Fir, the popular name of several species of trees of the genus abies. Some botanical authors class the trees known as firs, spruces, and hemlock spruces in the one genus abies, while some others make three genera: abies for the spruces, picea for the firs, and tsuga for the hemlock spruces. In a botanical view, however, it seems better to group them all under abies, and consider the picea and tsuga as subgenera of abies proper. The firs are more closely related to the pines than are any other of the large family of coniferm. While in the genus pinus the leaves are in clusters of two to five enclosed in a sheath, in abies they are scattered on the branches, and sometimes two-rowed. In abies proper, the spruces, the short, needle-shaped leaves are scattered around the branches and the cones nodding or pendent, with the scales persistent; in the section tsuga, the hemlocks or hemlock spruces, the flattened and pe-tioled leaves are arranged as if in two rows; and in the section picea, the firs, the leaves are somewhat in two rows, the cones at maturity are erect, and the scales fall away from the supporting axis.

In the present article we confine ourselves to the last named division.

The firs are especially inhabitants of the colder parts of the world, though some are found in Asia and Mexico. The N. W. coast of North America is especially rich in firs, some of which assume majestic proportions in their native localities, and on account of their symmetrical forms are highly prized in cultivation. The timber of the firs for the most part does not rank among the most valuable kinds, though that of some species is remarkable for its durability; but the several resinous products they furnish have considerable commercial and economical importance. The best known native species is the balsam or balm of Gilead fir, abies balsamca, which is found from Pennsylvania northward, and is especially abundant in the British provinces. It grows 40 to 50 ft. high, and furnishes a wood of but little value; its striking characteristic is the liquid turpentine or "balsam" which it furnishes. This is found in vesicles or blisters in the bark, which remains smooth even on old trees. This exudation is known as Canada balsam or balsam of fir; but as the term balsam is now restricted to those oleo-resinous products which contain either benzoic or cinnamic acid, the proper name for the exudation from this fir is Canada turpentine.

It is a clear, transparent fluid, of a honey-like consistence and a strongly terebinthinate taste. It consists of resin in solution in turpentine, and when exposed to the air loses the volatile turpentine and becomes brittle. It is collected by puncturing the blisters and receiving the liquid in a bottle or other receptacle; and as each vesicle yields but a teaspoonful or two, the process is a slow one. Formerly it was considerably employed in medicine, but as it possesses only the stimulant and diuretic properties of other forms of turpentine, its present chief use is in mounting microscopic objects and in serving as a varnish for maps, for which purpose it is diluted with spirits of turpentine. When young, the balsam fir is remarkable for its beauty of color and symmetry of form, and was formerly used for ornament; but it so deteriorates with age, becoming shabby by the death of the lower limbs, that it should be avoided by the planter. Closely related to this species, and at one time confounded with it, is Fraser's balsam fir {A. Fraseri), which extends much further southward; it has smaller cones and differently shaped bracts, but is similar in other respects.-On the Pacific coast is found one of the finest of the firs, and indeed one of the grandest of coniferous trees, A. nobilis, the noble silver fir; upon the mountains of the coast, at an altitude of 8,000 ft., it attains the height of over 200 ft.; it has a cinnamon-colored bark and very large cones, which are noticeable for the conspicuous points of the bracts.

This fine species is highly prized in England as an ornamental tree, but it has not been sufficiently tested in the Atlantic states to prove whether it is perfectly hardy or not. A. grandis, the great silver fir, is another species of the Pacific coast, and is found more abundantly northward: it attains even a larger size than the last named, and in its native localities is converted into lumber for exportation to the Hawaiian islands and elsewhere. This has been found hardy by the eastern cultivators. The lovely silver fir, A. amabilis, is another large tree of northern California and Oregon.-Among species of fir of the eastern hemisphere, the most common is A. Pectinata, the common silver fir, which has been planted in this country to some extent; but it has one of the faults of our balsam fir, being short-lived. It is a native of the mountains of central Europe and of those of Asia, and attains the height of a first-class tree; its wood is of great value, being used in carpentry and boat building, for masts, and even for carved work; its bark is used for tanning and its leaves for litter; it yields the Strasburg tur-pentine, an exudation resembling the Canada balsam, collected in a similar manner, and used in Europe for similar purposes.

The Cephalo-nian fir (.A. Cephalonica), a native of the mountains of Greece, is a fine tree 60 ft. high, and is a striking object on account of its dark green leaves, which are rigid and stand out from the stem at right angles, pointing in every direction, and giving the tree the appearance of being on the defensive. The timber of this tree is hard and very durable, that in houses 300 years old being perfectly sound. It has proved fairly hardy in this country. Nordmann's fir {A. Nordmanniana) is another fine species, the beautiful green color of which commends it to the attention of cultivators. Picea Web-biana, Webb's purple-coned silver fir, comes from the Himalayas, where it was discovered by a travelling naturalist, Capt.W. S. Webb. In its native locality its wood is highly prized; it is equal in grain and color to Bermuda cedar. It is valued in England as an ornamental tree. Other species, the value of which in this country has not vet been sufficiently determined, are A. Apollinis, from Greece; A. bracteata, from Oregon; A. Cilicica, from Asia Minor; A. Pinsapo, a native of the mountains of Spain; A. Vietchii, from Japan; and A. religiosa, the sacred silver fir of Mexico.-Very full accounts of the history and uses of the species of fir may be found in the fourth volume of Loudon's "Arboretum et Fruticetum," and brief descriptions, with the nomenclature corrected according to the views of modern botanists, in Hoopes's " Book of Evergreens" (12mo, New York, 18C8). (See Hemlock Spruce, Larch, and Spruce.)

Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea).

Noble Silver Fir (Abies nobilis).

Great Silver Fir (Abies grandis).

Silver Fir (Abies pectinata).