CHAP. XXXVI.] 
OREGON PINE . 
2 93 
and makes about 24 inches in diameter in a hundred 
years, or, as I have proved by an average of several 
specimens, it makes 1 inch diameter of wood in 4^32 
years. 
Cargoes of Oregon Fir spars are occasionally brought 
to this country, together with a little timber and plank; 
but it can scarcely be said that there is as yet any regular 
trade kept up in this wood, owing chiefly to the great 
cost of transport, the heavy freight charges preventing 
its importation and successful competition with the 
Canadian and Baltic Firs, which can be put upon the 
London market at less expense. 
The Oregon spars are generally well dressed, or 
manufactured for the market, are perfectly straight, and 
vary from about 10 inches in diameter and 40 feet in 
length, to 32 inches in diameter and no feet in length. 
They are much sought after, and are well adapted for 
lower-masts, yards, and bowsprits, &c., &c.; for yachts, 
and for the royal and mercantile marine. For top-masts, 
however, where there is often much friction, they are not 
so well suited as Riga or Dantzic Fir, or the Kauri Pine 
of New Zealand, owing to the want of cohesion in the 
annual layers. 
A good specimen of the Oregon Fir, 159 feet in 
length, was placed in the Royal Botanic Gardens at 
Kew for a flagstaff, about the year 1861, and seems 
likely to do good service there. One or two such spars, 
suitable for flagstaff's, the dimensions varying from 
9 to 14 inches in diameter, and 80 to no feet in 
length, are commonly brought with each cargo. 
The present price (1875) of these Oregon Pine spars 
for masts, &c., varies from £7 10s. to £11 10s. per load 
of 50 cubic feet, according to size. This is in excess of 
that usually charged for the Yellow Pine of Canada, but, 
