508 LANDSCAPE GAEDENING. 



and fifty feet, with a naked stem of sixty feet. It was discov- 

 ered by Mr. Jeffrey. 



P. lalsamea (the Balm of Gilead fir), has already been des- 

 cribed in the early edition of this work, and is too weU known 

 as the common Balsam fir of the country to require further 

 remarks. 



P. balsamea longifolia, is a much finer and equally hardy 

 variety, with longer leaves, introduced from Booth's nursery, at 

 Hamburgh. 



P. balsamea variegaia — A variegated variety of our Com- 

 mon balsam — pretty and hardy — the new growth being yellow ; 

 though attractive in the spring, yet when the new shoots become 

 ripened, the bright yellow becomes a little dingy, and we should 

 hardly give it a prominent place in plantations. We have also 

 a variety with a silvery instead of a golden variegation. 



P. Bracteata (Leafy-bracted Silver fir). — This is a very rare 

 variety as yet in this country, and will probably 



■^^ies Bracteata P™^^ *' ^^^^^ ^' ^- "^e^biana, and, like it, be 

 apt to lose its leader. It was discovered by 

 Douglas on the mountains of Columbia river, and afterwards 

 in Upper California. It is a tall, slender-growing tree, one 

 hundred and twenty feet high, straight as an arrow, and only 

 two or three feet in diameter ; sometimes only the upper third 

 of the tree is clothed with branches. 



P. Cephalonica (Mount Enos fir). — This is perhaps one of 

 the finest and most reliable of the new Silver firs. We have 

 specimens eight and ten feet high, perfectly untouched by the 

 remarkable winters of 1855-6, and without any advantages 

 of position or protection. 



It is called the Wild cedar by the Greeks, and was first sent 

 home by General Napier, when Governor of Cephalonia. It 

 has since been discovered on the different mountains of Greece, 

 on the Sacred Apollo, on Mount Parnassus, on Mount iEtna, and 

 also on Mount Olympus ; it has, consequently, among its other 

 merits, at least that of having early classical associations. A 

 full grown tree is about sixty feet high. 



P. Fraseri (Fraser's Silver fir). — A variety probably of our 

 gyj^_ common Balsam fir, a little lighter, we think, in 



Finns Fraeeri. color ; Supposed to have originated in the moun- 

 Abies do. ^^j^jg ^^ Carolina and Pennsylvania. Neither 



