HNETUM IDANICUM 



423 



shrub ; dry, gravelly slopes and ridges between 5^000 and 11,500 feet 

 elevation ; the most valuable timber tree of the central Rocky 

 Mountain region, here forming extensive forests, generally above 

 8,500 feet elevation ; rare, and of small size, in mountains of Wash- 

 ington Territory, Oregon, and Montana. 



The species, and the varieties also, thrive well in Denmark, but 

 only young plants have as yet been observed. 



P. Engelmanni glauea, hort. Abies Engelmanni glauca, hort. 



P. excelsa, Link in Linnsea, xv. 517. Picea, Plin. Hist. Nat. 

 xvi. 10. P. Latinorum, J. Bauh. Hist. i. 2, 238. Abies tenuiore folio, 

 &c., Tourn. Inst. 585. Picea 7najor, prima si\G Abies rubrciy C. Bauh. 

 Pin. 493. Pinus Abies, L. Sp. PI. 1421. P. Picea, Du Boi, Obs. 

 Bot. 37. P. excelsa, Lam. Fl. Franc, ed. 1, ii. 202. Abies Picea, Mill. 

 Diet. n. 3. Pinus cinerea, Rol. Deutschl. Fl. 376. Abies excelsa^ 

 DC. Fl. Franc, iii. 275. Picea vulgaris, Link in Abhandl. Berl. Acad. 

 1827, 180. 



Habitat. — Europe, from almost the limits of arborescent vegetation 

 in the north, at about latitude 68°, to as far south as the Alps and 

 Pyrenees. With the exception of the last-named mountains, on which 

 it is not very abundant, it is not known to be native south of latitude 

 45°, and it is not indigenous to Denmark, Holland, Britain, and 

 Ireland. 



The Spruce Fir is very common, especially in Scandinavia, and 

 forms forests on the Alps, from east to west, and is principally found 

 at a height varying from 4,000 to 6,500 feet of elevation, but it some- 

 times occurs as high as 7,000 feet, where it becomes very dwarf ; 

 while, on the other hand, it has been found as low as 1,000 feet at 

 Tolmezzo in Yenice, but nowhere on the whole chain of the Apennines. 

 It is also wanting in a natural state in the countries surrounding the 

 Mediterranean, even on the mountains. 



Gilpin, who was almost a cynic in his dislike of regularly formed 

 trees, and who disliked the White Pine on account of its smooth bark, 

 conical form, and the exact disposition of its branches, says of the 

 Norway Spruce :— "The Spruce Fir is generally esteemed a more ele- 

 gant tree than the Scotch Pine, and the reason, I suppose, is because 

 it often feathers to the ground, and grows in a more exact and regular 

 shape, but this is a principal objection to it. It often wants both 

 form and variety. We admire its flowing foliage, in which it some- 

 times exceeds all other trees, but it is rather disagreeable to see a 

 repetition of these feathery strata, beautiful as they are, reared tier 

 above tier in regular order from the bottom of a tree to the top." 



The timber of the Spruce is that known in the trade as ' ' white 

 deal," in contradistinction to "red deal," which is the wood of the 

 Scots Fir ; and it receives a further denomination from the places 

 whence it comes, as " Christiania white deals" have acquired a 

 reputation for quality superior to that of others. It is exported in 



