THE DICTIONARY 
OF 
HARDY TREES AND SHRUBS. 
ABI 
ABIES, Fir (Salisbury.) Nat. Ord. 
Conifer(E. In this genus we are presented 
with some of the most familiar forms 
belonging to the very important order 
Conferee, in addition to which, the dis¬ 
coveries of modern travellers have con¬ 
tributed greatly to its interest, so that 
the group of'true firs, as at present con¬ 
stituted, deserve equal attention with any 
other family of the same order. The 
greater part of the genus we readily know 
by their tetragonal solitary leaves, usually 
scattered in insertion, though some of the 
newer species, the products of North Ame¬ 
rica, differ in having flat leaves, generally 
glaucous beneath, and imperfectly two- 
rowed in arrangement. Abies excelsa, or 
communis, as it was formerly called, is a 
native of Germany, Russia, and Norway, 
the last-named country furnishing a very 
large amount of its timber, under the 
name of white deal, to all the principal 
countries of Europe; this species is the 
Norway spruce of our nurseries; it is one 
of the tallest of European firs, with a 
straight slender stem, and, unless drawn 
up by thick planting, is for several years 
clothed with stiff horizontal branches that 
are evergreen, which, with the rigid cha¬ 
racter of its stem, and general hardihood, 
has induced its adoption as a nurse to 
other and more tender trees; for this 
purpose nothing can exceed it, the spread 
of the lower branches retains radiated 
heat, while its conical shape does not 
prevent the admission of sun-light and 
air to the interior trees, and as there is 
nothing flexible about it, danger from 
ABI 
whipping does not arise. It does not 
flourish on such exposed or elevated situa¬ 
tions as will the larch or common pine, 
but is infinitely superior to them as 
shelter for game, wherever it can be 
grown. There are upwards of twenty 
varieties of the common spruce fir grown 
as ornamental trees, among the most de¬ 
serving of which may be mentioned, 
Clanbrasiliana elegans, gigantea, fyygmeea, 
monstrosa, Lemoniana, miniata , and gyra- 
midalis. The North American portion of 
the genus contains several very noble 
trees, particularly such as Douglassi, 
religiose, and Menziesii. Abies canadensis, 
the hemlock spruce, is a singular low- 
growing tree, excellent for filling the 
front of masses of the taller kinds, as it 
will grow beneath their drip. The spe¬ 
cies alba, nigra, rubra, and ceerulea are 
also of North American origin, and from 
them is obtained the celebrated spruce 
beer, which is made by macerating their 
young shoots in water, and the decoction 
is afterwards fermented with molasses. 
Except in the case of recent introductions, 
which have not yet attained a fruit-bear¬ 
ing size, all the kinds are increased from 
seed, the more common varieties being 
sown in the open ground, and the more 
valuable in pots; the seed is sown in 
April on light rich earth, at a depth vary¬ 
ing from an inch and a half to barely a 
quarter of an inch, according to the size 
and vigour of the particular kind of seed, 
the exactly proper covering requiring con¬ 
siderable experience to determine. When 
the young plants are one or two years 
