CHAPTER III 
THE CONIFEROUS TREES OF COMMERCE. EUROPEAN 
AND OTHER EASTERN SPECIES IN USE AT THE 
PRESENT TIME 
UNDER the name of Conifers or Cone-bearing trees 
are included the firs, pines, larches and cedars. The 
number of varieties of the various species is large, and 
the forests in which they grow, while considerably 
more extensive in the Northern hemisphere than in 
the Southern, are well distributed throughout the 
entire world, their area being probably greater than 
that covered by the broad-leaf section. They occupied 
a most prominent position in the area of forests in 
prehistoric times, as from fossil remains we learn 
’ that, besides the many species known to us at the 
present time, many additional members of the same 
family existed. 
This wood is more generally used than any other, 
being the material most adapted for building purposes 
and use in almost every other branch of industry where 
wood is required. Records of its use in bygone times 
are plentiful: one instance as an example may be men- 
tioned, the mummy cases in the Egyptian room, which 
attracts so many visitors at the British Museum, 
being constructed of one species of this family,—the 
cedar of Lebanon. 
Great Britain is by far the largest importer of these 
coniferous woods ; and to gain some idea of the magni- 
tude of this trade one has only to turn to the statis- 
tics of the Board of Trade which are here included. It 
is shown in these that Russia, Norway, Sweden, and 
other Northern Countries are the chief sources from 
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