196 THE FIRS 



its best it towers one hundred and fifty to two hundred and 

 fifty feet with a stem six to seven feet in diameter, with 

 slight taper, and clean of limb for one hundred feet or more. 

 It is lightnlenianding, and if not grown in a dense stand 

 will be found well clothed with limbs from near the ground 

 up ; the seedlings do not thrive in the shade. 



The wood is among the heaviest of the Firs, only the Red 

 Fir exceeding it ; a seasoned cubic foot weighs twenty-eight 

 pounds, while the Red Fir weighs twenty-nine pounds, and 

 our eastern White Fir only twenty-two pounds. It is mod- 

 erately hard and firm, strong, elastic, medium fine-grained, 

 heartwood light brown, irregularly marked with reddish 

 brown areas, which add to its beauty for interior finish, 

 with thick and somewhat darker sapwood, the latter 

 feature unusual for a conifer. It is easily worked and should 

 come into more general use, as it is superior in quality and 

 quite different from any other Fir, and for some purposes 

 equal to more popular coniferous woods. 



It is a good seeder, but the percentage of germination is 

 unfortunately low, and the seeds are greedily devoured by 

 birds and squirrels, the Douglas squirrel being the greatest 

 offender. The cones are large for a Fir, being from six to 

 seven inches in length, and unlike those of any other species. 

 Whoever has seen them standing upright on the topmost 

 limbs of these giants of the woods, or has had the pleasure 

 of close inspection, will never forget them. In their con- 

 spicuousness they vie with the unique cones of the Sugar 

 Pine. Reproduction should be at once undertaken in some 

 form, but just what method would be best experiment only 

 can determine. It is true that the tree is comparatively a 

 slow grower, and a long time must elapse before merchant- 

 able trees can be grown, but for all that, our obligations 

 to posterity require us to do our duty and transmit such 

 species as prove valuable in our day. The great giants will 

 soon be gone, but we should leave it possible for others to 

 grow. 



