CHAI*. CX11I.

coni'keh^e. a'bies.

229.5

planted ; at Kenwood, Hampstead, it is 3 ft. high, after being 8 yearsplanted; at Dropmore, it is 2 ft. 6 in. high; and in the HorticnlturalSociety’s Garden, after being 10 years planted, it is 3 ft. high. AtCranmore, near Belfast , it is 3 ft. high ; diameter of the stem 2 in.,and of the head 3 ft. It appears to us very doubtful whether sucha stunted variety as this was ever found in a bed of seedlings: wethink it much more probable that it is a continuation by cuttings ofone of those bird-nest-like monstrosities that are occasionally foundon all trees, and which are to be met with on several trees of thecommon spruce at Pain’s Hill, and various other places. A. e. Clan-brasih'ra'na, like the other varieties of the spruce fir, is readily pro-pagated by cuttings, and makes a beautiful little fir for growing ina pot.

is A e. 7 Clanbrasiliana stricta. —This variety was found in the park atFlorence Court, by Mr. Young, gardener there, who sent us adrawing of the bush, and a specimen, in 1834. The bush has a clearstem of about 1 ft. in height; the head is of a narrow ovate conicalform; and the shoots are of upright rapid growth; forming, Mr.Young observes, a very beautiful shrub for a lawn, Plants of ithave been sent, by Mr. Young, to Mr. Knight of the Exotic Nursery,King’s Road, and to Messrs. Smith, nurserymen, Ayr.

h- A. e. 8 pygmce'a, A. nana in the Horticultural Society’s Garden, A.elegans Smith of Ayr, is said to be a dwarfer plant than A. e. Clan-brasilidna. A specimen in the Horticultural Society’s Garden, 2years planted, was, in 18.37, 6 in. high.

* A. c. 9 tenuifolia, A. tcnuifdlia Smith of Ayr, has very slender leaves and

shoots. A plant in the Hackney arboretum is 1 ft. high.

? A. e. 10 gigantea, A. gigantea Smith of Ayr. — There is a plant at Messrs.Loddiges’s 1 ft. high, with leaves rather larger and stronger thanthose of the species.

* A. e. 11 monstrbsa, A. monstrosa Hort., has the shoots and leaves thicker

than those of the species, and is said never to make any lateralbranches. The plant in the Horticultural Society’s Garden, afterhaving been 12 years planted, consists of a single, upright, unnatural-looking, thickened shoot, 3 ft. in length, and densely covered withleaves.

Other Varieties. Bose mentions a variety which was cultivated in theroyal nurseries at Paris, and had been sent thither from the Vosges. Ithad the leaves flatter and more pointed than the common spruce, anddifferent cones. Bose says that this kind might, perhaps, form a distinctspecies; but that the plant was torn up when the royal nursery in which] t grew was destroyed, and he had neglected previously to describe it.Hayes speaks of a seminal variety of the spruce, which has been deno-minated the long-coned Cornish fir, the cones being frequently nearly1 ft. long; and of which, in the year 1790, there was a fine tree in the parkof Avondale, in the county of Wicklow. ( Tract. Treat., p. 165.) Linnaeus has five varieties in his Flora Suecica ; but, as we are not aware of theirhaving been propagated in British nurseries, we have not enumerated them.According to Gaertner, the species is exhibited in two forms, called thewhite and the red Norway spruce; one with pale, and the other with deep-coloured, cones ; but the timber of both is white. Although these dis-tinctions are not known in British gardens, we have thought it right todirect attention to them.

description. The Norway spruce fir is the loftiest of European trees,attaining the height of from 125 ft. to 150 ft., or even, in some cases, 180 ft.;with a very straight upright trunk, from 2ft. to 6ft. in diameter; andwidely extending branches, which spread out regularly on every side, soas to form a cone-like or pyramidal shape, terminating in a straight arrow-