25S 
COXIFERJE. THE ABIES, OR SPRUCE FIR. 
Abies canadensis. 
COXIFERiE.— The Abies, or, Spruce Fir. 
Aeies, Don (the Spruce Fir). — The deri- 
vation of this name is from the -word abeo, to 
rise or mount, in allusion to the towering 
habit of the tree. — Evergreen trees. 
* Leaves spreading equally round the 
hranches. 
Abies excelsa, Don (lofty, or Norway 
Spruce Fir). — Leaves distributed regularly 
over the branches, mucronate, four-cornered, 
solitary, of a deep grassy-green colour, stiff, 
nearly an inch in length, wound up close to 
the branches. Cones from five inches to seven 
inches in length, cylindrical, pendulous, w r ith 
slightly-toothed scales at tip, wavy, and of a 
light brown colour. 
A long-lived, majestic tree, affecting the 
mountainous districts of the north of Europe, 
and frequently attaining to the height of 150 
feet. It is furnished with long, drooping, 
fan-like branches, which are disposed in a 
regular feathery strata from top to bottom, 
and is considered by many to be very orna- 
mental. No tree is affected more by the nature 
of the soil in which it grows. In dry exposed 
situations it becomes stunted, the branches at 
the bottom of the tree being almost devoid of 
verdure. In valleys, and on slopes of hills, 
where the soil is somewhat moist and deep, 
and in a north-east aspect, it shoots up amaz- 
ingly, and covers itself with the richest ver- 
dure to the very surface of the soil. Under 
this aspect both the poet and painter have 
taken delight in contemplating it. This 
species seems to accompany Nature in her most 
striking and picturesque places. It is common 
throughout the mountainous parts of Norway, 
Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, and France. 
Russia and Siberia, too, have it in consider- 
able perfection embosomed between some of 
their highest mountains ; and it is asserted, 
that in some instances it lives in degrees of 
cold which even the Scotch pine will not 
survive. Though not indigenous to Britain, 
this tree has been common in this country 
from the earliest times. It is evident, how- 
ever, that in England it will not attain to any- 
thing like those dimensions which it assumes 
on the hills of Norway. 
As a timber tree, the spruce fir is of the 
greatest value. It produces the white deal 
or white Baltic deal and Memel log of com- 
meree ; and in Britain an immense quantity 
of the wood is used in the shape of scaffolding 
poles, ladders, masts, planks, and deals. It is 
light and elastic, less resinous than the Scotch 
pine, yet lasting longer than that of any other 
species except the larch, over which it has an 
advantage in not being so liable to warp. In 
its living state, when young, it is admirably 
adapted to shelter other trees in exposed situ- 
ations ; and certainly no tree-nurse is equal 
to it in defending tender plants from the 
effects of frost. The resinous substance ex- 
tracted from this tree, after being boiled in 
water and strained through a cloth, is the Bur- 
gundy pitch of our shops. An ordinary sized 
tree will, for the space of twenty years, yield, 
every other year, at the rate of 401bs. ; but, 
as might be expected, this process ultimately 
destroys the tree, for after that time it begins 
to decay, and is speedily taken possession of 
by myriads of insects. In a climate like that 
