EVERGREENS OF COLORADO 33 



The wood is nearly white in color and only about three-fourths as 

 heavy as that of yellow pine. It is so soft and brittle as to be of but 

 little use where strength is necessary. 



The cones are usually about three or three and one-half inches in 

 length and of a dark purple or nearly black color and are usually more 

 or less coated with balsam. The wood of this tree is considered as of 

 such little value by lumbermen that it is often cut and left on the ground 

 instead of being utilized. At present it is being used for the coarsest, 

 poorest grades of lumber where durability and strength are not im- 

 portant. It is sometimes removed from the Engelmann spruce forests 

 where it occurs, to give room for the more valuable species with which 

 it is growing. The symmetrical form and handsome foliage of this tree 

 would seem to mark it as a desirable ornamental tree and it is sometimes 

 planted for this purpose in the Northern United States and Europe. In 

 the forests of this state, however, it appears to be rather short-lived and 

 is seldom found planted except in tree collections. 



2. WHITE FIR, CONCOLOR FIR. 

 Abies concolor. Lindl. 



This is the only true fir to be found within the arid regions of the 

 Great Basin and in Southern New Mexico and Arizona. In this state the 

 concolor fir occurs not farther north than the region of Pike's Peak, at 

 which point it seems to replace the Alpine Fir from the northern parts 

 of the state. When fully grown, it is a much larger tree than the 

 preceding species. Some very good specimens of moderate size are to 

 be seen in North Cheyenne Canyon, near Colorado Springs. Considerable 

 tracts of it are to be found in the San Juan forests of Southern Colorado, 

 where it is lumbered to a moderate extent. During the first year or two, 

 the foliage is similar in color to that of the Silver Spruce, and this, to- 

 gether with its regular whorls of frond-like foliage masses, makes this a 

 very handsome tree. 



The needles are usually about one-fourth to one-third longer than 

 those of the Alpine Fir and when examined with a hand lens in cross 

 section, the two resin ducts are found to be very close to the lower sur- 

 face of the leaf, a character which serves to distinguish this tree in all 

 cases from the Alpine Fir. The trunk of the young tree resembles to 

 some extent that of the preceding species, but the bark soon becomes 

 quite deeply cracked and strongly ridged, so that in trunks of the same 

 diameter, that of the concolor fir is much rougher than that of the 

 Alpine Fir. 



The wood is similar in quality to that of the Alpine Fir and is used 

 for much the same purposes where it occurs in abundance. The cones 

 are considerably larger than those of the foregoing species and are often 

 pale green in color until nearly mature, when they take on a light 

 brownish color before breaking up. In some specimens, the cones acquire 

 a purple tint usually lighter in color, however, than that of the Balsam 

 Fir cone. 



