THE SILVER FIR. 481 



Howick, it is eight feet in circumference at two feet from 

 the ground ; at Fallowden are two trees, each upwards 

 of nine feet eight inches in circumference at two feet from 

 the ground, and about eighty feet high. At Twizell, 

 about thirty years planted, there are several trees from 

 four to upwards of five feet in girth at two feet from the 

 ground, and upwards of fifty feet high. 



The cones should be gathered in October or November, 

 and the seeds separated from them in the following March, 

 by exposure to the sun ; these should be sown in well- 

 pulverized beds at such a distance as to allow the plants 

 to rise about one inch apart. After remaining two years 

 in the seed-bed, they should be run into nursery rows, 

 from whence they may be removed in other two years 

 to permanent stations, or again transplanted in the nursery 

 at greater distances, and removed as occasion may require. 



To the same genus belongs the Picea halsiminea, Balm 

 of Gilead Fir, which bears a considerable resemblance, 

 when young, to the Silver Fir, in its form and foliage. 

 It is a native of North America, from whence it was 

 introduced about the middle of the seventeenth century; 

 but as it is a species whose duration seldom extends beyond 

 twenty years, whose height is limited to twenty or thirty 

 feet, and whose wood is of little or no value, we cannot 

 recommend its cultivation, either as a timber or an orna- 

 mental tree. It produces great crops of cones, when fifteen 

 or sixteen years old, of a deep purple colour, the appear- 

 ance of which generally indicates the speedy decay and 

 death of the tree. 



The Bark is thickly covered with small tumours, which 

 on being opened, are found to contain a clear and limpid 

 resinous fluid, which in America is collected and sold 

 under the name of Balm of Gilead, or Canada Balsam. 



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