82 
TIMBEE 
The name fir is, in America as well as in Great Britain, 
applied to trees and timber which are not fir. In America it 
is commonly applied to spruce, and in the English markets 
to Baltic pine. The wood very much resembles spruce, 
but can be distinguished from it as well as from pine and 
larch by the absence of resin ducts. Its qualities, uses, and 
habits are similar to spruce. 
Amongst American firs may be mentioned : — 
White Fir (Ahies grandis and Abies concoloy),Sin important 
tree. The former occurs from Vancouver to California, 
and the latter from Oregon to Arizona and eastward to 
Colorado and New Mexico. The wood is soft and light, 
coarse grained, not unlike the " Swiss pine" of Europe, but 
darker and firmer, and is not suitable for any purpose 
requiring strength. It is used in Canada for boxes and 
barrels, and to a small extent for pulp. Abies amabalis is 
also a good-sized tree which is found in Washington and 
Oregon. 
Red Fir or Noble Fir {A. nobilis), not to be confounded 
with Douglas fir, is a very large tree, forming with white 
fir extensive forests on the Cascade mountains of Oregon, 
3,000 to 4,000 ft. above sea level. 
Balsam Fir {Abies balsamea) is sold with pine and spruce, 
grows from Minnesota to Maine and northward, and is a 
common tree in Ontario and Quebec ; wood light and soft, 
not durable in the ground. It is used for pulp, but is not 
one of the best woods for that purpose. The " Canada 
balsam" of druggists is obtained from blisters on the bark 
of this tree. 
Larch. The American and Canadian larches produce 
excellent timber and are known as tamarack or hack- 
matack. 
