220 
FIR TREE. 
planks and deals are superior to those sent from 
America, Russia, and from the different parts of the 
Baltic, because the trees grow on the rocks, and are 
therefore firmer, more compact, and less liable to rot 
than the others, which chiefly shoot from a sandy or 
loamy soil. 
The timber of this kind of fir, which we call 
deal, is either red, yellow, or white, but generally 
the latter ; and we are assured by Pallas, that it is 
from the Scotch fir that we obtain the best masts 
for our navy. The people employed for this pur- 
pose are careful to choose those trees which are re- 
markable for the beauty and height of their stems, 
and the yellowness of their bark. It is not in the 
midst of the forest, but on the skirts, that the finest 
trees are found, and these are commonly observed 
to grow in a coarse and rather moist sand. The 
best masts are said to come from Riga; and we learn 
from Mr. Coxe, that the trade carried on there, in 
this article in particular, is very beneficial to the 
town. “ The burghers of Riga,” says this gentle- 
man, “ send persons who are mast-brokers, into 
the Russian provinces, to mark the trees, which are 
purchased standing. They grow mostly on the 
districts which border on the Dnieper, are sent up 
that river to a landing-place, transported thirty 
versts to the Duna, are then formed into floats of 
from fifty to two hundred pieces, and descend the 
stream to Riga. The tree which produces the 
largest masts is the Scotch fir. Those pieces which 
are from eighteen to twenty-five inches in diameter, 
