Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/275

XXX.] (Abies alba), which has longer cones, spindle-shaped, also dependant, with the scales smooth and entire on the edge.

The White Spruce are the only deals shipped to this country from Canada as a clearly-defined class, all others being simply known here as Canadian, St. John’s, &c. Spruce.

The London market was supplied with about 1,100,000 Spruce deals in 1871, 1,080,000 in 1872, 2,000,000 in 1873, and the immense quantity of 2,300,000 pieces in 1874, prepared generally in dimensions of 3 inches thick, 9 inches broad, and 12 to 21 feet in length. The bulk of these were sorted by brackers previous to shipment into first, second, and third qualities. Those of the first quality are perfectly clean, sound, and free from knots, sap, and defects; the second quality are also sound, and tolerably clean, but include deals with a few knots and some sap upon the edges; while the third quality includes and admits all the faulty and coarser descriptions of deals, and some of them are very rough indeed.

As a rule, there is no brand other than a red chalk mark drawn once, twice, or thrice across the deal, to distinguish between the several qualities, and it is necessary that a careful inspection should be made before purchasing them. The relative values of the Canadian and New Brunswick Spruce deals in the London market are about as follows, viz., the 1st quality Canadian is to 1st quality New Brunswick Spruce as 1.0 : 82; the 2nd and 3rd quality Canadian is to 2nd and 3rd New Brunswick Spruce as 1.0 : 90; and these figures indicate approximately the difference in their respective qualities. All these deals are employed extensively in carpentry, ship, and engineering works.