TIMBEB OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 81 
imported also in planks of various lengths and thicknesses, 
usually rather short lengths, and the timber is imported 
practically free from sap, which is a great advantage, and 
perfectly square. The writer recently saw a log 50 ft. 
long and 24 inches square absolutely free from sap. Some 
of the logs open out a good deal after lying in the sun, 
being much more liable to this defect than pitch pine or 
Baltic. It is a quick-growing tree. Many of the Douglas 
firs planted in Great Britain about 1834 have attained a 
height of 100 ft., and it has been known to grow to a 
height of 76 ft. in twenty-two years. The flag-pole at 
Kew, which many will remember, was a Douglas fir stick, 
159 ft. long, 6 ft. 6 inches in circumference at the base, 
tapering to 2 ft. at the top. 
The Atchison and Santa Fe Eailway Company use a 
great quantity of Douglas fir timber, and Mr. E. 0. Faulkner, 
the manager of the tie and timber department, in replying 
to the author's inquiry as to the difficulty of creosoting this 
timber, says, " We have found it next to impossible to treat 
Douglas fir satisfactorily after it has been seasoned, and for 
this reason we have adopted the treatment of it while it is 
still green, or just after it has been taken out of the water, 
when it has been floated, which in either case will give the 
same result. This water or sap is then removed by the 
boiling process, which is described in the enclosed specifica- 
tion, and we find no difficulty in getting 10 to 16 lbs. per 
cubic foot into the wood, the quantity of oil varying entirely 
with the time used in the boiling." ^ 
^ It should be noted, however, that in America the timber is gene- 
rally treated in the round log, which contains a much larger proportion 
of sap than the squared timber sent to the ]l]nglish market, and so will 
more readily take in creosote; but Mr. David Allerton, of the American 
Creosoting Company, has by a different treatment to Mr. Faulkner's 
got 10 to 12 lbs. of oil per cubic foot into square timber. 
