The Norway Spruce Fir.

The species of Spruce Fir (Pinus abies), represented in the engraving, has been known as a British tree for more than three hundred years, but Norway seems, as far as it can be ascertained, to be its native country. It differs from the Scotch fir in general appearance, as well as in the structure of its leaves and cones. The beautiful feathery appearance of its foliage is very striking, but the extreme regularity of its form rather detracts from the beauty of a landscape when it is too often repeated; it is easily known by its long pendulous cones, as well as by its formal shape. The spruce fir is found in great abundance in all the Norwegian forests; it is also spread over the whole of the north of Europe, and part of Asia, and it occurs on most of the mountain-ranges of both these quarters of the globe; in favourable situations it attains a great height, as much at times as 150 feet.

The spruce grows more rapidly than any other of the fir tribes; its wood is extremely tough and strong, and answers well for masts and spars, but it is not so valuable when cut into planks as that of other species. It does not attain the same size in Britain as in colder climates, the tree perhaps being weakened by the loss of its sap, which in hot weather is discharged through the bark in considerable quantities. The more protracted season of growth, and the greater difference between the temperature of the day and the night, must have an effect upon it, and judging from the situations which it prefers on the Continent, the summer rains of England cannot be by any means favourable. The almost continual day in the Polar countries, while vegetation is active, produces a uniformity of temperature, and a consequent uninterrupted growth day and night, while in countries farther south, the vegetable action is checked every night, and renewed again every morning, especially in the early part of the season, when such alternations are most dangerous.

1 1 Male Catkins, or Blossoms.
2 2 2 Cones containing the Seed.

The Norway Spruce is called by the French the Pitch Spruce, from its yielding the Burgundy Pitch of commerce. To obtain this, parts of the bark are removed in the spring, and the resin exudes in greater or smaller quantities, according to the state of the tree; this is scraped off from time to time. After a sufficient quantity has been collected, it is melted in hot water, and strained through bags to separate the impurities. If the strips of bark which are removed are narrow, the trees will continue to yield for several years.

The Norway Spruce, and all other trees of the fir tribe, are propagated by means of seeds. These are to be sown rather thinly about the middle of March, in a shady well-sheltered border; towards the autumn the ground is to be carefully weeded, and a quantity of rich earth strewed lightly over the whole. During the winter, if the frosts are very severe, the young plants ought at times to be protected from the severity of the weather. In the next spring, and during the months of May and June, the young plants will be much assisted by frequent waterings, and in the autumn the ground must be again cleaned. In the succeeding spring, when their heads begin to swell, they may be removed. At four years old they may be transplanted again to a spot of good land, and placed in rows two and a half feet asunder, and fourteen or sixteen inches distant in each row. Three years after they will again require to be transplanted four feet asunder, and so on, increasing the space between the trees at each remove, until the young ones are fourteen or sixteen feet in height.