CHAPTER XXXVI. 
PINES —( Continued ). 
THE OREGON OR DOUGLAS PINE, OR FIR TREE (Abies 
Douglasii). 
This noble and gigantic species of Pine, or Fir, is, accord¬ 
ing to Mr. Douglas, to be found in large forests in North- 
Western America, stretching from 43 0 to 52 0 of North 
latitude. 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 1 to 2 inches in thickness. 
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 resembles the 
Red Pine (Pinus resinosa) of Canada than either of the 
other Pines and Firs with which we are acquainted. It 
is, however, slightly harder than the Red Pine, and less 
firm in texture. 
The Oregon Fir or Pine is rather more rapid in its 
rate of growth than the Firs and Pines generally are, 
