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vestris ; though, as before stated, p. 2294., the wood of the spruce is red,when the tree is grown in certain soils and situations. The poles, spars,and oars are the thinnings of the Norwegian woods; and the dealsand planks are made from the larger trees, which are left. The slenderestpoles are taken from the largest and oldest woods, and are called seedlings:they are always found where the wood is most dense, and very often close bythe side of a large tree. They grow very tall and slender, wholly withoutbranches, except at the summit, and, though often only a few inches indiameter, are of great age. Some curious information on this subject,communicated by a Norwegian woodman, will be found in Monteath’sForester’s Guide, from p. 226. to p. 232.

Poetical Allusions. According to some, the spruce fir was dedicated toDiana. Virgil speaks of it as being used in the funeral ceremonies of Mi-senus : —

‘ Procumbunt picea:.”

JEn., vi. 180.

He also says : —

“ Lucus in «Tree fuit summa, . . .

Nigranti picea, trabibusque obscurus acernis.” JEn., ix. 87.

A grove waved on the summit of the hill,

Dark with black picea, and the lofty maple.

In the Georgies (lib. ii. 257.), Virgil speaks of the spruce fir as one of theindications of a cold soil.

The British poets so often mention the Scotch pine under the nameof fir, which name they also apply to the spruce fir, that it is sometimes diffi-cult to know which of these trees is meant; the following quotations, how-ever, appear to belong to the spruce : —

“ Here spiry firs extend their lengthen’d ranks,

There violets blossom on the sunny banks.”

Fawkes’s Bramham Park.

Spenser speaks of it as “the fir that weepeth still;” and Fairfax terms it“ the weeping fir; ” both evidently alluding to the pendulous disposition of thebranches. Prior, also, says : —

“ There towering firs in conic forms arise,

And with a pointed spear divide the skies.”