ABIES EXCELSA. 
11 
present century that it was much planted. Its value as a nurse was about that time urged by Mr 
Adam and some other arboriculturists, which had the effedt of bringing it into favour; and ever 
since it has been largely planted, not in great masses, as is sometimes done on the Continent, 
but interspersed among other trees, to serve as a nurse or for shelter. 
For many centuries Sweden, Norway, and the shores of the Baltic have been the storehouse 
of timber to the rest of Europe; and with each successive year the quantity supplied by them has 
gone on increasing, until, at last, serious fears begin to be entertained that the annual consumption 
is greater than the forests can supply without encroaching on the stock of future years. While Norway 
only exported 22,000 lasts in 1797, she exported 403,566 in 1864; and the exports of Sweden have 
increased in as great a proportion. The scantling of the wood exported is diminishing, a greater 
quantity of smaller dimensions taking the place of larger timber; posts such as are met with in the 
older houses are not now to be seen, and the authorities are stirring themselves to enforce more 
stringently the laws which exist against the proprietor’s abuse of his right to cut down his timber. 
Laws constraining the private individual’s right to do what he will with his own in this matter have 
long existed in Sweden ; the dependence of the whole people on their forests for fuel having early 
shewn, not only their governors but the people themselves, the necessity of a regulated expenditure of this 
all-important commodity. 
Properties and Uses .—The timber of the Spruce is that known in the trade as “ white deal,” 
in contradistinction to “red deal,” which is the wood of the Scots Fir; and it receives a further 
denomination from the places whence it comes, as “ Christiana white deal,” “ Drani white deal,” &c., 
some of which, as the Christiana white deal, have acquired a reputation for quality superior to that of others. 
It is exported in various forms, according to the purposes for which it is intended. Entire trees, 
of good size, merely barked, and with a little of the sapwoocl taken off, are exported for masts and 
spars. Entire trees of smaller size, again, are exported for poles. These are the younger trees which 
have been drawn up by growing close together, or near old ones. Squared planks of various length, 
breadth, and thickness, according to the size of the trees, are what are called “ deals ” and “ battens.” 
Deals are the larger of the two. They run about 12 feet long by 3 to 2^ inches thick, and 7 to 9 inches 
wide. Battens, again, are from 2 to 7 inches wide, and from \ to i\ inches thick. In mercantile trans¬ 
actions 120 deals are reckoned as 100, and 120 deals of the larger size, 12x9x3, are equal to 5f 
loads, and of the smaller size, 12 x 9 x 25, to 45 loads. Of the latter size 38 deals make a ton, and two 
tons make a last. 
It is very durable, being among Conifers in this respebl, according to Loudon, next the Larch ; 
a statement which, however, we think must be taken with a qualification dependent on the rate 
and place of growth of the individual trees. A slow-grown Scotch Fir from a Highland hill, would, 
we imagine, be found more durable than a rapid-grown Spruce from an English meadow. When 
o-rown upon a dry soil the wood is brittle and short-grained, but when grown on a dampish soil it is 
quite of an opposite charader. Disregarding exceptional cases, however, its durability and tenacity 
make it excellently suited for palings and rough purposes; and leaving the bark on makes it 
last longer. On a comparison of the durability of the Spruce and the Scots Fir which have been used for 
rails, paling, fences, and gate-posts at thirty years old, the Spruce Fir has been found to last two or three 
years longer than the Scots. 
Experiments have been made as to the value of the wood for fuel as compared with that of 
other trees, and it has been found that, in comparison with the Beech, its value is as 1079 to 1540, and 
its charcoal as 1176 to 1500. In comparison with the Silver Fir, again, it has been found that, both as 
to fuel and charcoal, it is superior—as to fuel as 1211 to 1079, and as to charcoal as 1176 to 1127. 
The weio-ht of the wood is given in Loudon’s “Arboretum” (on the authority of Hartig), as 
64 lb. 11 oz. per cubic foot when green, 49 lb. 5 oz. when half dry, and 35 lb. 2 oz. when quite dry, and 
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it 
