42 



%s it is found more or less plentiful all over the mountain chains of the 

 Mps, Appennines, and Pyrenees ; and on most of the higher table 

 lands of Mid- Europe ; yet, very rarely in IN'orthern Europe ; while it 

 extends to IN'orth and West Asia, and is very common on the higher 

 mountains of Greece. Wherever found in a natural state it is gener- 

 ally located on elevations ranging from two thousand to five thousand 

 feet. 



It is thoroughly hardy, sound in constitution, of rapid growth, par- 

 ticularly after it has established itself ; and not particularly fastidious 

 in its choice of soil or situation ; doing tolerably well in any ordinary 

 soil, if in a sweet and healthy condition ; but requires a good deep 

 soil and sheltered locality fully to develop itself in this country. It 

 attains heights of from eighty to one hundred and twenty feet ; and 

 will in Britain, when planted in a soil and situation congenial to its 

 growth, reach one hundred feet in height. 



Its timber is what I term second-class, being rather soft and porous, 

 of a creamy whiteness, tinged or shaded with rose ; and when free 

 from knots easily wrought, but not very durable, and a bad weather- 

 stander, yet useful for many domestic purposes. I have invariably 

 found that it produces better quality of timber when grown upon high 

 than low altitudes, and in hard and poor than in soft and rich soil, 

 though the quantity be less. 



'No fir is more useful in this country ; either for mixed plantations, 

 groups, belts, or specimen park trees ; and for game-preserves, thickets, 

 or shelter clumps, few trees are better adapted ; for in such situations, 

 where a close humid atmosphere, and drip and shade prevail, it is 

 quite at home. 



Of the innumerable varieties and sub-varieties of this fir, worthy 

 notice or cultivation for their use or beauty as ornamental trees or 

 shrubs, I enumerate the following : — Argentea, (silvery variegated,) 

 Aurea, (golden variegated,) Fastigiata, (fastigiate-branched,)i^f^crocarpa, 

 (small-coned,) Nana, (the dwarf,) Pendula, (the pendulous -branched,) 

 Pyramidalia, (the pyramidal var.,) Tortuosa^ (the tortuous-branched 

 var.) 



Pice A PigHTA: The Siberian Pitch Eir. 



This is merely a depapurated and more pitchy form of the quasi- 

 species Cilicica : which characteristic is no doubt the effect produced 

 by the soil and climate of Siberia. This, moreover, is a much slower 

 grower and a less beautiful plant or tree than the Cilician. There is 

 also a variegata form of it. ' ^ 



