Fir wood

“ On the left, the self-sown firs grow in close ranks. The ground below them is bare but for tussocks of coarse grass and ruddy beds of fallen fir needles. On the right, the fir wood is broken by coppices of silver-stemmed birches, and spaces of heather—that shows a purple-brown against the gray of the reindeer moss out of which it springs. ”

“ MELLSTOCK-LANE
To dwellers in a wood almost every species of tree has its voice as well as its feature. At the passing of the breeze the fir-trees sob and moan no less distinctly than they rock; the holly whistles as it battles with itself ”

“ For as you browse your way through the forest, nipping here and there a rosy leaf of young winter-green, a fragrant emerald tip of balsam-fir, a twig of spicy birch, if by chance you pluck the leaves of Wood-Magic and eat them, you will not know what you have done, but the enchantment of the tree-land will enter your heart and the charm of the wildwood will flow through your veins. ”

“ Till I had found the open mountain heath Yellow with gorse, and rested there and stood To gaze upon the misty sea beneath, Or on the neighbouring wood, —That little wood of hazel and tall pine And youngling fir, where oft we have loved to see The level beams of early morning shine Freshly from tree to tree. Through the denser wood there's many a pool Of deep and night-born shadow lingers yet Where the new-wakened flowers are damp and cool And the long grass is wet. ”

“ Their mother pierced a hole in a brown bud last autumn and laid her eggs there; then when the buds burst in spring the lower leaves grew fast together and made this comfortable house, and those green tusks you see are the leaf points.
But what is the other kind of fir that grows in our wood? It is rather like the spruce in shape, but it is not quite so stiff and prim and proper, and underneath each little leaf there are two silver lines, and so we call this the silver fir. You may always know it from the spruce by these silver lines. ”

“ Red Fir (Pseudotsuga taxifolia) (Oregon Pine, Puget Sound Pine, Yellow Fir, Douglas Spruce, Red Pine) . Heartwood light red or yellow in color, sapwood narrow, nearly white, comparatively free from resins, variable annual rings. Wood usually hard, strong, difficult to work, durable, splinters easily. Used for heavy construction, dimension timber, railway ties, doors, blinds, interior finish, piles, etc. ”

“ The black-cherry-wood grows sometimes to that bulk, as is fit to make stools with, cabinets, tables, especially the redder sort, which will polish well; also pipes, and musical instruments, the very bark employ’d for bee-hives: But of this I am to render a more ample account, in the appendix to this Discourse. I would farther recommend the more frequent planting and propagation of fir, pine-trees, and some other beneficial materials, both for ornament and profit; especially, since we find by experience, they thrive so well, where they are cultivated for curiosity only. ”

“ This is a very important question, as woods that are too hard, too soft, too wet, too oily, too gummy, or too resinous will not produce fire. The wood should be soft enough to wear away, else it produces no punk, and hard enough to wear slowly, or the heat is not enough to light the punk, and, of course, it should be highly inflammable. Those that I have had the best luck with are balsam fir, cottonwood roots, tamarack, European larch, red cedar, white cedar, Oregon cedar, basswood, cypress, and sometimes second-growth white pine. ”

“ Those which belong to the qualities [1] and properties are such as hardness or softness, toughness or brittleness, closeness or openness of texture, lightness or heaviness, and the like. For willow-wood is light from the first, even when it is green, and so is that of the cork-oak; but box and ebony are not light even when dried. Some woods again can be split, [2] such as that of the silver-fir, while others are rather breakable, [3] such as the wood of the olive. Again some are without knots, [4] as the stems of elder, others have knots, as those of fir and silver-fir. ”

“ Man's constant need of timber is abundantly met in these forests. The Douglas or red fir, a tough dense wood, attains a great size, and prevails almost universally. The red cedar, hemlock, spruce, white pine, balsam pine, and other useful conifers, are plentiful ”

“ The cones of balsam fir follow the fashion of all species of fir, and stand erect on the branches. Seeds are one-fourth inch in length and are winged. The wood is of approximately the same weight as white pine, but it falls considerably below white pine in strength and stiffness. It is of moderately rapid growth when conditions are favorable, and the annual ring has a fair proportion of summerwood. ”

“ For house-building a much greater variety is used, silver-fir fir and prickly cedar; also cypress oak and Phoenician cedar. [1] In fact, to speak generally, [2] any wood is here of service, unless it is altogether weak: for there are various purposes for which different woods are serviceable, just as there are in ship-building. While other woods are serviceable for special articles belonging to various crafts, such as furniture tools and the like, the wood of silver-fir is of use for almost more purposes than any other wood ”

“ In some parts, more especially where the woods have been undisturbed by the axe, trees of fair height and girth may be found; but most of the wood is of stunted growth, consisting chiefly of fir-trees about twenty or thirty feet high, and not more than three or four inches in diameter. These commonly grow so closely together that their twigs and branches interlace from top to bottom, while among them may be seen innumerable old and rotten stumps and branches, or newly-fallen trees, which, with the young shoots and brushwood, form a tangled and often impenetrable thicket. ”

“ The essence of the pressed leaves seems to fill every pore of one’s body. Falling water makes a soothing hush, while the spaces between the grand spires afford noble openings through which to gaze dreamily into the starry sky. The fir woods are fine sauntering-grounds at almost any time of the year, but finest in autumn when the noble trees are hushed in the hazy light and drip with balsam; and the flying, whirling seeds, escaping from the ripe cones, mottle the air like flocks of butterflies. ”

“ The weight of wood substance, that is, the material which composes the walls of the fibres and other cells, is practically the same in all species, whether pine, hickory, or cottonwood, being a little greater than half again as heavy as water. It varies slightly from beech sapwood, 1.50, to Douglas fir heartwood, 1.57, averaging about 1.55 at 30° to 35° C., in terms of water at its greatest density 4° C. The reason any wood floats is that the air imprisoned in its cavities buoys it up. ”

“ The leaves of tolerant trees endure shade well, so that their inner and lower leaves flourish under the shadow of their upper and outer leaves, with the result that the whole tree, as beech and maple, makes a dense shadow; whereas the leaves of intolerant trees are either sparse, as in the larch, or are so hung that the light sifts thru them, as in poplar and oak. The spruces and 218 balsam fir have the remarkable power of growing slowly under heavy shade for many years, and then of growing vigorously when the light is let in by the fall of their overshadowing neighbors. ”

“ Representative Uses of Wood.
Occasionally used as inferior lumber.
Weight of Seasoned Wood in Pounds per Cubic Foot.
23.
Modulus of Elasticity.
1,160,000.
Modulus of Rupture.
7300.
Remarks.
Scattered throughout Northern pineries. Cut when of sufficient size and sold with pine or spruce. Cultivated in gardens. Exudations known as Canada Balsam used in medicine. The poplar (P. balsamifera) is also called Balm of Gilead. [p158]
Great Silver Fir, White Fir. Abies grandis Lindl.
Nomenclature. (Sudworth.)
Silver Fir (Mont., Idaho) .
Oregon White Fir, Western White Fir (Cal.) . ”

“ We like the smell of this aromatic forest timber, and its clear flame. The birch is also a sweet wood for the hearth, with a sort of spiritual flame and an even temper,—no snappishness. Some prefer the elm, which holds fire so well; and I have a neighbor who uses nothing but apple-tree wood,—a solid, family sort of wood, fragrant also, and full of delightful suggestions. But few people can afford to burn up their fruit trees. ”

“ Very rapid in growth, so much so that in the dense forest stands, when a portion of the woods has been cut down, the young saplings cannot always withstand the wind pressure and are blown down. Reaches a height in the forest of a hundred and twenty feet, but in the open is broader and more symmetrical. Too much cannot be said in praise of this tree. Its shade is dense and its autumn colouring superb. The sap yields maple syrup and sugar, and, finally, after it has done its work and is cut down, its wood yields lumber of the highest value, while the limbs make excellent firewood. ”

“ The foliage of the elm is concentrated at the top, and the absence of lower branches causes it to be a good tree to plant near houses or along streets. Much of the wood is tough, fibrous, durable, strong, hard, heavy, and, because it is so often cross-grained, difficult to split and work. The large pores of the spring wood arranged in one or several rows mark the annual deposit, while the minute pores of the summer wood arranged in concentric wavy lines are so peculiar as to distinguish this wood from all others. ”

“ Symmetrical silver firs, giant cedars and spruce, grow side by side with sugar pines of vast and irregular outline, whose huge branches, like outstretched arms, hold aloft the splendid cones—such is the ancient wood. ”

“ There is a difference in color between the outer and inner wood, the older wood becomes darker and is called the heart-wood, the outer is the sap-wood. In Birds-eye Maple, and some other woods, the abortive buds are seen. They are buried in the wood, and make the disturbance which produces the ornamental grain. In sections of Pine or Spruce, no ducts can be found. The wood consists entirely of elongated, thickened cells or fibres. In some of the trees the pith rays cannot be seen with the naked eye. ”

“ It should be remembered that the identities of ancient woods are not always beyond question. American larch resembles, if it does not equal, true foreign wood. The trees are tall and straight, but so slender as to be seldom cut into lumber, almost the entire supply being demanded for posts, ties, and poles. The exceedingly durable wood resembles spruce in structure, and hard pine in weight and appearance. ”

“ Being formed in the forepart of the season, the inner, light-colored part is termed spring-wood, the outer, darker-portioned being the summer-wood of the ring. Since the latter is very heavy and firm it determines to a very large extent the weight and strength of the wood, and as its darker color influences the shade of color of the entire piece of wood, this color effect becomes a valuable aid in distinguishing heavy and strong from light and soft pine wood. ”

“ The finest beech-wood is that of Mark Ash. There you may see true beech-forms, the boles spangled with silver scales of lichen, and the roots—more fangs than roots—grasping the earth, feathered with the soft green down of moss.
But not in individual trees lies the beauty of the Forest, but in the masses of wood. There, in the long aisles, settles that depth of shade which no pencil can give, and that colouring which no canvas can retain, as the sunlight pierces through the green web of leaves, flinging, as it sets, a crown of gold round each tree-trunk. ”

“ Medium-sized tree, common, sometimes forming forests of pure growth. Wood heavy, hard, stiff, strong, of rather coarse texture, white to light brown color, not durable in contact with the soil, and subject to the inroads of boring insects. Rather close-grained, conspicuous medullary rays, and when quarter-sawn and well smoothed is very beautiful. The wood shrinks and checks considerably in drying, works well and stands well, and takes a fine polish. ”

“ Over the whole stretch of the mountain stands a pine wood without pine-needles; a wood which dies in the spring and grows green in the autumn; a lifeless wood, which blossoms with the joy of life when other trees are laying aside their green garments; a wood that grows without any one knowing how, that stands green in winter frosts and brown in summer dews.
It is a newly-planted wood. Young firs have been forced to take root in the clefts between the granite blocks. Their tough roots have bored down like sharp wedges into the fissures and crevices. ”

“ In certain kinds of trees, for instance, species of pines and leaf-shedding oaks, after the wood has attained a certain age, it darkens in color, so that when a crosscut of a 100-year-old part of the trunk is taken, the darker older central wood contrasts as heartwood with the surrounding pale sapwood. ”

“ If we consider only the heartwood, the black color of the persimmon, the dark brown of the walnut, the light brown of the white oaks, the reddish brown of the red oaks, the yellowish white of the tulip and poplars, the brownish red of the redwood and cedars, the yellow of the papaw and sumac, are all reliable marks of distinction and color. Together with luster and weight, they are only too often the only features depended upon in practice. Newly formed wood, like that of the outer few rings, has but little color. ”