This tree is the American representative of the silver fir of Europe,
but is inferior to it in all respects. The silver fir is one of the
tallest trees on the continent of Europe, remarkable for the beauty of
its form and foliage, and for the value of its timber. The American tree
is inferior to it in height, in density of foliage, in longevity, and in
the durability of its wood. Both trees, however, display the same
general characters to observation, having a bluish-green foliage, with a
silvery under surface, closely arranged upon the branches, that curve
gracefully upward at the extremities. The secondary branches have the
same upward curvature, never hanging down in the formal manner of the
Norway spruce. There is an airiness in its appearance that is quite
charming, and to a certain extent makes amends for its evident
imperfections. When the Balsam Fir is young, it is very neat and pretty;
but as it advances in years it becomes bald, and displays but little
foliage except on the extremities of the branches. This is a remarkable
defect in many of this family of trees. European writers complain of it
in the silver fir. It is observed in the hemlock, except in favorable
situations, and in the black spruce, but in a less degree in the white
and Norway spruces.