Page:All Over Oregon and Washington.djvu/291

Rh that will not flourish in the soil and climate of the coast. Of those the most important is the red fir (Abies Douglassii.) Very extensive forests of it inhabit the mountain-sides and Columbia River highlands. It grows to a great height, its branches commencing fifty feet from the ground. The bark is thick, and deeply furrowed; the leaves rather coarse, and the cone is distinguished from other species by having three-pointed bracts between the scales.

The red fir is more used for lumber than any other kind, though it is of a coarse grain and shrinks very much. It is tough and durable, if kept dry. It is a very resinous wood, from which cause large tracts of it are burnt off every year. Yet it keeps fire so badly in the coals, that there is little danger of the cinders carrying fire when buildings constructed of it are burned: it goes out before it alights.

The yellow fir (A. Grandis) is also a tree which does not like sea-air, and is very valuable for lumber. It is distinguishable at a distance by its superior height, often over three hundred feet, and by the short branches of the top, which give it a cylindrical shape. It is admirably adapted for masts and spars, being fine-grained, tough, and elastic. The best of lumber is made from this fir, and large quantities of it exported from the Columbia River. The bark of the yellow fir is smoother, not so deeply furrowed as the red, and the oval cone is destitute of bracts.

Of foliaceous trees not found on the coast, is the oak (Quercus Garryana), which does not attain a very great size, not growing more than fifty feet high, except in rich, alluvial lands, where they attain fine dimensions. Another and smaller scrub-oak (Quercus Kellogia) is common, and the wood is good for