Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/265

 CHAPTER XXIX.

FIRS—(continued).

RIGA FIR, A VARIETY OF THE Pinus sylvestris.

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, moderately 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 prevails 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 dimensions of about 11 to 14 inches on the side, and from 20 to 45 feet in length. This timber is seldom classified as