470 CONIFERS. 



liam Orde, Esq., M.P., there is another specimen of Abies 

 Douglasii, of dimensions, we helieve, even superior to 

 the two above-mentioned. It may be propagated by 

 cuttings, which, if made of terminal or leading shoots, 

 may be expected to form good trees, but, as specimens 

 are now beginning to bear cones, seedlings are likely 

 to become plentiful in a few years. 



The Abies Ceplialonica promises, also, to be a great 

 acquisition to the list of our ornamental, and probably of 

 our useful coniferse. It was first, very recently, introduced 

 by General Charles James Napier, from Cephalonia, of 

 which Island it is a native, and to which, indeed, the 

 species seems to be confined, its habitat being a ridge 

 of mountains, the highest point of which was anciently 

 called Enos, but now known by the name of the Black 

 Mountain, where it occupies a zone between four and 

 five thousand feet above the level of the sea. It differs 

 from all the other European Firs in the form of its leaves, 

 which approach in shape those of the Araucarias, to which 

 genus, indeed, it bears a strong resemblance, and is pro- 

 bably the connecting link between it and the firs. 



Its timber is stated to be of excellent quality, being very 

 hard and durable, and an instance is cited by Loudon, on 

 General Napier's authority, where the wood of Abies 

 Ceplialonica was found perfectly sound and as hard as oak 

 in some old houses in the town of Agrostoli, which had 

 been built from one hundred and fifty to three hundred 

 years. It is still a rare tree in Britain, and plants are 

 dear, but we may hope that exertions will be used by our 

 nurserymen to obtain a supply of seed whenever oppor- 

 tunity offers. 



