Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/271

 CHAPTER XXX.

FIRS—(continued).

THE SWEDISH FIR TREE

, as its name indicates, a native of Sweden, where it is very abundant, and attains, under favourable circumstances, a height of from 50 to 80 feet, with a circumference of from 4 to 5 feet; it yields timber in logs of 20 to 35 feet in length by 10 to 16 inches square. From the smaller trees, deals 3 inches thick, by 7 to 9 inches broad, and 12 feet and upwards in length, are obtained.

The wood is of a yellowish-white colour, soft, clean and straight in the grain, with only small knots, and very little alburnum or sap-wood on it. Of late it has been in great request for common building purposes, as as it is about 30 per cent, cheaper than Dantzic, and 15 to 18 per cent, cheaper than Riga Fir timber.

Swedish Fir is liable to the heart and star shakes, and not unfrequently the cup-shake. On this account it is not suitable for conversion into board for joiners' work, but only for the rougher and more ordinary works in building operations. This species of Fir is of very slow growth, and, during the early stage of its existence, it makes wood at only about half the rate of the Dantzic, Riga, and Polish Firs, but gains slightly upon this rate as it approaches maturity.