AMERICAN FOREST TREES 153 



fir outnumbers spruce in many young stands. That is because fir 

 reproduces better than spruce, and grows with more vigor at first. In 

 stands of second growth the fir often predominates. It depends to some 

 extent upon the conditions under which the second growth has its start. 

 Fir does not germinate well if the ground has been bared by fire and the 

 humus burned. Consequently, old burns do not reidily grow up in fir. 

 The best stands occur where the natural conditions have not been 

 much disturbed further than by removing the growth. Fortunately 

 conditions on the summit and elevated slopes of the southern Appa- 

 lachians do not favor destructive forest fires. Rain is frequent and 

 abundant, and the shade cast by evergreen trees keeps the humus too 

 moist for fire. To this condition is due the comparative immunity 

 from fire of the high mountain forests of fir and spruce. Sometimes, 

 however, fires sweep through fine stands with disastrous results. The 

 destruction is more serious because no second forest of evergreens is 

 likely on tracts which have been severely burned. 



A report by the State Geological Survey on forest conditions in 

 western North Carolina, issued in 1911, predicted that spruce and fir 

 forests aggregating from 100,000 to 150,000 acres among the high moun- 

 tain ranges, will become barren tracts, because of the destructive effect 

 of fires stripping the ground of humus. 



The cutters of pulpwood in the southern Appalachian mountains 

 take Fraser fir wherever they find it, mix it with spruce, and the two 

 woods go to market as one. Statistics show the annual cut of both, but 

 do not give them separately. The output of spruce, including fir, south 

 of Pennsylvania, in 1910 was 115,993 cords, equivalent to about 80,- 

 000,000 feet, board measure. Most of it was red spruce, but some was 

 fir, and in North Carolina probably twenty-five per cent was of that 

 species. The total pulpwood cut in that state was 14,509 cords of the 

 two woods combined, and probably 3,800 cords were Fraser fir. 



The wood of Fraser fir is very light. An air dry sample from Roan 

 mountain, N. C., weighed 22.22 pounds per cubic foot. That is lighter 

 than balsam fir, which is classed among the very light woods. It is 

 stronger than balsam fir by twenty-five per cent. The wood is soft, 

 compact and the bands of summerwood in the annual rings are rather 

 broad and light colored and are not conspicuous. The medullary rays 

 are thin but numerous. The color is light brown, the sapwood mostly 

 white. 



This wood is not of much commercial value except for pulp. It is 

 not abundant, and it is not suited to many purposes. It is suitable 

 for boxes, being light in weight and moderately strong; but other 

 woods which grow in the same region are as good in all respects and are 



