FOREST TREES AND FOREST SCENERY 
that there is anything awkward or 
stiff in the appearance of the firs. 
Young firs are among the neatest 
and most elegant objects in a park. 
The smooth gray bark, the lifelike air 
in the distribution of the boughs and 
smaller branches, the glossy green as 
seen from the side or above, varied to 
a blue or gray when we stand beneath, 
redeem them from every charge of 
conventionality.* 
The lowland fir as a young tree, 
and where it is afforded sufficient 
room, has more of the drooping, plume- 
like, graceful air than is usual with 
the members of this genus. The 
leaves are somewhat curled and scat- 
tered about the stem. Like most trees 
it becomes more expressive as it grows 
older and little by little rejects the 
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