476 CONIFERS. 



Spruce in the general outline of its form, the feathery 

 effect of the waving' contour of the branches and spray 

 of that tree being more pleasing to the eye than the stiff 

 and horizontally-disposed branches of the Silver Fir. Gil- 

 pin remarks, " the Silver Fir has very little to boast in 

 point of picturesque beauty. It has all the regularity of 

 the Spruce, but without its floating foliage. There is a 

 sort of harsh, stiff, unbending formality in the stem, the 

 branches, and the whole economy of the tree, which makes 

 it disagreeable. We rarely see it, even in its happiest 

 state, assume a picturesque shape.'''' In this opinion Sir 

 T. D. Lauder does not entirely coincide, for in his re- 

 marks upon Gilpin's text, he says, " As to the picturesque 

 effect of this tree, we have seen many of them throw 

 out branches from near the very root, that twined and 

 swept away from them in so bold a manner, as to give 

 them, in a very great degree, that character which is most 

 capable of engaging the interest of the artist." 



The variety of soils upon which the Silver Fir will 

 thrive, and produce large and profitable timber, the hardi- 

 ness of its constitution, which is such as to allow of its 

 being planted in any part of England or Scotland, except 

 the highest mountain elevations, (as it naturally grows 

 in a zone next in altitude to that of the Pinus sylvestris,) 

 are circumstances strongly in favour of its cultivation with 

 a view to profit upon a more extended scale than it has 

 hitherto received. To this, however, there exists at pre- 

 sent one serious objection, which, if not remedied either 

 by natural or artificial means, is likely to deter the planter 

 from appropriating any considerable proportion of wood- 

 land to its growth : we allude to the liability of this species 

 to the attack of an insect belonging to the family of the 

 Coccida?, and genus Eriosoma, which not only injures the 



