ABERDEENSHIRE, Scotland, is mildly remarkable, in an industrial point of view, for the exhaustless supply of granite which it yields. This granite is frequently found dis integrated, at least in so friable a state as to be easily dug into by the pickaxe and spade; yet large blocks of fine building stone are fre quently quarried in the midst of a mass of disintegrated rock. The rivers Dee and Don supply large quantities of excellent salmon. The Aberdeenshire canal runs from Aberdeen to Inverury ; the chief traffic is in lime, coal, dung, bones, and bark, carried up ; and stone, slate, grain, and meal brought down. The Aberdeen railway only touches the county; the Great North of Scotland Railway (if con structed) will traverse it. About 10,000 acres of the county are covered with wood, such as birch, alder, poplar, and mountain ash. The planted woods are chiefly larch and Scotch firs. The fir timber of the forest of Mar is, for size and quality, the first in the British Islands. The quantity of cultivated land is but small.
The chief animals reared are cattle, sheep, and horses, considerable numbers of which are despatched to London by steamers, which may often be seen a little way below the Tower. The cultivation of turnips has been greatly extended in consequence of the facili ties afforded by steam navigation for conveying fat cattle to the London market, and the con sequent increase of stock.
Al3IES, is the botanical name for the in valuable genus of Fir trees. There are many well-known species. The Abies Picea, or Sil ver Fir, is a native of the mountains of the middle and south of Europe, in stony, dry, exposed situations. Planks of indifferent quality, on account of their softness, are sawn from its trunk, which also yields Burgundy pitch and Strasburg turpentine. Abies Bal santea, the Balm of Gilead Fir, is found in the cold parts of North America; it yields a clear transparent greenish-yellow turpentine, which is commonly known under the name of Cana dian Balsanz. Abies TVebbiana is a lofty tree, whose wood seems to be valuable ; in India it is used by plane-makers. Abies Canadensis, or Hemlock Spruce Fir, is a noble species, rising to the height of seventy or eighty feet. The wood is of little value, being neither sound nor durable: it is chiefly employed for the manufacture of laths and for coarse in-door work. The bark is exceedingly valuable for tanning; mixed with oak bark, it is said to be much better than oak bark alone. A great deal of the Essence of Spruce is extracted from the shoots of this species. Abies excelsa, the Norway Spruce Fir, is a native of the mountainous parts of the north of Europe, where it sometimes constitutes, as in Norway, the principal timber. The wood is of a white colour, of a fine even grain, and very durable; in the market it is known under the name of White or Christiana Deal. Abies alba, the White Spruce Fir, is found in the colder re gions of North America. The timber is of inferior quality. From the fibres of the root, macerated in water, the Canadians prepare the thread with which they sew together the birch bark that forms their canoes. Its resin is also used to render the seams water-tight. The bark is said to be occasionally used for tanning. Abics 'aura, the Black or Red Spruce Fir, is a native of the most inclement regions of North America. From its young branches is extracted the Essence of Spruce, so well known as a useful antiseorbutic in long voy ages. Abies Douglasii, the Douglas Fir, is
found in immense forests in North -West America. The young branches have their bark filled with receptacles of resin, as in the Balm of Gilead. The timber is heavy, firm, of as deep a colour as yew, with very few knots, and not in the least liable to Larix, the common Larch Fir, is a native of the mountains of the middle of Europe, of Russia and Siberia. It grows with great ra pidity, is subject to very few accidents, trans plants with little risk, and produces timber of great excellence and value, not only for do mestic but for naval purposes. In mountainous districts in Scotland the Dukes of Athol have planted it in immense quantities ; and it ap pears, from a report of one of those noble men to the Horticultural Society, that in situ ations 1,500 to 1,600 feet above the level of the sea, he has felled trees, eighty years old, that have each yielded six loads of the finest timber. From the boiled inner bark, mixed with rye-flour, and afterwards buried for a few hours in the snow, the hardy Siberian hunters prepare a sort of leaven. The bark is neajy as valuable to the tanner as oak-bark; it also produces the substance called Venice Turpen tine, which flows in abundance when the lower part of the trunk of old trees is wounded. A sort of manna, called Briancon Manna, exudes from its leaves in the form of a white flocculent substance, which finally be comes concreted into small lumps. Abies Cedrus, the Cedar of Lebanon Fir, grows in Syria and the Taurus. According to Labillar dibre, a French traveller in Syria, the largest of those now remaining on Lebanon is, at least, 9 feet in diameter ; the trees are held in great veneration. Aides Deodara, the Sacred Indian Fir, is a large tree, with a trunk about 4 feet in diameter. The wood is extremely durable, and so resinous that laths made of it are used for candles. Spars of it have been 'taken out of Indian temples, known to have been erected from 200 to 400 yearS, uninjured, except in those parts which originally were sap-wood. Mr. Moorcroft procured specimens from the starlings of a bridge in Ladakh, where it had been exposed to the water for nearly 400 years. Mr. Lambert says, that its wood takes an excellent polish, being very close-grained.
The genus of resinous plants called Abies, which we have thus described, comprehends many forest trees of great importance. Some of them, such as the Larch, the Norway Spruce, the Silver Fir, and the Balm of Gilead, are raised in nurseries in the open ground, in large quantities, for the supply of our planta tions; others, such as the Cedar of Lebanon and the Douglas Fir, are procured in much less abundance, and are treated with more care, being usually kept in pots until they are finally committed to the earth in the situation they may bo subsequently destined to occupy. ABINGDON, in Berkshire, is situated at the junction of the Ock and the Thames. The trade consists of malting, hemp-dressing, and sack-cloth and sail-cloth making ; besides which there are two large clothing factories. The corn-market is large. Capacious wharfs and warehouses have been erected at the en trance of the Wilts and Berks canal into the Thames. The Oxford branch of the Great Western Railway passes by Abingdon, near which there is a station.