CHAPTER XXXV. 



AMERICAN COVilF-ERS—{Contmued). 



We now pass to the FirSj which are distinguished 

 botanically from the Pines by their leaves being isolated, 

 and by differences in their cones. 



OREGON OR DOUGLAS FIR {Pseudo-tsuga Douglasii). 



This noble and gigantic species of Fir* is, accord- 

 ing to Mr. DouglaSj to be found in large forests in 

 North- Western America, stretching from 43° to 52° of 

 north latitude, and is the most important Conifer of 

 Canada and the North-West. It is an evergreen of 

 erect growth, varying from 100 to fully 200 feet in height, 

 and from 5 to 25 feet in circumference, and occasionally 

 even exceeding this measurement in girth. The 

 bark is rough, and varies from i to 2 inches in thick- 

 ness. 



The wood is reddish-white in colour, close, straight, 

 and regular in the grain, tough, elastic, has very 

 little alburnum or sap-wood, and is remarkably free 

 from knots, it being no uncommon thing to find 

 pieces 70 to 80 feet in length without a single one 

 upon the surface. In general appearance it more closely 



* Often called the Oregon Pine. 



