2u0 
CONIFERS. THE ABIES, Oil SPRUCE EIR. 
In Knight's Nursery, King's Road, are va- 
rieties, Nos. 1, 2, and 3, but as the plants 
are small, it is impossible as yet to speak with 
confidence, regarding them. 
Abies orientalis, Tournefort (Oriental 
Spruce Fir). — Leaves short, solitary, less than 
half the length of those of A. excelsa, imbri- 
cated, quadrangular. Cones ovate, cylindrical, 
with soft rounded scales. 
Found by Tcurnefort on the mountains 
above the Convent of St. John's, south-east of 
Trebisond ; and subsequently by Sir Gore 
Duseley, on the precipitous and sublime banks 
of the Kur at Teflis. 
Some botanists consider the plant as be- 
longing to A. alba ; and in Loudon's opinion 
it is a mere variety of A. excelsa. The tree is 
as yet uncommon in Arboretums ; but there 
are young plants in Knight's Exotic Nursery, 
King's Road. 
Abies alba, Michaux (white Spruce Fir). — 
Leaves spreading equally round the branches, 
quadrangular, three-quarter inch in length, of 
a glaucous hue. Cones of a lengthened oval 
shape, pendulous, with thin, even, undivided 
scales of a light brown colour. 
Found with A. nigra in Canada, New 
Brunswick, and the district of Maine. The 
tree assumes the general form of the last 
mentioned species, though not its loftiness, 
and the bark of the older specimens is of a 
much whiter hue. The foliage is also charac- 
terized by a silvery cast, so that in the forest 
it has a much more cheerful appearance than 
either A. excelsa, or A. nigra. It is very 
hardy, but produces inferior timber ; so that 
Mr. Lambert's recommendation to plant it ex- 
tensively on the mountains of Britain has not 
been responded to. In this country it is short- 
lived, and frequently assumes the appearance 
only of a stunted shabby-looking tree. In 
deep free soil, at the bottom of a hill, with an 
eastern exposure, it puts on a luxuriant and 
beautiful aspect, and feathers itself close to the 
surface of the ground. As a timber tree, it is 
rejected ; but the fibres of the roots, after 
being steeped in water, are split, and used in 
sewing together canoes of birch bark, the 
seams of which are coated over with its resin, in 
order to render them water-tight. This spruce 
has been in this country for nearly a century 
and a half, and it appears that even under the 
most favourable circumstances, it does not 
grow higher than sixty feet. Two years' 
seedling plants are common in the nurseries, 
and are to be had at 7s. 6cl. per thousand. Farn- 
ham Castle in Surrey, Cool in Galway, 
Ballyleady in Down, White Knights, and 
Dropmore, are the places in Britain where it 
has attained the greatest perfection. 
Variety. A. alba nana, raised in the 
Chester nursery, is a dwarf plant, a specimen 
of which is in the Chiswick arboretum. Many 
botanists and nurserymen pass it over as un- 
worthy of distinction. 
Abies nigra, Aiton (black Spruce Fir). — 
Leaves spread equally about the branches, 
or solitary, short, straight, and quadrangu- 
lar, and of a dark dull green. Cones of an 
ovate-oblong form, nearly two inches long, and 
when ripe, of a dusky red colour. Seeds 
a little larger than those of the preceding 
species. 
A straight-growing tall tree, introduced 
into this country in 1700. A native of 
swampy valleys in the most inclement parts of 
North America, growing chiefly in humid 
peat-like soil, where it is loose and deep. Not- 
withstanding what has been said to the con- 
trary, it is believed that this tree is rather nice 
in the selection of the soil in which it grows 
freely ; and that in mountainous districts where 
the ground is poor and thin, it would scarcely 
attain to a height beyond forty or fifty feet. 
Though the countries in which this tree 
abounds are diversified by hills, the finest 
forests are invariably found in valleys between 
those hills, and on the sides of mountains 
where the soil is good, and the situation some- 
what sheltered. 
This spruce forms a dense growing tree, 
perfectly pyramidal in its shape, and when 
covered with its young cones, a very beautiful 
picture. The scenery in Franklin's Polar 
Expedition affords good examples of the effect 
of this tree in landscapes ; and for living illus- 
trations, the reader is referred to Longleat, 
Pain's Hill, and Finborough. 
The timber of this tree is of the greatest 
u-e in America, being strong, light, and 
elastic, not so good for flooring as the Pinus 
Strobus, but yet extensively employed in the 
dockyards, especially for the yards and knees 
of vessels. It is also exported to England, and 
used in our manufacturing towns for making 
packing boxes. The essence of spruce is ex- 
tracted from the young branches of this tree ; 
and it is from this species that the well known 
spruce beer is made. Young plants are plen- 
tiful in the nurseries, and those which are two 
years old, are to be had at 10.*. per thousand. 
Such as are four years old, having been two 
years transplanted, are the fittest for waste 
lands. It is a mere waste of time and money 
to plant this tree on soil which has not been 
loosened (trenched) to the depth of two feet. 
Those who are in the practice of planting 
larch and Scotch firs on hard mountain land, 
which has never been prepared, may deem 
trenching an unnecessary expense. Experi- 
ence, however, will undeceive them in this 
respect. Recent experiments go to show that 
this tree is well adapted to grow in the imme- 
diate neighbourhood of the sea. 
