56 HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



pearance. We see occasionally quite similar bark, though in a smaller 

 way, in our eastern Hemlock. The bark of the young trees contains 

 blisters filled with pitch similar to that seen in the eastern Balsam and 

 other Firs. 



HABITAT. A tree of extensive range, being found abundantly in 

 British Columbia, south of latitude 55 N. and southward among the 

 mountain ranges generally, as far east as Montana, Wyoming, Colorado 

 and western Texas, and into Mexico, excepting the region between the 

 Sierra Nevada and the Wahsatch Mountains. It is a tree of great range 

 of altitude also, being found equally vigorous near the coast and 8,000 or 

 10,000 feet above tide. It is particularly an abundant tree in Oregon, 

 Washington and northern California, and in places forms exclusive for- 

 ests of great density and grandeur of growth where " the trees stand 

 relatively as near to each other, and the trunks are as tall and slender as 

 the canes in a cane-brake." 



USES. The most valuable timber, taking into consideration its great 

 abundance and the variety of its usefulness, of the Pacific region, being 

 manufactured into lumber for all kinds of construction purposes, for 

 railway ties, and especially valued for the spars of vessels and in ship- 

 building. Vast quantities of this timber are shipped to foreign coun- 

 tries. The bark is useful for tanning purposes. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood quite variable in properties, but hard, 

 strong, durable, difficult to work, and bands of summer cells conspicuous, 

 broad and hard. The heart-wood is of a yellowish -or reddish-brown 

 color and the sap-wood nearly white. The lumbermen recognize two 

 varieties of the lumber as Yellow Fir and Red Fir, according to the 

 color, the former being of finer grain and more valuable than the latter. 

 These are distinctions in the wood only and not accompanied by distinc- 

 tions in botanical characters. Specific Gravity, 0.5157; Percentage of 

 Ash } 0.08; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 0.5153; Coefficient of Elas- 

 ticity, 128297; Modulus of Rupture, 881; Resistance to Longitudinal 

 Pressure, 519; Resistance to Indentation, 100; Weight of a Cubic Foot in 

 Pounds, 32.14. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES are not claimed of this species. 



