MAGNIFICENT BED SILVER FIB. 3d 



MAGNIFICENT RED SILVER FIR. 



(Abies [Pieea] nobilis var. Magnifica,) 



•• The fir grove murmurs with a sea-like sound." — W. 



THIS most magnificent cinnamon-bark silver fir of the 

 Sierras — their valleys or inter-vales, steppes, meadow 

 margins, or contiguous to cliffs of the ragged rocks — is 

 by far the largest and most stately of all the firs. Found at 

 an altitude of seven thousand to a little above nine thousand 

 feet; attains from two to three hundred feet in height, ten 

 to twelve feet in diameter, and is even reported fourteen feet. 

 In its glory we behold the massive towery and somewhat 

 rounded or domed sequoian summit; indeed its general port 

 is even of more densely thickened outline than those giants 

 of our Alps. The mass of this foliage is made up of formal, 

 well defined, round table-like terraces, as in the typical 

 nobilis ; like branching, more or less in successive flights to 

 the top, yet sufficiently broken, here and there, to preserve 

 variety and still suggestively hold the mind to ideal order, 

 dignity, and grandeur, the most imposing, the most magnifi- 

 cent. These innumerable segments of circles, silver-lined 

 and baized above, that deeply naps the ample folds of this 

 broad mantle of sylvan magnificence, are but multiplied 

 lines of regal beauty, perfection, and symmetry. The earlier 

 state of growth does not greatly vary from that of age, but 

 rather foreshadows it; the form then is one of perfect regu- 

 larity, on the precise conical plan, from a broad base by 

 lessening turreted series of branches, whirling aloft to the 

 conic or at length sub-conic top, tipped by a strong straight 

 rigid leader shoot of vigorous growth. Perhaps this would 

 prove too formal for the eye to dwell upon alone, but in 

 nature they are never alone, nor in forests of their own. 

 This strict outline is more bold, viewed in midday among 

 the mountains. It then and there stands in striking relief 

 against the usual rugged background of rocks and awe- 

 inspiring alpine cliffs, and seems more harmoniously com- 

 bined, complemented, and in due keeping with high moun- 

 tain scenery. Yet, as a single object or within a restricted 

 circle, it is much more softened and silvered from beneath 

 by the nightly camp-fire, or when naturally crimson-fired by 

 rising and setting suns. When thus aglow, diversified by 

 other sylvan surroundings, the picture is one of surpassingly 

 softened beauty — fascinating quite beyond description ; the 

 very warm glowing bark of body and boughs, always lovely. 



