THE FIR TRIBE. 



CoNIFERiE. 

 Class — MoNfficiA. Order — Monadelphia. 



The trees of this Order seem, from their struc- 

 ture and habit, to be specially designed to occupy 

 stations which are, in more than an ordinary 

 degree, exposed to the violence of wind and 

 weather. Accordingly w^e find all the species, 

 with very few exceptions, flourishing in extreme 

 magnificence on the mountains of the cold 

 and temperate regions of the earth; but, even 

 when planted on the lowlands, they retain their 

 characters so constantly, that we can at a glance 

 distinguish them from any other trees with 

 which they may be associated, whether deciduous 

 or evergreen. The mountains are their natural 

 haunts, but some of them will flourish with 

 tolerable luxuriance in other situations, while 

 others, like human mountaineers torn from their 

 beloved Alpine homes, dwindle away and soon 

 perish, their very decay being accelerated by the 

 nursing and pruning and other means adopted to 

 promote their welfare. 



The principal characters by which the Fir-tribe 

 are fltted for their native haunts are these : — 

 Springing from the bare crags, or a stratum of 

 dry soil, which is incapable of affording nourish- 

 ment to any moderately sized plant furnished 

 with roots having a downward tendency, the Firs, 



