72 A MANUAL OF THE (JONIFEEJI. 



gardeners in the absence of other accommodation ; they are also useful 

 for protecting tender plants against walls or in the open ground. The 

 Spruce Fir bears the shears well, and makes excellent hedges for 

 shelter ; but it is surpassed in this respect by other Coniferous trees, 

 and it is therefore not used as a hedge plant in Great Britain ; but 

 Spruce hedges are not uncommon in Switzerland, Bavaria, and the 

 Carpathian regions. 



The Spruce Fir. will grow in almost any soil, and in any aspect. 

 Very dry soils are, however, unfavourable for it; its growth is then 

 comparatively slow, its foliage is less persistent," and its appearance is 

 bare and thin. Retentive soils, such as clays and loams, and where 

 the roots can receive plenty of water, are the best* for it ; it may even 

 be planted in peat soils where the drainage- is sufficient to prevent 

 water becoming stagnant at the roots.* The rate of growth of the 

 Spruce Fir in this country, under ordinary conditions, " is nearly as 

 great as that of the Scotch Pine ; for three or four years at first, it 

 does not average a growth of more than from 6 to 8 inches a year ; 

 but after the plants are 3 feet high, and till they attain a height of 

 50 feet, the rate of growth is from 2 to 3 feet a year. In ten years 

 from the seed, the plants will attain a height of 12 or 15 feet in the 

 climate of London, and in fifty years a height of from 90 to 100 feet."t 



The specific name excelsa was substituted by Lamark for the Abies 

 of Linnoeus, in reference to the Spruce being the tallest of European 

 trees ; this name was adopted by the elder De Candolle, % and has 

 since been generally but not universally accepted. The Norway or 

 common Spruce was the Picea of Pliny ;§ it is the Gemeine Fichte or 

 RotMaune of the Germans, the Pesse or Sapin rouge of the French, 

 the Abeto rosso or Abeto cli Germania of the Italians. 



Abies Jezoensis. — A tall, fast -growing, slender tree, with a 

 tapering trunk, sometimes attaining a height of from 120 to 150 feet 

 in the forests of Yesso. The branches and their ramifications are 

 somewhat slender, horizontal, or slightly decumbent, and the branchlets 

 elegantly pendulous, and clothed with sharp-pointed needle-like bright 

 green leaves, with a prominent mid-rib on both sides, close-set and 

 spirally arranged round the stem. The cones are cylindrical, from 

 2 to 2J inches long, and 1 inch in diameter, obtuse both at base 

 and apex, pendulous, and produced at the extremities of the 

 branchlets j the cone scales are undulated and erose at the free 

 edge, like those of A. Ajanensis. 



* Pinetum Brtiannicwm, Abies excelsa, p. 15. + Loudon, Art. et Ffvi., p. 2297. 



% Fl. Fr. III., 275, ex Carriere. § Hist. Nat., XVI., 10. 



