NOTES AND QUERIES. I07 



April 191 2, an opportunity has occurred for testing the value of 

 its timber for estate purposes, and for offering it in the market. 



The trees converted varied from forty to fifty-two years of age. 

 Even at these ages the proportion of heartwood was found to 

 be, on the average, about 70 per cent, of the total volume. 



The timber converts something like spruce, keeping straight, 

 even when long sizes are sawn, and it does not pinch the saw 

 or spring from it. If carefully stacked, so that the surfaces 

 are evenly exposed, it dries quickly, and is not liable to warp. 

 When cut into boards ^ in. thick, it was found, with open-air 

 drying, that 1000 square feet weighed 24 6 cwts., as compared 

 with 26"3 cwts. in spruce, and 29*8 cwts. in mature Scots pine. 



Though left lying in the wood with the bark on for months, 

 logs of this species have not the same tendency to become 

 discoloured as larch and Scots pine have. 



The timber is very durable, and in this respect equal to 

 larch of the same age. A fence on Taymount Estate, erected 

 with posts sawn from the thinnings taken from the Taymount 

 Douglas wood in 1887, has just required renewal this year, 

 having stood about twenty-five years. The posts were mostly 

 broken at the ground surface, the part above being quite sound. 

 The fence had received a coat of tar after erection, but the 

 wood was otherwise untreated. 



The clean, straight butts were converted into battens and 

 boards for estate use. Second cuts were made into packing- 

 case boards, or hutch boards for collieries ; coarse upper cuts 

 into railway sleepers, and these are now being accepted by 

 one railway company. Though the latter only fetch the price 

 of Scots pine, this outlet is a useful one, as most of the older 

 Douglas fir in the country has been too openly grown, and 

 in consequence the upper cuts are coarse and unfit for boarding. 



A number of gates and gate posts have been made, and 

 though, from the presence of larger knots, these may not be 

 so strong as larch gates, they are first-class gates, and have the 

 advantage of being much lighter. 



A panelled door was also made, and for this purpose the 

 timber was found to be quite suitable. No difficulty was 

 experienced in dressing, fitting, or nailing the wood. 



Three logs were sent to Sir John Fleming for his inspection, 

 and were converted by him into 3 ins. x -| in. champhered linings. 

 Sir John reported very favourably on the quality of the timber 



