284

A DISCOURSE

BOOK I.

as do all cone-foearers, discovering their age ; which in time, -with their’weight, bend them from their natural tendency, which is upright, espe-cially toward the top of aged trees, where the leaf is flattish, and not soregular. The cone is great and hard, pyramidal, and full of wingedseeds.

sion the curious planter may consult a very scarce book, Da Arboribus Coni/eris, Resin:--feris, aliisque Sempiterna jronde Virentibus, written about two hundred years ago, by PietroBekmi. In the plantations belonging to Jeremiah Dixon, at Gledhow, near Leeds , may beseen several of these Pines. They are there called the Gledhow Pine.

6. P1NUS (picea) foliis solitariis emarginatis. Lin. Sp. PI. P420. Abies taxi folio,fruetu sursum spectante. Tourn. Inst. 585. Abies conis sursum spectantibus. s. mas.-Bauh. Pin. 505. The silver fir-tree.

This is a noble upright tree. The branches are not very numerous, but the bark is smooth anddelicate. The leaves grow singly on the branches, and their ends are slightly indented.Their upper surface is of a fine strong green colour, and their under has an ornament of two •white lines, running length-ways on each side of the mid-rib, on account of which silverylook, this sort is called the Silver Fir. The cones are large, and grow erect; and when thewarm weather comes on, they soon shed their seeds ; Which should caution us to gather thecones at an early season. This tree is common in the mountainous parts of Scotland , and in -Norway, and affords the yellow deal. From its yielding pitch, it has obtained the title of--Picea , or Pitch-tree.

7. PINUS (abies ) foliis solitariis subulatis mucroiiatis laevibus bifariam versis. Lin.Sp. PL 1421. Abies foliis solitariis apice acuminatis. Hort. Cliff. 445. TRe sprucefir-tree.

The Spruce Fir is a beautiful tree, as well as a valuable one for its timber, producing the white- -deal. It is a native of Norway and Denmark , where it grows spontaneously, and is one ofthe principal productions of their woods. It also grows plentifully in the Highlands ofScotland , where it adorns those cloud-capped mountains with a constant verdure. The long-coned Cornish Fir is a variety of this tree, and-differs scarcely in any respect, , except that theleaves and cones are larger. The varieties of the Norway Spruce go by the names of Picea major prima, sive Abies rubra: Abies alba , sive foemina.

8. PINUS ( cedrus ) foliis fasciculatis acutis. Lin. Sp. PI. 1420. Cedrus Conifera,foliis Laricis. B. P. 490. Cedrus Libani. Bar, Ic. 499. The cedar or Lebanon .

This tree is now clafsed with the Pine ; but as Mr. Evelyn has- a separate chapter upon it, .1.shall, in this place, only give its botanical description.

9. PINUS ( balsamea ) foliis solitariis Subemarginatis: Subtus linea duplici punctata.Lin. Sp. PL 1421. The balm of cilead fir.

This beautiful tree is a native of North America . It rises with an upright stem, and its branches-are garnished with solitary, flat, obtuse leaves,, slightly emarginated.at top, of a dark green