Fir Tree.
Abies.
Also see: Fir Tree - Red Fir Tree, or Pitch Tree - Larch Tree - Pitch Tree - The Wild Pine Tree - The Turpentine Tree.
A wild tree in Germany, and many other parts of Europe, but with us only kept in gardens. We have no kind of the fir native: what is called the Scotch fir, is not a fir, but a pine.
The fir-tree grows to a considerable height, and with great regularity. The trunk is covered with a rough and cracked bark, of a resinous smell; the leaves are numerous, and stand very beautifully on the branches. They stand in two rows, one opposite to the other, and are oblong, but somewhat broad and flat. They are of a pale green, and of a whitish hue underneath. The tree is hence called the silver fir, and, from the disposition of the leaves, the yew-leaved fir, for they grow as in the yew tree. The fruit or cones stand upright; in this kind, they are long, thick, and brown.
The tops of this kind are great sweeteners of the blood, and they work powerfully by urine. They are best given in diet drinks, or brewed in the beer, which is commonly drank.
