^8 TREES 



THE DOUGLAS SPRUCE 



The Douglas spruce {Pseudotsuga mucronata, Sudw.), 

 ranks with the giant arbor- vitaes, firs, and sequoias in the 

 forests of the Pacific Coast. Thousands of square miles 

 of pure forest of this species occur in Oregon, Washington, 

 and British Columbia. Here the trees stand even, like 

 wheat in a grain field, the tallest reach four hundred feet, 

 the redwood its only rival. Nowhere but in the redwood 

 forests is there such a heavy stand of timber on this 

 continent. No forest tree except sequoias equals the 

 Douglas spruce in massiveness of trunk and yield of 

 straight-grained lumber. 



The genus pseudotsuga stands botanically in a position 

 intermediate between firs and hemlocks. Our tree giant 

 is as often called the Douglas &^ as Douglas spruce. 

 The lumberman sells the output of his mills under the 

 trade name, "Oregon pine." This is perhaps the best 

 known lumber in all the Western country. It has a great 

 reputation abroad, where timbers of the largest size 

 are used for masts, spars, piles for wharves and bridges, and 

 for whatever uses heavy timbers are needed. The wood 

 is stronger in proportion to its weight than that of any 

 other large conifer in the country. It is tough, dm-able, 

 and elastic. Its only faults are its extreme hardness and 

 liability to warp when cut into boards. These faults are 

 noted only by carpenters who use the wood for interior 

 finish of houses. "Red pine" it is called in regions of the 

 Great Basin, where the trees grow smaller than on the 

 Coast, and are put to general lumber purposes. It is 

 variable in quahty, but ajlways pale yellow, striped with 



