120 Gilpin's porest sceneey. 



beautiful and elegant tree tlian the Scotch. Fir ; 

 and the reason, I suppose, is because it often 

 feathers to the ground, and grows in a more 

 exact and regular shape. Biit this, in a pic- 

 turesque light, is a principal objection to it. It 

 wants both form and variety. We admire its 

 floating foliage, in which it sometimes exceeds all 

 other trees ; but it is rather disagreeable to see 

 a repetition of these feathery strata, beautiful as 

 they are, reared, tier above tier, in regular order, 

 from the bottom of a tree to the top. Its perpen- 

 dicular stem, also, which has seldom any lineal 

 variety, makes the appearance of the tree still 

 more formal. 



It is not always, however, that the Spruce Fir 

 grows with so much regularity. Sometimes a 

 lateral branch, taking the lead, breaks somewhat 

 through the order commonly observed, and forms 

 a few chasms, which have a good effect. When 

 this is the case the Spruce Fir ranks among 

 picturesque trees. Sometimes the effect is as 

 good, and, in many circumsta,nces, better, when 

 the contrast appears still stronger — when the tree 

 is shattered by some accident, has lost many of 



