CHAP. CX1II.

coni'feiue. a'bies.

2297

kiln, to extricate them. The wings of the seeds are oval, and pale brown;forming at the base a kind of spoon, in which one of the sides of the seedis enclosed, while the other is exposed to view. The seed does not es-cape immediately that the cone is ripe, but requires heat and drying windsto open the scales. This generally takes place between the months ofFebruary and May of the second year. The cones have each eight rowsof scales in a spiral direction from the base to the summit ; each row hasfrom 20 to 23 scales, in each of which there are two seeds; and, conse-quently, an ordinary-sized cone contains from 320 to 368 seeds. Therate of growth in the spruce is nearly as great as that of the Scotch pine.For three or four years, at first, it does not average a growth of more thanfrom 6 in. to 8 in. a year; but, after the plants are 3 ft. high, and till theyattain the height of 50 ft., the rate of growth is from 2 ft. to 3 ft. a year,in favourable soils. In 10 years from the seed, the plants will attain theheight of 12 ft. or 15ft. in the climate of London; and, in 50 years, theheight of from 90 ft. to 100 ft. The tallest specimens that we know of inthe neighbourhood of London are at Syon, where it is drawn up amongother trees, with a slender trunk, to nearly 100 ft. in height; but the mostvigorous specimens are at Whitton, and they are from 85 ft. to 90 ft. high,with trunks from 2 ft. to 2 ft. 6 in. in diameter. The largest in England,that we have had any account of, is a tree at Studley, of which a portraitby H. W. Jukes, Esq., is given in our last Volume, and which is 132 ft.high, with a trunk 6 ft. 5 in. in diameter, regularly clothed with branchesfrom the base to the summit. This tree is said to have been planted byEugene Aram, who was steward of the Studley estate, about the middleof the last century. This spruce stands in the pleasure-grounds, nearone of the cascades. We remarked its great height and fine appearancewhen we visited Studley, in 1806; and Mr. Jukes informs us that it isstill in a state of vigorous growth, and adding to its height yearly. Thelower branches form an ample canopy, beneath which a person may stand,and look up close to the bole of the tree to its very summit; the insertionsof the branches being naked, the trunk perfectly straight, and the remainderof the branches being densely clothed with leaves, and forming a thick casingwhich excludes the light, and acts on the vision of a spectator belowlike the tube of a telescope. The duration of the tree in its native ha-bitats is considered to be from 100 to 150 years. The trunk seldom, ifever, attains so great a thickness as that of P. sylvestris; but it is uniformlystraighter; and the wood is whiter, more elastic, less resinous, and con-sequently lighter, than the timber of that tree.

From the pendent habit of the lower branches of the spruce, somecurious anomalies are occasionally found in its habit of growth. Theshoots next the ground, when they have attained a considerable length,naturally rest on the soil at their extremities; and the soil being kept moistby the shade of the branches, these often root into it; and the points oftheir shoots taking a vertical direction, a series of new trees are formedin a circle round the old tree. Some of the most remarkable examplesof this kind that we are aware of are to be found at the Whim, anestate formerly belonging to the Duke of Argyll whose name, as anarboriculturist, has been so frequently mentioned in this work. An ac-count of these spruces has been given in the Gardener's Magazine, by Mr.James M‘Nab, of the Experimental Garden, Edinburgh, from which thefollowing is an extract : — “ The Whim is situated on the high groundsbordering the Pentland range of hills, 14 miles south-west of Edinburgh.The soil is chiefly composed of brown moss or bog earth, which is deepand spongy; the subsoil is various, but is chiefly a retentive whitish clay.A large proportion of this property was planted with the Norway spruceand a few black spruces, by the Duke of Argyll, soon after 1730. Nearlyall the fine old specimens of spruces and other trees on this estate werecut down about 1810; but there are still some spruce firs, about 60 ft. high.