CHAP. CX.II I.

CONl'FERJE. PFCEA.

233a

One of the most remarkable circumstances connected with the silver fir is,the vitality of the stump for many years after the tree has been cut down. Asfar as we are aware, this was first noticed by Loiseleur Deslongchamps, inthe Nouveau Du Hamel, v. p. 316.; where he says, speaking both of thesilver fir and the spruce, that, after being cut down, the stump vegetates forsome time; its external ligneous layers increase with the liber, and endeavour,by forming a callosity inwards, to cover the section of the stump. M.Dutrochet had observed this process taking place on the stumps of the silverfir in the Jura, in 1833; and he procured, in 1805, several stumps from theJura forests, which were in a living state when taken up. One of these wasthe stump of a silver fir felled in 1821, which had thus been increasing in dia-meter during 14 years ; the new wood and bark being easily distinguishable fromthe former wood and bark, which were in a state of incipient decomposition.The total thickness of the 14 layers of this new ligneous production was 5‘669lines (nearly Jin.) in the vertical part of the stump; and this thickness is increasedto 8 - 032 (f in.) in the ligneous part of the callosity ( [bourrelet ) protruded overa part of the section made by the axe. Another stump was that of a treefelled in 1743; and it was still full of life when examined at the end of theyear 1836. The wood formed since the tree was felled consisted of 92 layers,the total thickness of which was nearly 2 in. The wood of which the stumpwas composed when the tree was felled had entirely disappeared ; and thethick rind, or callosity, which had formed round the margin had curled overso as almost to cover the top of the stump. This stump, which had livedand increased in diameter during 92 years, would, in all probability, have en-dured much longer ; so that we are ignorant how far this singular prolongationof life and increase of growth may extend, in stumps deprived of their trunkand leaves, and which only receive nourishment from the roots. (Garcl. Mag.,vol. xiii. p. 93.)

Geography. The silver fir is indigenous to the mountains of Central Eu-rope, and of the west and north of Asia, rising to the commencement of thezone of the Scotch pine. It is found in France, on the Pyrenees, the Alps,and the Vosges; in Italy, in Spain, and Greece in the south of Germany ;and Russia, and in Siberia: but it is not found in Sweden or in Scotland.On the Carpathian Mountains, it is found to the height of 3200 ft.; and on theAlps, to the height of from 3000 ft. to 4000 ft. Tt attains a large size in thenarrow valleys between the Swiss mountains; in the Black Forest in the southof Germany; and on the Pollino, and in the Forest of Rubia, in the kingdomof Naples. According to Pallas, it is common in Caucasus, the Uralian,Altaic, and Baikal Mountains, growing in the clefts of the rocks; but it isseldom found in the plains. The trees on Caucasus have the branches moreelongated and slender, and the leaves more thinly scattered, broader, andmore emarginate, than the trees of Siberia; these last being, in all probability,the /i'bies Pichta of Fischer. Wherever it is found attaining a large size,it invariably grows in good soil, and in a situation sheltered rather thanexposed. In Germany, in the neighbourhood of Darmstadt, Baden, andDonaueschingen, in the Black Forest, it is found growing among oaks andother trees, in deep loamy soil, moist rather than dry; attaining theheight of from 80 ft. to 100 ft., with trunks from 16ft. to 20 ft. in circum-ference at 6ft. from the ground. In the neighbourhood of Strasburg, and inthe Vosges, where it has attained the height of 150 ft., the situation hasalways been low and sheltered, and the soil a deep loam.

History. Some confusion exists in the works of modern authors respectingthe silver fir and the spruce; partly, as it would appear, from the circumstanceof Linnaeus having made an erroneous application of the names given to thesetrees by Pliny. The tree which Theophrastus calls Elate, Pliny calls Abies,and Linnasus Pinus Picea ; while the tree that Pliny calls Picea, and whichis our spruce fir, is named by Linnseus P. A'bies. The silver fir was esteemedby the Romans for its use in carpentry, and for the construction of vessels;and hence Virgil’s expression,—