THE FIR. 



145 



twenty years since, which period corresponds very 

 well with the size of this tree, when compared with 

 others of the same species, the ages of which are 

 known. Evelyn mentions two Silver Firs in Hare- 

 field Park, Middlesex, " that being planted there 

 anno 1603, at two years' growth from the seed, are 

 now (1679) become goodly masts. The biggest of 

 them from the ground to the upper bough is eighty- 

 one feet, though forked on the top, which has not a 

 little impeded its growth. The girth or circumfe- 

 rence below is thirteen feet, and the length, so far as 

 is timber, that is, to six inches square, seventy-three 

 feet. In the middle seventeen inches square, amount- 

 ing by calculation to one hundred and forty-six feet 

 of good timber." — Sylva, p. 204. edit. 1776. 



This quickness of growth is only one of many re- 

 commendations in this beautiful species of Fir : but 

 it is one of great importance in regard to planting it 

 in avenues, and near houses ; for which it is equally 

 calculated by the graceful stateliness of its form, 

 and the beauty of its foliage, presenting on one 

 side the bright green of the emerald, and on the 

 other a delicate relief of silvery stripes, which, when 

 agitated by the wind, gives it an agreeable variety 

 of appearance. 



K 



