OUR IMPORTED CONIFEROUS TIMBERS. 239 



under special trade names. The imported timber of the Scots 

 pine is generally known in the home trade as Baltic red-wood, but 

 it is also called Baltic red fir, red pine, and red or yellow "deal." 

 Its varieties are designated according to the locality from which 

 they come, or to their jiort of shipment, as White Sea, Swedish, 

 Danzig, Riga, St Petersburg, Gefle, etc., red or yellow deals, battens, 

 or boards, and these are graded into first, second, third, and so on 

 qualities, and are stamped or branded accordingly by the exporters. 

 The best qualities of red-wood which we import are those which 

 come from the Baltic and White Sea ports. The timber which 

 comes from the regions about Danzig and Riga is the strongest 

 and most durable, and is specially well adapted for structural 

 work of all kinds, for railway sleepers, and for all purposes where 

 exposux'e to weather, damp, etc., are factors which have to be 

 taken into account. A fine quality of this kind of timber was 

 formerly imported from Memel, but this supply has now almost 

 ceased. The red-woods shipped from the southern and eastern ports 

 of the Baltic are the largest, hardest, and most resinous of our 

 imported Scots pine timbers ; but the finest qualities of this 

 timber for joinery are those imported from St Petersburg and 

 Archangel. These are drawn from the northern parts of Russia, 

 chiefly from the White Sea region, and they are much finer in 

 texture, and less resinous, than those of the south. A fine quality 

 of this timber also comes from Sweden. This is grown on the 

 eastern slopes of the Scandinavian highlands, and is shipped from 

 the ports on the east coast of the country. 



The coniferous timber of European origin which ranks next 

 in importance to that of the Scots pine, amongst those we 

 import, is that of the common or Norway spruce (Picea excelsa). 

 This timber, like that of the Scots pine, is largely used in house- 

 building and constructive work generally, and under the trade 

 names of white-wood, white fir, and white " deal," immense 

 quantities of it are imported into Britain from the Baltic and 

 Norwegian ports ; and besides the converted timber, great 

 numbers of undersized stems of this tree are imported for 

 scaffold poles, pit-props, and various other purposes. Like 

 that of the Scots pine, the timber of the spruce varies in 

 character with locality, and the qualities of the various local 

 varieties are graded and branded in a similar fashion to those 

 of the red- woods. 



The most important coniferous timber which we import 



