strange to say, vegetation was in full vigour, there was not the 
slightest symptom of injury from lightning ; not a single spine- 
let of foliage was scorched, not a splinter along the course of the 
cracks was ruffled or displaced. Frost, in the preceding winter, 
could not have been the agency, for the fissures were as fresh as 
if I had opened them that very hour by means of a wedge ; nay, 
they were probably even then extending themselves. To attri- 
bute the effect to wind was impossible. In the first place, there 
had been no violent gales for a long time ; then, the Spruce Fir 
is a plant so accurately balanced by its form, that it can never 
suffer from the screwing motion which sometimes gives rise to 
the rending of the Ash, or Wych Elm during gales. Above 
