THE FIRS 257 



slenderl}^ cylindrical. From Vancouver Island southward 

 to Mendocino County in California, this tree is common 

 from the sea level to an elevation of four thousand feet. 

 Eastward it extends into Idaho, climbing to seven thous- 

 and feet, but choosing always moist soil in the neighbor- 

 hood of streams. Various uses, wooden wares, packing cases, 

 and fuel consume its soft, coarse wood to a limited extent. 

 The delicate grace of its sweeping down-curving branches 

 makes it one of the most beautiful of our Western firs. It 

 grows rapidly, and is a favorite in European parks. 



The White Fir 



A. concolor, Lindl. and Gord. 



This white fir is a giant of the Sierras, but a tree of 

 medium height in the Rocky Mountains. Its leaves are 

 often two to three inches long, very unusual for a fir 

 tree, curving to an erect position, pale blue or silvery 

 at first, becoming dull green at the end of two or three 

 years. 



On the California Sierras, this silver ^ tree lifts its 

 narrow spire two hundred and fifty feet tow^ard the sky 

 and waves great frondlike masses of foliage on pale gray 

 branches. As a much smaller tree, it is found in the arid 

 regions of the Great Basin and of southern New INIexico 

 and Arizona, territory which no other fir tree invades. 

 In gardens of Europe and of our Eastern states this 

 is a favorite fir tree, often known as the "blue fir" 

 and the "silver fir" from its pale bark and foliage, 

 whose blue cast is not always permanent. Eastern nur- 

 series obtain their best trees from seeds gathered in the 

 Rocky Mountains. 



