50 



PINACEtE. 



graceful tree when in a good, sweet, moist soil and northern aspect or 

 shady situation. It is sufficiently hardy for our climate, and is a 

 distinct kind for ornament, but of no use for its timber, which is 

 white, soft, and spongy, and of mushroom durability. 

 Abies Nigra : The Black Spruce Fir. 



This is a most beautiful little tree ; and whether from its leaves or 

 cones it has been named Nigra matters little, for it is indeed, if not 

 a nigger," at least a " darkie." 



Leaves, from a quarter to half an inch long, thickly set all round the 

 stems, four-sided, stiff, and straight, and very dark sombre green in 

 colour. 



Cones, from one to two inches long, and from one-half to one inch 

 broad, egg-shaped and pendent, rich, deep purple when young, when 

 old, reddish-brown ; scales thin, rounded, wavy, and jagged on the 

 edges ; seeds small, with their wing appendage stiff. 



Branches, horizontal, numerous, more or less pendent at their tips ; 

 the branchlets are also numerous ; bark, also, dark purple in colour. 



A most distinct, hardy, and useful tree ; attaining heights of from 

 fifty to eighty feet, with trunk diameters of from one to two feet, pro- 

 ducing good, strong, light, and elastic wood; and from its buds and 

 spray the Americans make most of their Spruce Eeer." Like most 

 of its congeners it prefers moist to dry soils, and gets sickly and in- 

 fested by red spiders in dry, warm soils. 



In every collection of trees, where a moist soil can be assigned to it, 

 this tree ought to be planted, for no fir would form a more ornamental 

 one ; and from its dark, glaucous, and silvery-hke foliage, its rich 

 purple cones, and its black bark, it is well adapted for contrast and 

 commingling of colours in decorative planting. There is a Variegata 

 form of it useful enough as an ornamental plant while it keeps 

 variegated. 



Abies OrieKTALIS : The Chinese Spruce Fir. 



Leaves, from a quarter to half an inch long, somewhat four-sided, 

 narrow, stout, slightly blunt-pointed, very tliickly set on the branches, 

 and rich deep green in colour. 



Cones, from two to three inches long, and from one-half to one inch 

 broad at base, tapering to apex ; scales thin, rounded, loose, wedge- 

 shaped, slightly pointed, and uneven edged; seeds very small and 

 dark in colour, with the wing appendage short and broad. 



Branches, straight, slender, and well covered with foliage. 



A most beautiful, distinct, hardy, slow-growing, and useful kind j 



