CHAPTER XXIX. 
FIRS —( continued ). 
RIGA FIR, A VARIETY OF THE Pinus sylvestris. 
This timber takes its name from the port of shipment, 
although many of the forests from which it is drawn are 
very far back in the interior of Russia. It is the produce 
of a tree of almost perfectly straight growth, with lighter 
branches than are usually found in the Firs of the same 
species brought into Dantzic ; it is consequently more 
free from injurious and objectionable knots. 
The Riga closely resembles the Dantzic Fir timber 
in being whitish in colour and tinged slightly with red, 
but is rather lighter looking. It is tough, flexible, mode¬ 
rately strong, and scarcely so heavy as the Dantzic Fir, 
the respective specific gravities being about 541 and 582. 
It has a clean, fine, straight grain, and is a little shaky 
at the pith. It cannot, therefore, be converted into 
plank and board so profitably as the Dantzic and some 
other Firs. With this exception it is a very valuable 
wood, and is in great request for architectural works of 
every description ; indeed, we find it used for nearly 
every purpose where light materials are required. 
After the felling of this timber, it passes through the 
process of selecting and sorting over, the same as pre¬ 
vails in the Polish and Prussian forests and shipping 
ports, with a view to bring out the best pieces for masts, 
and the coarsest for railway sleepers. The logs of the 
intermediate class, when hewn into squares, yield dimen¬ 
sions of about 11 to 14 inches on the side, and from 20 
to 45 feet in length. This timber is seldom classified as 
