CONICAL OK PYRAMIDAL TREKS. 159 



have also a saddening influence, as they seldom wave 

 except when agitated by a gale, and there is a total 

 absence of that agreeable movement produced by a 

 light wind playing airily among the larger leaves of 

 the deciduous species. Besides, the pyramidal trees 

 unite at what may be called the shoulders of the tree ; 

 and so, above that line, which is often pretty well 

 defined, they leave a multitude of little cones or pyra- 

 mids, which, when seen in profile, have a serrated 

 outline, and exert a monotonous and, at the same time, 

 irritating influence on the eye. For our part, we know 

 nothing more wearisome than those long, dark, stunted, 

 middle-aged plantations of Scotch fir, or of mingled 

 larch and spruce, which are sometimes to be met in 

 flat, clayey, agricultural districts. Such masses of 

 wood, in ornamental grounds, would be hideous. 



The native homes of the fir tribe are chiefly among 

 the hills. There they not only grow more luxuriantly, 

 but their forms adapt themselves better to the natural 

 lines of the ground. On the slopes of a hilly and moun- 

 tainous country , fir- woods have a more varied and cheer- 

 ful appearance, and they are seen less in profile ; or, 

 if they are so seen, it is against the higher grounds, 

 while the more elevated ridges form the sky-line of the 

 landscape. In such cases the serrated outlines are not 

 so harsh as they are on level grounds. When planted 

 in passes, or on other steep surfaces, the trees are seen 

 to great advantage, towering up one above another, 

 and exhibiting a greater variety of lights and shades 

 than on more level ground, particularly when pervaded 

 by the rays of the winter or vernal sun. Even in the 

 lower country the fir tribe succeed well in ravines and 

 on shelving banks, where the soil is light and the 



