Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/272

252 In consideration of the defects mentioned, there is little to recommend the Swedish Fir to favourable notice, beyond the fact of its being cheap and suitable for the coarser purposes in carpentry.

About 3,500,000 Swedish deals, 7,000 loads of timber, and 18,000 fathoms of firewood, were imported into London in 1874, besides a large quantity of boards for flooring, &c., &c.

THE NORWAY FIR TREE

is of straight growth and small dimensions, and balks of about 8 or 9 inches square only are produced from it, but even these are not now shipped in any considerable quantity for the English market.

The Norwegians appear to find it most advantageous to convert their Fir timber (which is generally of a coarse description and inferior in quality) into battens of 6 to 7 inches in breadth, by less than 3 inches in thickness, and into prepared flooring and match-boards, which are sold by the “square” of 100 superficial feet of 1 inch thick. They also produce a few deals of 3 x 9 inches, varying in length, for exportation; and, as the whole of these are manufactured and sold at a very cheap rate, they pass readily into consumption for the building of the lowest and poorest class of houses.

Norway supplies, in addition to the timber, deals, and battens, considerable quantities of small spars, and Fir for firewood, to the London market.

THE SPRUCE FIR TREE (Abies excelsa) is very abundant upon the mountain slopes in Norway, and prefers generally a damp clayey soil to bring it to the greatest perfection. In such situations, it frequently