xxx. | FIRS. 253 
reaches to a height of 80 to 130 feet, with a circum- 
ference of 3 to 5 feet. It may also be found upon most 
of the mountainous parts of the North of Europe, and 
is abundant in North America. The Spruce Fir is an 
evergreen, and assumes in open ground a beautiful 
pyramidal form, with the lower branches drooping 
nearly to the ground; the leaves are solitary and very 
short, and the cones long and pendulous, with the scales 
thin at the edges. It will thus be easily distinguished 
from the Pines, which have their leaves clustered in twos 
or threes. 
The wood is white in colour, straight and even in the 
grain, tough, light, elastic, and more difficult to work 
than Pine, owing chiefly to the excessive hardness of the 
small knots which are frequently found in it. When 
cut into deals it is somewhat disposed to warp, unless 
carefully weighted in the stacks or piles during the 
process of seasoning. The shrinkage is inconsiderable, 
and the sap, though generally only of moderate thick- 
ness, varies from half-an-inch, in some trees, to 2 or 3 
inches in others. 
The Spruce Firs are not suitable for the best-finished 
carpenters’ or joiners’ work, but for framing and 
the coarser descriptions of work it may be used with 
advantage, and also in ships for any of the fitments in 
store-rooms, for lockers, shelves, mess-tables, &c. 
The trees are generally straight, and being strong as 
well as elastic, they are admirably suited for making the 
small spars required for ships and boats. They are also 
in great request for ladders and scaffold poles, and for 
stage-making in ship-yards. 
Norway spars are known under the following desig- 
nations, and are classified for the navy contracts according 
to their size, thus :— 
