1028 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 
1923. Abies excélsa. 
in length, and not more than 6 or Sinches in diameter at the thickest end. 
The planks and deals are used for flooring rooms, and by musical instrument 
makers and carvers ; they are also used by cabinet-makers for lining furniture, 
and for packing-boxes, and many similar purposes. The wood, being fine- 
grained, takes a high polish, and does well for gilding on ; and it will take a 
black stain as well as the wood of the pear tree. The spruce fir is one of 
the best nurses for other trees, not only from its dense mass of foliage, which 
may be considered as a reservoir of heat, but because, from its conical form, 
and its being abundantly furnished with branches on the surface of the ground, 
it acts as a non-conductor, and keeps the soil from cold and drought ; and, 
while it protects the plant to be sheltered from high winds, it admits the top 
of that plant to the free enjoyment of light and air. It makes excellent hedges 
for shelter, bearing the shears well. All agree that it requires a soil somewhat 
moist. It will thrive in soils of very different qualities ; but it never attains large 
dimensions in shallow soils and exposed places. On dry soils, it invariably 
becomes stunted, produces a great number of cones at an early age, and soon 
dies. The check given to large trees by transplanting also throws them into 
bearing ; by which means, even in the most suitable soils, the progress of the 
tree in making wood is much impeded. Hence, in the case of the spruce, as 
in all other Abiétine, the great advantage of transplanting the tree when young. 
The spruce fir grows most luxuriantly in deep loams and low situations ; or 
on acclivities with a north-east aspect, and a moist sandy soil ; in which last 
situation, at Blair and other places in Scotland, it is found to produce timber 
as strong and durable as that imported from Norway. The mature cones may 
be gathered any time between the November of the first year and the following 
April: they should be chosen from healthy vigorous trees, and exposed to 
the heat of the sun, placed ina warm room, or slightly dried on a kiln ; after 
which, the seeds will drop out by merely shaking the cones, or gently thrash- 
ing them. Fifteen gallons of cones will produce 2b. of seeds with their 
wings, or 1 lb. 4.0z. without them. After being collected, the seeds may be 
kept three or four years, and will still preserve their vitality ; but it is always 
safest to sow them immediately after taking them from the cones, or in the 
course of the following March or April. The seeds of the spruce fir, being 
nearly of the same size as those of the Scotch pine, may be treated in the 
nursery in a similar manner ; but, as the plants, when they come up, are more 
