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LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
sold, under the name of Balm of Gilead,* for its medicinal 
virtues. 
The European Silver Fir, {A. picea,) strongly resembles, 
when young, the Balsam Fir. But its leaves are longer and 
coarser, and the cones are much larger, while it also attains 
twice or three times the size of the latter. In the forests of 
Germany, it sometimes rises over 100 feet ; and it always 
becomes a large tree in a favourable soil. It grows slowly 
during the first twenty years, but afterwards it advances with 
much more rapidity. It thrives well, and is quite hardy in 
this country. 
The Norway Spruce Fir, {A. communis, f) is by far the 
handsomest of that division of the Firs called the Spruces. 
It generally rises with a perfectly straight trunk to the height 
of from 80 to 150 feet. It is a native, as its name denotes, 
of the colder parts of Europe, and consequently grows well 
in the northern states. The branches hang down with a 
fine graceful curve, or sweep; and although the leaves are 
much paler than those of the foregoing kinds, yet the thick 
fringe-like tufts of foliage, which clothe the branches, give 
the whole tree a rich, dark appearance. The large cones, too, 
always nearly six inches long, are beautifully pendant, and 
greatly increase the beauty of an old tree of this kind. 
The Norway Spruce is the great tree of the Alps ; and as 
a park tree, to stand alone, we scarcely know a more beau- 
tiful one. It then generally branches out quite down to the 
ground ; and its fine, sweeping, feathery branches hang down 
in the most graceful and pleasing manner. There are some 
* The true Balm of Gilead is an Asiatic herb, Amyris gileadensis . 
t Abies exelsa . 
