378 



THE SPRUCE FIR. 



great elevation on the Alps, Pyrenees, and other 

 mountains of central Europe, flourishing in situa- 

 tions which are too cold and wet for the Scotch 

 Pine. In Lapland it grows at an elevation of a 

 thousand feet, in Norway and Sweden at an ele- 

 vation of from two to three thousand, and among 

 the alps of Switzerland it attains perfection at a 

 much greater height. 



The usual form of the Spruce Fir is a perfectly 

 erect pyramidal tree, upwards of a hundred feet 

 in height, with a solid trunk, which at the 

 base is from three to six feet in diameter. In 

 young trees the lateral branches are arranged in 

 regular whorls from the very root to within a short 

 distance of the summit, which is a solitary spear- 

 like shoot. They are at first horizontal, ascending 

 tovv^ards the extremities ; but as the tree grows 

 older, the lower branches decay naturally, and are 

 thrown off", and the upper ones droop and form 

 a graceful curve ; the spray also droops on both 

 sides of the leading branch, producing a pleasant 

 feathery appearance. The leaves are short and 

 rigid, scattered singly on all sides of the shoots. 

 The cones are about six inches long, and at the 

 base two inches in diameter, tapering, and blunt 

 at the extremity, and, when ripe, hang downwards 

 from the ends of the branches. 



*^In a picturesque point of view, the Spruce 

 Fir is generally esteemed a more beautiful 

 and elegant tree than the Scotch Fir ; and the 

 reason, I suppose, is, because it often feathers to 

 the ground, and grows in a more exact and regu- 

 lar shape. But this is a principal objection to it. 

 It often wants both form and variety. We admire 

 its floating foliage, in which it sometimes exceeds 



