ABIES EXCELSA. 
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which the roots are made sufficiently pliable to be manufactured into ropes is by splitting the long flexible 
roots, and boiling them for two or three hours in water mixed with alkali and sea-water. These ropes 
used to be employed in sewing together the light boats, which the inhabitants made of the timber of the 
tree. The inner bark is made into baskets. 
1 he loppings of the Spruce are invaluable to the gardener in winter ; the branches of no other tree 
forming such an excellent screen for delicate plants and fruit-blossoms. On the same principle that a 
hedge forms a better protection from cold and wind than a stone wall (a faCt, their knowledge of which 
gipsies and other outdoor wanderers may constantly be seen illustrating by encamping on the lee side of 
a hedge or plantation, in preference to any other screen), the Spruce branches give the protected plant 
air, while they keep out cold. They are also recommended by Mr Loudon for sticking early peas, but 
in this we cannot agree with him. It is an attempt to combine two incompatible things, a screen and 
a support. By all means use them as a screen so long as a screen is needed, but not as a support; when 
so used the thickness of their foliage draws them up and obstructs the growth of the leaves of the peas, 
and without a sufficiency of leaf we cannot expeCt a sufficiency of fruit; Beech branches, or the branches 
of any other deciduous trees, do much better. 
It is as a growing nurse for other trees, however, that the chief value of the Spruce as a proteCtor lies. 
Its merits in this resped are undoubted, but it may be a question whether these are not excelled by the 
Scots Fir. Some think it inferior both to Scots Fir and Larch. We shall state the grounds for both 
opinions ; and, first, as to the reasons for preferring either the Spruce or the Scots Fir to the Larch. These 
are so well put by Mr William Adam of Blairadam, the great-grandfather of the present member for 
Kinross-shire, that we cannot do better than quote the opinion given by that eminent arboriculturist, 
upwards of seventy years ago :— 
“ The Larch, being deciduous, is not a good nurse; and from its quick growth it is probable that it is a great robber of the nourishment of 
other trees. From my own experience, I have no hesitation in saying that the Spruce is to be preferred beyond all the other trees as a nurse. I 
have thousands of instances of Oaks and Elms growing up uninjured in the bosom of Spruces. The fa6t is most important, and reason at the same 
time supports it. Deciduous trees send their roots downwards, particularly the Oak : the Spruce spreads its roots close under the surface, and 
their nourishment is drawn from different sources. The larger the Oak grows the more it derives its nourishment from the subsoil, and consequently 
the less its roots interpose with those of the Spruce. This last rises in a regular and very pointed cone, so that it leaves full space for the spread¬ 
ing top of the Oak. The Spruce is thickly clothed with leaves, and its branches are of a strong unpliable nature, consequently it gives much pro¬ 
tection and does little injury to its neighbour; and as it is very much feathered and bushy at the root, it protects the forest tree from being wind- 
waved. The Larch, on the contrary, is naked of leaves during the worst of the season, and from its boughs being thin and pliable, it lashes the 
neighbouring trees unmercifully, and it is in a condition, from its nakedness, to make every lash be felt just at the time when its neighbours begin 
to spring. It has also no peculiar thickness at the bottom to protect the others from wind-waving. It might be supposed that the Silver Fir 
would make as good a nurse as the Spruce, but, in point of faCt, I have not observed that the forest tree grows so kindly with this Fir as with 
the Spruce, and it may be observed that the Silver Fir is not so thoroughly leaved as the Spruce: the sides of the boughs only are covered 
with leaves; and the tree itself is not so well clothed, especially near the surface of the earth.”— {Gen. Rep. Scot., iv. 477, quoted in Loudon’s 
“ Arboretum,” iv. p. 2306.) 
In addition to these reasons, Mr Loudon talks about the great abundance of resin in the leaves and 
bark making it a powerful non-condudor, and so keeping the soil free from cold and drought; and adds, 
as an evidence of its being so, that the snow which falls on its branches melts much faster than that 
which falls on any other tree. We do not know that the fad really is so; we have never observed 
it, although we have looked for it; and if it be so, it seems very doubtful that it would be due to the 
cause assigned by him. 
The arguments against the superiority of the Spruce as a nurse are thus stated by Mr Brown in 
“The Forester,” p. 270: — 
“ Many recommend the Spruce as being an excellent nurse for hardwood trees; but I cannot assent to this opinion. So far as my experience 
enables me to speak confidently upon this matter, I must confess that I have found the Larch and Scots Pine far superior for this purpose. The 
Spruce Fir, as a nurse for hardwood, and for Oaks in particular, is too rapid in the early stage of its growth, often confining the Oaks too much by 
the spread of its massy branches, as well as injuring the roots of the trees it is meant to protect. The Spruce Fir has very fibrous matty roots, 
which spread in every direction along the surface of the soil. Now these, from their matted closeness, keep the air from penetrating properly into 
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