CONIFERS. A BIES 



2303 



vestris ; though, as before stated, p. 2294., the wood of the spruce is red, 

 when the tree is grown in certain soils and situations. The poles, spars, 

 and oars are the thinnings of the Norwegian woods ; and the deals 

 and planks are made from the larger trees, which are left. The slenderest 

 poles are taken from the largest and oldest woods, and are called seedlings : 

 they are always found where the wood is most dense, and very often close by 

 the side of a large tree. They grow very tall and slender, wholly without 

 branches, except at the summit, and, though often only a few inches in 

 diameter, are of great age. Some curious information on this subject, 

 communicated by a Norwegian woodman, will be found in Monteath's 

 Forester's Guide, from p. 226. to p. 232. 



Poetical Allusions. According to some, the spruce fir was dedicated to 

 Diana. Virgil speaks of it as being used in the funeral ceremonies of Mi- 

 senus : — 



" Procumbunt picea?." Mn., vi. 180. 



He also says : — 



Lucus in arce fuit summa, . . . 

 Nigranti picea, trabibusque obscurus acernis. 



A grove waved on the summit of the hill, 

 Dark with black picea, and the lofty maple. 



JEn., ix. 87. 



In the Georgics (lib. ii. 257.), Virgil speaks of the spruce fir as one of the 

 indications of a cold soil. 



The British poets so often mention the Scotch pine under the name 

 of fir, which name they also apply to the spruce fir, that it is sometimes diffi- 

 cult to know which of these trees is meant ; the following quotations, how- 

 ever, appear to belong to the spruce : — 



" Here spiry firs extend their lengthen'd ranks, 

 There violets blossom on the sunny banks." 



Fawkes's Bramham Turk. 



Spenser speaks of it as " the fir that weepeth still ; " and Fairfax terms it 

 " the weeping fir ; " both evidently alluding to the pendulous disposition of the 

 branches. Prior, also, says : — 



" There towering firs in conic forms arise, 

 And with a pointed spear di"ide the skies." 



