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NORWAY SPRUCE FIR. 
Abies picea. A . arbor excelsa ; foliis solitariiS, subtetr agonis, subulatis , strobilis 
cylindraceis, pendulis ; squamis rhombeis, plants ; margine répandis , erosis. 
The Norway Spruce Fir, like the Wild Pine, is indigenous to the 
northern climates of Europe and Asia, and becomes rare in descending 
toward the south. In France, Italy and Spain, it abounds only among 
the mountains, in deep valleys, and on declivities exposed to the north. 
This is one of the tallest trees of the Old Continent : it is straight-hodied, 
from 120 to 150 feet in height, and from 3 to 5 feet in diameter, and is a 
hundred years in acquiring its growth. Its dark foliage gives it a funereal 
aspect, which is rendered more gloomy by the declining of its branches 
towards the earth. The limbs, as in the American Spruces, are verticillate, 
and spring from a common centre. The leaves are longer, but less 
numerous, than those of the American species, and are slightly arched, 
firm and acute. The flowers form red aments at the extremity of the 
upper branches, and are succeeded by reddish, cylindrical cones, 5 or 6 
inches long and 15 or 18 lines in diameter, containing small winged seeds, 
which are ripe toward the end of November. 
The wood is essentially different from that of the Wild Pine, being 
whiter, far less impregnated with resin, and consequently lighter, to which 
is added greater elasticity. The union of these qualities renders it pecu- 
liarly proper for the yards of large ships. Besides this important use, it 
is much employed in England in joinery, and is called among workmen 
white deal. It is brought principally from Norway, and forms a large 
proportion of the commerce of that country in wood, which exceeds a 
million and a half of dollars annually. In the north of Europe its bark 
is frequently substituted for that of the Oak in tanning. A resinous sub- 
stance, less fluid than that of the Pines, distils between the bark and the 
trunk, which is mixed with lamp-black and used by shoe-makers. 
The Norway Spruce Fir is attacked, like the Wild Pine, by the insect 
Bostrichus piniperda , which makes such havoc of the resinous trees. 
The extensive use of this wood in Germany has caused great attention 
to be paid to the forming and preserving of forests. The plantation is 
begun by thoroughly loosening the ground in the month of March, and the 
seed is mixed, in the proportion of one-sixth, with oats. 
