82 TIMBER 



The name fir is, in America as well as in Great Britain, 

 applied to trees and timber which are not fir. In America it 

 is commonly applied to spruce, and in the English markets 

 to Baltic pine. The wood very much resembles spruce, 

 but can be distinguished from it as well as from pine and 

 larch by the absence of resin ducts. Its qualities, uses, and 

 habits are similar to spruce. 



Amongst American firs may be mentioned : 



White Fir (Abies grandis and Abies concolor'), an important 

 tree. The former occurs from Vancouver to California, 

 and the latter from Oregon to Arizona and eastward to 

 Colorado and New Mexico. The wood is soft and light, 

 coarse grained, not unlike the " Swiss pine " of Europe, but 

 darker and firmer, and is not suitable for any purpose 

 requiring strength. It is used in Canada for boxes and 

 barrels, and to a small extent for pulp. Abies amabcdis is 

 also a good-sized tree which is found in Washington and 

 Oregon. 



Red Fir or Noble Fir (A. nobilis), not to be confounded 

 with Douglas fir, is a very large tree, forming with white 

 fir extensive forests on the Cascade mountains of Oregon, 

 3,000 to 4,000 ft. above sea level. 



Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea) is sold with pine and spruce, 

 grows from Minnesota to Maine and northward, and is a 

 common tree in Ontario and Quebec ; wood light and soft, 

 not durable in the ground. It is used for pulp, but is not 

 one of the best woods for that purpose. The " Canada 

 balsam " of druggists is obtained from blisters on the bark 

 of this tree. 



Larch. The American and Canadian larches produce 

 excellent timber and are known as tamarack or hack- 

 matack. 



