in Pomerania, and in Prussia proper (Patze, " Mey. Elk. Fl.," p. 116), and is found in quantity in
Switzerland, the Carpathian Mountains, and all the mountainous region in the centre of Germany.
It is plentiful in Poland, and Marshal Saxe ("Reveries, or Memoirs on the Art of War, 1757,"
p. 102), who knew Poland well, tells us incidentally the size of the Firs in that country in his time:—
" Poland is the best country in the world for the expeditious construction of fortifications; the soil is soft,
and there is great plenty of Firs, which are palisades ready made in a manner, little more being required
than just to cut them down and to plant them ; they are in general a foot in diameter, and sometimes more,
which will render them more difficult to be demolished by the enemy." It is also met with, although not
generally, in the Pyrenees, but not in Spain south of the Pyrenees, nor in the plains of the south of
Europe. It occurs in the north of Italy, but not in the Apennines nor in Sicily. It is doubtful whether
it occurs in Turkey, although it is said by Rigler to have been met with in the forest of Belgrade, near
Constantinople, and by Sistini on the Olympus of Bithynia; but this may be doubtful, as Prince
Tchitchacheff observed it in no part of Asia Minor. Neither it nor the Silver Fir have yet been found
in the Caucasus (Tchitchacheff, ii. 307, 1856).
We see it stated in a paper in the "Scottish Gardener," p. 148, by Mr Archibald Fowler, the gardener
at Castle Kennedy, that he had grown a species of Abies from Mexico, " evidently a variety of Abies
excelsa; " and he says that it appears to grow quicker, and to be opener and more irregular in its habit
than the species, " otherwise it very much resembles it" We may be mistaken, but we cannot help
thinking that the reason why it very much resembles it is that it really is it—not that the Spruce grows
in Mexico, but that the plant which Mr Fowler has received as a Spruce from Mexico is only a plant
of the Norway Spruce, by accident or otherwise misnamed from Mexico. We do not believe that any
true Spruce has yet been met with in Mexico—that is, Spruces with quadrangular leaves and prominent
phylluke and pulvini. No doubt, other species of Abies, as that sedlion is at present defined by some,
but belonging rather to the Hemlock Spruce section than the true Spruces, grow in Mexico, as Abies
Dotiglasii var. Lindleyana, and perhaps A. hirtella; but these have flat leaves, and are without prominent
phyllula?.
M. De Candolle gives (" Geogr. Bot.," i. 277) a valuable comparative statement of the different heights
to which it reaches on the mountains in Europe, which we cannot do better than quote :—
" In Silesia it reaches 4000 feet (1290 French metres), according to Mr Wimmer (Fl. Schles., 2d edit, i. 340). In Austrian Silesia, on the
Reisengebirge, according to M. Schneider (Verth. Schles. I'flanz, p. 170) only to 2800 feet (909 metres).
" In tile Carpathian chain it grows to 4500 feet (1462 metres) on the exterior mountains; and up to 4700 feet (1527 metres) in the central
mountains (Wahl. Fl. Carp., p. 312). The first are calcareous, the others granitic. The author does not distinguish the exposures.
"• As regards the Alps called Algauer, in Southern Germany, M. Sendtner (Flora, 1849, p. 116) indicates some stunted and isolated plants
up to 5425 feet on the south-west side; and plants in good condition up to 5234 feet (1700 metres) on the south side.
"As for Eastern Switzerland, north of the Alps, M. Heer (Flora, 1844, p. 629) gives 5800 feet (1884 metres) in the Oberland Grison, and
as a point lower than the mean, at St Bernardin, 5600 feet (1819 metres).
" In Central Switzerland, Wahlenberg has remarked (Helv., p. xxxvii.) a small forest which occurs on Mount Pilate, at a place called Holz
fiuhe, at 5700 or 5800 feet (1852-1854 metres) of elevation. On that mountain, and at the Righi, the ordinary mean limit is at 5506 feet (1788-6
metres); the exposure, however, not being distinguished. Around Engelberg, the limit is 5588 feet (1815 metres). Wahlenbcrg (Helv., p. 181)
admits as a mean about the Lake of the Four Cantons, at the Grimsel and in the Grisons, 5500 feet (1786 metres), for those localities exposed
to the sun (in apricis); as a maximum rather rare, 5800 feet (1884 metres); lastly, as a maximum observed in the Appenzell, 5100 feet (1657
metres). It does not take into account stunted plants, which do not reach two fathoms in height, but which are sometimes found above the real
limits of the species.
" M. Ch. Martins (Ann. Sc. Nat., 2d ser„ v., xviii. p. 198) has found the limit on the northern slope of the Grimsel 1545 metres. M. de
Mohi (Bot. Zeit. 1843, p. 414) fixes the limit in the Mattcrthal, viz. the valley of Zermatt in Valais, a little below 5000 feet (1624 metres). M
Schouw (Clim. Nat. I., part ii., p. 44) has found the limit on the route of the Simplon, from the Valaisan side, 5718 feet (1857 metres).
" M. Heer, in comparing the limit on the north and south slopes in the canton of Glaris, and in that of the Grisons, finds first 600 feet, and
afterwards makes it 700 feet of difference. Let us take 650 feet (211 metres).
" In the Jura, it exceeds the limit of Abiespeclitiata; but M. Thurman does not state the elevation.
•' In Savoy, valley of Chamounix, from the south side, Schouw (Clim. Nat. I , part ii., p. 44) noted the limit of trees (which must probably
have been the Abies excelsa, for the Larch is rare on that exposure) at 6351 feet (2063 metres).
"At Mount Ventoux, on the north side, the limit is 1720 metres (Martins, Ann. Sc. Nat., 2d ser., x. 150). The species is absent on
the south side.
" The
"The Abies excelsa is very rare in the French Pyrenees. M. Massot (Compt. Rend. Acad. Sc., 1843, 2d ser., p. 756) docs not mention it
in his table of limits. Mr Willkomm (Flora 1852, p. 319) says that it is abundant on the southern slope of the Central Pyrenees, between 4000
and 5000 feet (1299 and 1624 metres). M. Bossier does not mention it as found in the mountains of Andalusia.
"On the southern slope of the Simplon M. de Cesati (Not. Civ. Sul. Lomb., in the Table) indicates the limit at 1900 metres. Wc still meet
with it at 1200 feet (389 metres) on the Euganean hills, of the province of Padua (Rua cited by Schouw, Ann. Sc. Nat., 2d ser., iii. 239), but so
trilling a height as that cannot be regarded as a limit. In the Munsterthal, canton of the Grisons, on the southern slope of the Alps, the limit is
6500 feet (2111 metres) according to M. Heer (Flora 1844, p. 629). The species is not found in the chain of the Apennines (Schouw, ii.) nor in
Sicily (Guss. Syn.) M. Grisebach does not indicate it in Turkey in Europe (SpiciL Fl. Rumel). The supposed Abies of Siberia is the Picca
obovata (Ledeb. Fl. Alt, iv. 201), Neither does the Abies excelsa grow (naturally) in the British Isles."
He gives the limits of altitude in summary as follows :—
Mountains of Si:«sia
Carpathian Mo:nr^m>;
Bavarian Alps
Eastern Switzerland north of the
Alps
•ximum M„„ Minimum I Maximum U„c Md«. Mates. Metro. MMaarna. MMineimt«n,.n .
300 r roo 900 Central Switzerland 1884 1726 >657
527 '494 1462 Western „ (Berne, Valais)... >857 '675 '545
700 ,623 '546 Italian Alps 211 I I900
Mont Ventoux'1—north side I720
18S0 Spanish Pyrenees •6.4
These are faCts relating to this species, and as such proper to be recorded in any account of it; but
we cannot adopt M. De Candolle's conclusions founded upon them as to the degree of height and other
conditions necessary for the growth of this species at the different heights mentioned, and its limitation to
them. He acknowledges that he is without a number of indispensable data for the construction of his
own scheme; and his attempt to ascertain the conditions which determine its limits of growth is at
best, therefore, even supposing all his data supplied, only one of approximation. All that has been
done by his calculations, as he himself says, is to establish that there does exist a relation
between the amount of heat (and, of course, of other elements too) at the different limits in the north,
and on the mountains. " That relation varies little in supposing 6° or 50 or 7° as the minimum. The
almost indefinite duration of light during the summer under the 67th degree of latitude produces an
extraordinary effe6t. The Abies excelsa contents itself, when supplied with that condition, with an
amount of heat in the shade inferior to that which it requires in Silesia at 1300 feet of elevation.
Nevertheless, the effe<5t does not equal that obtained at about 2000 metres on the Alps."
There is, however, some other common element at work besides heat, which affe<5ls equally great
elevations and very northerly localities, as is shewn by the rapid ripening of fruits in both.
In his " Lachesis Lapponica," on the 2d of July, Linnaeus records that beautiful com (barley or rye),
which had been sown on the 25th and 26th of May, had shot up so high as to be laid in some places
by the rain, and on the 28th of July harvest commenced in Lulean Lapland. The corn then cutting,
though sown but a few days before midsummer, was, nevertheless, quite ripe. Thus, it appears that
corn (barley) springs up and ripens at this place in the space of sixty days.
In like manner we learn from Hooker (" Sikkim Rhododendrons") that in the Sikkim Himmalayas
there is a due proportion preserved between the time which each plant takes to flower and mature its
seeds, and that which nature has to give it. As we ascend the mountains, of course the higher we go
the less time have the plants in which to ripen their fruit; for while at the base of the mountain all is
basking in sunshine, the higher portions are still covered with snow. Dr Hooker divided the slopes of
the Himmalayas into four transverse zones, and he found that in each of these zones there was
a difference of two months between the time taken by the Rhododendrons (and of course the provision
would not be confined to them) to mature their seeds. The plants in each zone flower a month earlier
* " If Mont Ventoux had a more considerable development, we should probably see t
isidered on this account the limit as mean and not maximum. It might even be that it was