356 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



beyond a doubt. We have the authority of Mr Don for 

 belieying, that, of the Fk-trees generally planted, not one 

 in ten is of the spreading or most valuable sort ; and yet, 

 that almost all the ancient Pine woods of the north 

 appear to be of this particular species. Planters have not 

 as yet had science and observation enough to discrimi- 

 nate between the kinds, nor nurserymen sufficient encour- 

 agement to raise them separately. The spiral or pyramidi- 

 cal Fir is much more prolific in cones than the horizontal ; 

 and, as the seed-gatherers are paid by the quantity and 

 not the quality of the seed, it is natural that they should 

 prefer the former tree. Thus it happens that the nur- 

 series of the kingdom, as in the case of the Oak, have 

 been for many years overstocked and deteriorated by a 

 plant of which the wood is far less valuable than that of 

 the aboriginal kind, while, at the same time, it is both less 

 rapid in its growth and less hardy in its character. 



Besides these main causes of the unpopularity of the 

 Scotch Fir, some fastidious or ignorant persons have 

 objected to its colour. Mason, who, if we may believe 

 his own account, knew something of painting as well as 

 poetry, and should therefore have judged better, seems to 

 have had this prejudice. He says — 



" The Scottish Fir, 

 In murky files, lifts its inglorious head, 

 And blots the fair horizon."* 



The idea, however it may be poetical, is far from being 

 just : for as to colour, we have the authority of the same 

 great master of the picturesque just now referred to, for 

 believing that little distinction is ever made respecting it 

 by the painter, in whose art all beauty arising from that 

 source results, not from the colours themselves, but from 



* English Garden, b. i. 229. 



