96 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



fi trunk three feet through. Its branches are large and spread- 

 ing, the leaves a foot long and pale sea-green in color ; the 

 cones seventeen inches long, seven inches through, and like a 

 sugar-loaf in shape. 



§ 69. Firs. — The red fir, or Douglas spruce {Abies douglasii\ 

 is a tree of very large size, growing to be three hundred feet 

 high and ten feet thick in the trunk. It is, as Dr. Newberry 

 says, " one of the grandest of the group of giants Avhich com- 

 bine to form the forests of the West." The wood is strong, 

 but coarse and uneven in grain ; the layers of each ycai^'s 

 srrowth being: soft on one side and verv hard on the other. 

 The timber is much used for rough work in houses, and for 

 ship-building. The tree grows in dense forests on the Sierra 

 Nevada and Cascade Mountains, from 85° to 49°, and near the 

 coast north of 39°. 



The yellow-fir or Williamson's spruce {Abies williamsonii) 

 bears a close resemblance to the red fir, and the two trees are 

 usually found in company with each other. 



The black fir {Abies menziesii) is smaller and of little value. 



The Abies bracheata (Santa Lu'jia fir) grows in the Santa 

 Lucia mountains. The height is about one hundred feet, the 

 shape a perfect cone, the lowest branches resting on the ground. 

 The tree produces a resin used by the Catholic priests for in- 

 cense. 



The Western balsam-fir {Picea grandis)^ or white fir, attains 

 a height of one hundred and fifty feet, and a diameter of seven 

 feet in the trunk. The bark on the trunks of the yoimg trees 

 contains numerous cysts full of the resinous fluid called the 

 balsam of fir. 



§ 70. Cedars. — The Western juniper, or cedar {Juniperus 

 occidentalis)^ bears a strong resemblance to the juniper {Ju- 

 niperus virginianus) of the Eastern states. Its wood, however, 

 is white in color. It grows to be about thirty feet high. The 

 wood of a juniper-tree found near the quicksilver mines of New 

 Idria is so hard and fine in texture, that it would probably be 

 valuable to engravers. 



