CONIFEKE. 



51 



attaining heights of from fifty to eighty feet, witli a base diameter 

 of from one to two feet, producing good timber which, is as tough, 

 elastic, and durable as that of any of the Spruce Firs ; for all orna- 

 mental purposes, and likemse on account of the quality of its wood, it 

 ought to be more extensively planted. There is a Variegata form of it, 

 an interesting and pretty plant when got and kept variegated. 

 Abies PattoNII : Patton's Spruce Fir. 



This was lately introduced from California by Jeffrey of Oregon 

 celebrity. It appears to have timber, cones, and seeds like Menziesii, 

 though in its foliage and branches more related to Excelsa ; so for the 

 present I give it a place as a quasi-species ; hardy and useful enough as 

 a variety of the Spruce Fir. 



Abies Rubra : The Eed Spruce Fir. 



This is the J^orth American form of the Spruce Fir, attaining heights 

 of from forty to eighty feet ; having leaves of a glaucous pale green 

 when young, changing to a sombre reddish-green when old ; they are 

 rather slender, somewhat four-sided, rigid, sharp -pointed, and regularly 

 disposed all round the stem shoots, and from one-quarter to three-quarters 

 of an inch in length ; the cones are from three-quarters of an inch to 

 one-and-a-half inches long, and about half as broad as long, tapering to 

 apex and base. Its timber is good for its class; it is thoroughly 

 hardy, and prefers a moist to a dry soil, as in dry burning soils it soon 

 gets sickly and infested with red spiders. 



Its only use in this country is as a small-sized, compact-growing 

 form of the Spruce Fir, for ornamental planting. There are the follow- 

 ing varieties of it : — Coerulea^ (bluish-leaved,) Coerulea Ericoides, 

 (heath-like-leaved,) and Variegata, (variegated -sprayed ;) pretty little 

 trees for ornamentators. 



S.D. XL CedrUS: The Cedar. 



Doubtless the term is from the Greek, KeSjOoc. The Hebrew words 

 Erez and Sliittali are, indeed, received by some as designating the cedar, 

 but the Hebrew root *np ^ the origin of the name of the brook Cedron, 

 or Cidron, — over which David passed in his exile, (2 Sam. xv, 23,) 

 and over which the true David passed, (John xviii, 1,) at the time of 

 His "great humility," — signifies ^^deep sliade^'' and is, most probably, 

 the origin, therefore, of the name of this genus of firs, which are 

 distinguished by their umbrageous character. The iN'ew Testament 

 passage adds the words " where there was a garden." The "glory of 

 Kedar," (Isaiah xxi, 16, 17,) may have been its cedars ; it seemeth 



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