4o2 REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



" Douglas Fig,'' "Red Fir," " Yellow Fir;"' and in the lumber yards of Cali- 

 fornia and elsewhere outside of this state, " Oregon Pine." When grown in 

 open woods the annual growths are large, somewhat laxly adherent to each 

 other, the limbs numerous, the quality of the timber not so good, and the 

 wood somewhat reddish in color, giving rise to the name "Red Fir." 



In dense .forests the trees are much taller in proportion to diameter, 

 fairly free from limbs, the annual growths small and compact, the quality 

 of the timber unsurpassed and the wood close grained and yellowish, thus 

 causing it to be called " Yellow Fir." It ranges in elevation from almost 

 sea level to six thousand feet, and in height from one hundred and twenty to 

 three hundred feet or more by four to ten feet in diameter. Its adaptability 

 to varying conditions of humidity is great, being found about Neah Bay, 

 Washington, with an annual precipitation of one hundred and twenty feet, 

 and in the Okanogan region where the annual precipitation is only eleven 

 and one-half inches. In the latter section and about the upper limits of its 

 altitudinal range it is. of course, dwarfed and scrubby. The bark is deeply 

 furrowed and very- thick, thus affording great protection from forest fires. 

 Cones, two to three and one-half inches long, numerous and fully seeded, 

 thus insuring abundant propagation. The tree has been introduced abroad, 

 notably in the Black Forest where it is quite thrifty. It submits readily to 

 transplanting and cultivation, fourteen varieties having already been evolved 

 from it by cultivators. 



Range — New Mexico to British Columbia, north latitude 55° 15^, and 

 eastward to the Rocky Mountains. Clatsop and Columbia counties contain 

 the finest groves of this tree at present. 



Use — Bridge timber, laths, lumber, piling, railroad ties, masts, spars, 

 fuel, etc. The best and strong-est cars in use on this continent at present 

 are made of this wood. 



ALPINE FIR. 



( Abiex laxiocarpa (Hook.) Xutt.) 



All the species of the genus Abies, of which there are seven in Oregon, 

 are true firs, and consequently have erect cones, thus making them readily 

 distinguishable, even to the most careless observer, from the other cone- 

 bearing trees, all of which, with one exception, have pendent cones. This 

 tree is the most alpine of the firs, ranging from two thousand one hundred 

 to seven thousand feet in the Cascades, and still higher in the Bitter Roots. 

 Cones, two to three and one-half inches long ; bark, whitish and thin, leaving 

 the tree an easy prey to forest fires. 



Range — California to British Columbia and Athabasca, north latitude 

 55° 20^, and eastward to the Rocky Mountains. 



Use — Gum is used both commercially and medicinally. 



GREAT SILVER FIR. 

 ( A (/randU Lindl.) 



More closely confined to the coast than the last named; it is also a much 

 larger tree and rarely ascends beyond three thousand five hundred feet 

 elevation. It is the only fir that occurs naturally within the present city 



