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FORESTRY BRANCH BULLETIN No. 63 



elasticity and greater longevity than white spruce. Black spruce has a much 

 finer grain than the other two species. It is a good deal stronger and more 

 durable, but it has a strong tendency to warp and twist. 



Spruce is used by nineteen industries, both for the manufacture of articles 

 and for packing and crating. Only two species are reported as having a greater 

 variety of uses. 



The wood-pulp industry is the greatest consumer of spruce It requires a 

 supply of 252,161,000 feet board measure, over 69 per cent of the total spruce 

 used; or 139,467,000 feet more than all the other industries together. 



Spruce is gradually taking the place of pine in boxes and crating, sash, 

 doors, building material, dimension lumber, etc. The comparatively low average 

 of the price of spruce is due mostly to the large proportion consumed by the wood- 

 pulp industry and the raw state of the material used by it. Apart from this 

 industry, the average price of ^pruce is nearly $19 per thousand feet board 

 measure. 



Some manufacturers claim that it is becoming difficult, almost impossible, 

 to obtain large quantities of clear spruce in the markets of Quebec. This may 

 be explained by the fact that a large proportion, and probably the best, of the 

 spruce lumber of Quebec is sold to foreign countries, the local consumption being 

 supplied mostly by small saw-mills cutting, chiefly, second-growth timber of 

 small dimensions or grown in open stand. 



TABLE II BALSAM FIR 



*Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent. 



Balsam fir (Abies balsamea) is well distributed throughout the province of 

 Quebec, mixed with spruce or hardwoods. It germinates easily, and the policy 

 of natural regeneration of forest areas generally followed, the heavy debris of 

 logging operations, and the greater proportion of fir below the diameter cutting 

 limit give to this species considerable ascendency over the other coniferous 

 species. It is even considered by some that if the present policy of lumbering 

 is continued there is a possibility of balsam fir becoming the predominant tree 

 in a large part of the Quebec forests This condition exists in parts of Ontario 

 and New Brunswick as well as in Quebec. 



