CHAPTER XXXVI. 

 PINES (Continued). 



THE OREGON OR DOUGLAS PINE, OR FIR TREE (Abies 

 Douglasii). 



THIS noble and gigantic species of Pine, or Fir, is, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Douglas, to be found in large forests in North- 

 Western America, stretching from 43 to 52 of North 

 latitude. It is an evergreen of erect growth, varying 

 from 100 to fully 200 feet in height, and from 5 to 

 25 feet in circumference, and occasionally even exceeding 

 this measurement in girth. The bark is rough, and 

 varies from i to 2 inches in thickness. 



The wood is reddish-white in colour, close, straight, 

 and regular in the grain, tough, elastic, has very little 

 alburnum or sap-wood, and is remarkably free from 

 knots, it being no uncommon thing to find pieces 70 to 

 80 feet in length without a single one upon the surface. 

 In general appearance it more closely resembles the 

 Red Pine (Finns resinosa) of Canada than either of the 

 other Pines and Firs with which we are acquainted. It 

 is, however, slightly harder than the Red Pine, and less 

 firm in texture. 



The Oregon Fir or Pine is rather more rapid in its 

 rate of growth than the Firs and Pines generally are, 



