CHAPTER XXIX. 



FIRS (continued]. 

 RIGA FIR, A VARIETY OF THE Pinus sylvestris. 



THIS timber takes its name from the port of shipment, 

 although many of the forests from which it is drawn are 

 very far back in the interior of Russia. It is the produce 

 of a tree of almost perfectly straight growth, with lighter 

 branches than are usually found in the Firs of the same 

 species brought into Dantzic ; it is consequently more 

 free from injurious and objectionable knots. 



The Riga closely resembles the Dantzic Fir timber 

 in being whitish in colour and tinged slightly with red, 

 but is rather lighter looking. It is tough, flexible, mode- 

 rately strong, and scarcely so heavy as the Dantzic Fir, 

 the respective specific gravities being about 541 and 5^2. 

 It has a clean, fine, straight grain, and is a little shaky 

 at the pith. It cannot, therefore, be converted into 

 plank and board so profitably as the Dantzic and some 

 other Firs. With this exception it is a very valuable 

 wood, and is in great request for architectural works of 

 every description ; indeed, we find it used for nearly 

 every purpose where light materials are required. 



After the felling of this timber, it passes through the 

 process of selecting and sorting over, the same as pre- 

 vails in the Polish and Prussian forests and shipping 

 ports, with a view to bring out the best pieces for masts, 

 and the coarsest for railway sleepers. The logs of the 

 intermediate class, when hewn into squares, yield dimen- 

 sions of about ii to 14 inches on the side, and. from 20 

 to 45 feet in length. This timber is seldom classified as 



