cutting of Christmas trees was formally laid before him. It was
generally believed that he would declare that the waste ought to be
stopped and would set his disapproval on the practice; but he did
nothing of the sort. He declared that the forests are for the use of the
people and that they can serve in no better way than by supplying every
child in the land with a Christmas tree once a year.
[Illustration]
FRASER FIR
[Illustration: FRASER FIR]
FRASER FIR
(_Abies Fraseri_)
The people who are acquainted with this interesting and somewhat rare
tree have seen to it that it does not want for names. Some of these
names are both definitive and descriptive, while others are neither.
Tennessee, North Carolina, and West Virginia furnish the names. Within
the tree’s range in Tennessee and North Carolina it is often known as
balsam without any qualifying word, and that is quite sufficient, for no
other fir or balsam grows within its range. In the same region it is
called balsam fir. That is the common name of its northern relative, but
there is little likelihood of confusing the two species, for their
ranges do not overlap much, if they touch at all, which they probably do
not. In Tennessee the name is reversed and instead of balsam fir it is
fir balsam. It is likewise known as double fir balsam, but why “double”
is added to the name is not clear. Similar mystery attaches to the name
“single spruce,” which is applied to the balsam fir in the interior of
British America. The southern Appalachian tree is called she balsam and
she balsam fir. These names have no scientific basis, and they appear to
have originated in a desire to distinguish this tree from the red spruce
with which it is associated. The spruce is called “he balsam.”
Artificial names like these are not necessary to distinguish red spruce
from Fraser fir, as very slight acquaintance should enable anybody to
tell one from the other at sight, and to see clearly that they are not
of the same species. Mountain balsam, a North Carolina name for this
fir, is well taken, for it is distinctly a mountain species. The name
healing balsam is given in acknowledgment of the supposed medicinal
properties of the resin which collects in blisters or pockets under the
bark of young trees and near the tops of old. In West Virginia, where
this tree reaches the northern limits of its habitat, it is called
blister pine, on account of the resin pockets. In the same region it is
called stackpole pine, because farmers who mow mountain meadows use
straight, very light poles cut from this fir round which to build
haystacks.
This tree is decidedly an inhabitant of the high, exposed localities,
being found entirely in the upper elevations of the southern Appalachian
mountains, either forming extensive pure stands or growing in the
company of red spruce (_Picea rubens_), with a scattering of various
stunted hardwoods, as birch, mountain ash, cherry and usually with an
undergrowth of rhododendron.
Fraser fir’s range extends from the high mountains of North Carolina,
where it grows 6,000 feet above sea level, northward into West
Virginia, within a few miles of the Maryland line, at an altitude of
3,300 feet. The tree is not found in all regions between its northern
and southern limits. Its best development is in the southern part of its
range.
On the upper limits of its habitat the tree presents a decidedly
picturesque appearance, being gnarled and twisted and plainly showing
the results of its long struggle for life and development. It is always
noticeable that on the exposed side the limbs are so short as to be
almost missing and on the opposite side they grow out straight and long,
appearing to fly before the wind. These limbs are sometimes of as great
a girth for five or six feet of their length as any part of the main
stem, and have a singular look, seeming to be all out of proportion to
the rest of the tree. The older trees are vested in a smooth,
yellowish-gray, mossy bark, which is quite different from that of the
balsam fir. The bark is thin, about one-fourth of an inch on young
trunks, and half an inch near the ground on old ones. The leaves are
usually half an inch long, sometimes one inch, and their lower sides are
whitish, which tint is due to abundant white stomata. In that respect
they resemble leaves of balsam fir and hemlock.
The cones, like those of other species of fir, stand erect on the
branches, and average about two and a half inches in length. They are
smoother than the cones of most pines. They mature in September. The
winged seeds average one-eighth inch in length, and are fairly abundant.
The Fraser fir grows as tall as balsam fir, from forty to sixty feet,
and the trunk diameter is greater, being sometimes thirty inches, though
half of that is nearer an average. When of pole size, that is, from five
to eight inches in diameter, Fraser fir is often tall, straight and
shapely. Its form, however, depends upon the situation in which it
grows. If in the open, it develops a relatively short trunk and a broad,
pyramidal crown. This fir differs from balsam fir in its choice of
situation. The latter, though not exactly a swamp tree, prefers damp
ground, while Fraser fir flourishes on slopes and mountain tops.
On the mountains of western North Carolina fir grows in mixture with red
spruce. Sometimes the fir is fifty per cent of the stand, but usually it
is less, and frequently not more than fifteen per cent. Few fir trees in
that locality are two feet in diameter. They grow with fair rapidity in
their early years, but decline in rate as age comes on. It may be
observed in traveling through the stands of mixed spruce and fir among
the high ranges of the southern Appalachian mountains that the
proportion of spruce is much higher in old stands than in young. That is
due to the greater age to which spruce lives. Trees of that species
continue to stand after the firs have died of old age. On the other
hand, fir outnumbers spruce in many young stands. That is because fir
reproduces better than spruce, and grows with more vigor at first. In
stands of second growth the fir often predominates. It depends to some
extent upon the conditions under which the second growth has its start.
Fir does not germinate well if the ground has been bared by fire and the
humus burned. Consequently, old burns do not readily grow up in fir. The
best stands occur where the natural conditions have not been much
disturbed further than by removing the growth. Fortunately conditions on
the summit and elevated slopes of the southern Appalachians do not favor
destructive forest fires. Rain is frequent and abundant, and the shade
cast by evergreen trees keeps the humus too moist for fire. To this
condition is due the comparative immunity from fire of the high mountain
forests of fir and spruce. Sometimes, however, fires sweep through fine
stands with disastrous results. The destruction is more serious because
no second forest of evergreens is likely on tracts which have been
severely burned.
A report by the State Geological Survey on forest conditions in western
North Carolina, issued in 1911, predicted that spruce and fir forests
aggregating from 100,000 to 150,000 acres among the high mountain
ranges, will become barren tracts, because of the destructive effect of
fires stripping the ground of humus.
The cutters of pulpwood in the southern Appalachian mountains take
Fraser fir wherever they find it, mix it with spruce, and the two woods
go to market as one. Statistics show the annual cut of both, but do not
give them separately. The output of spruce, including fir, south of
Pennsylvania, in 1910 was 115,993 cords, equivalent to about 80,000,000
feet, board measure. Most of it was red spruce, but some was fir, and in
North Carolina probably twenty-five per cent was of that species. The
total pulpwood cut in that state was 14,509 cords of the two woods
combined, and probably 3,800 cords were Fraser fir.
The wood of Fraser fir is very light. An air dry sample from Roan
mountain, N. C., weighed 22.22 pounds per cubic foot. That is lighter
than balsam fir, which is classed among the very light woods. It is
stronger than balsam fir by twenty-five per cent. The wood is soft,
compact and the bands of summerwood in the annual rings are rather broad
and light colored and are not conspicuous. The medullary rays are thin
but numerous. The color is light brown, the sapwood mostly white.
This wood is not of much commercial value except for pulp. It is not
abundant, and it is not suited to many purposes. It is suitable for
boxes, being light in weight and moderately strong; but other woods
which grow in the same region are as good in all respects and are more
abundant, and will be used in preference to fir for that purpose. The
decrease in area on account of fires, and in quantity because of
pulpwood operations, indicates that forest grown Fraser fir has seen its
best days. On the other hand, the United States Forest Service has
acquired tracts of land on the summits of the mountains where this
species has its natural home, and the growth will be protected from
fires and from destructive cutting, and there is no danger that the
species will be exterminated.
It is an interesting tree. It contributes to the pleasure of tourists
and campers among the southern mountains. The fragrance of its leaves
and young branches add a zest to the summer camp. The traveler who is
overtaken in the woods by the coming of night, prepares his bed of the
boughs of this tree and of red spruce and sleeps soundly beneath an
evergreen canopy. Pillows and cushions stuffed with fir needles carry
memories of the mountains to distant cities.
In one respect this tree of the high mountains is like the untamed
Indians who once roamed in that region: it refuses to be civilized. The
tree has been planted in parks in this country and in Europe, but it
does not prosper. Its form loses something of the grace and symmetry
which it exhibits in its mountain home, and its life is short. Those who
wish to see Fraser fir at its best must see it where nature planted it
high on the southern mountains.
ARIZONA CORK FIR (_Abies arizonica_) very closely resembles forms of
the alpine fir, and may not be a separate species. Sudworth was
unable to distinguish its foliage and cones from those of alpine
fir, but the bark is softer. Its range is on the San Francisco
mountains in Arizona. It is very scarce, and only local use of its
wood is possible.
[Illustration]
NOBLE FIR
[Illustration: NOBLE FIR]
NOBLE FIR
(_Abies Nobilis_)
This tree’s name is justified by its appearance when growing at its best
in the forests of the northwest Pacific coast. It is tall, shapely, and
imposing. It often exceeds a height of 250 feet, and a trunk diameter of
six feet. It is sometimes eight feet in diameter. No tree is more
shapely and symmetrical. When grown in dense stands the first limb may
be 150 feet from the ground, and from that point to the base there is
little taper. It over-reaches so many of its forest companions that it
is sometimes designated locally as bigtree; but it is believed that
lumber is never so spoken of, and that the name applies to the standing
tree only. The Indians of the region where it grows call it tuck-tuck,
but information as to the meaning of these words is not at hand. In
northern California, and probably still farther north, this species is
often called red fir, feather-cone red fir, or bracted red fir. The
color of the heartwood and the appearance of the cone, doubtless are
responsible for these names. There is a tendency in the fir-growing
regions of the West to call all firs either white or red, depending upon
the color of the heartwood. There are ten or more species of fir west of
the Rocky Mountains, and to the layman they all look much alike, but to
botanists they are interesting objects of study.
The range of noble fir covers parts of three states, but the whole of no
one. Its northern limit is in Washington, its southern in northern
California, and it follows the mountains across western Oregon. It often
forms extensive forests on the Cascade mountains of Washington. It is
most abundant at elevations of from 2,500 to 5,000 feet in southwestern
Washington and northwestern Oregon. On the eastern and northern slopes
of those mountains it is of smaller size and is less abundant. Like
several other of the extraordinarily large western trees, it keeps
pretty close to the warm, moist coast of the Pacific.
The shining, blue-green color of the leaves is a conspicuous
characteristic of noble fir as it appears in the forest. They vary in
length from an inch to an inch and a half. They usually curl, twist, and
turn their points upward and backward, away from the end of the branch
which bears them. The cones, following the fashion of firs, stand
upright on the twigs, and are conspicuous objects. They are four or five
inches in length, which is rather large for firs, but not the largest.
The seeds are half an inch long, and are winged. They are well provided
with the means of flight, but many of them never have an opportunity to
test their wings, for the dextrous Douglas squirrel cuts the cones from
the highest trees, and when they fall to the ground he pulls them apart
with his feet and teeth, and the seeds pay him for his pains. If cones
ripen on the trees and the released seeds sail away, there are birds of
various feather waiting to receive them. Consequently, the noble fir
plants comparatively few seeds. Their ratio of fertility is low at best,
but that is partly compensated for by the large numbers produced.
Thick stands of noble fir are not common. It generally is found, a few
trees here and there, mixed with other species. Sawmills find it
unprofitable to keep the lumber separate from other kinds. It does not
pay to do so for two reasons. Extra labor is required to handle it in
that way, and there is a prejudice against fir lumber. It does not
appeal to buyers. For that reason some operators have called this timber
Oregon larch, and have sent it to market under that name. That is a
trick of the trade which has been put into practice many times and with
many woods. The purpose in the instance of noble fir was to pass it for
the larch which grows in the northern Rocky Mountain region. The two
woods are so different that no person acquainted with one would mistake
it for the other. A recent government report of woods used for
manufacturing purposes in Washington does not list a foot of noble fir.
The inference is that it must be going to factories under some other
name, for it is incredible that this wood should be put to no use at all
in the region of its best development.
Noble fir is of slow growth, and the large trunks are very old, the
oldest not less than 800 years. The summerwood forms a narrow, dark band
in the annual ring. Medullary rays are numerous, but very thin and
inconspicuous. The wood possesses little figure. It weighs twenty-eight
pounds per cubic foot, which is four pounds less than the average
Douglas fir. It is very low in fuel value, as softwoods usually are
which have little resin. It is very weak, and it bends easily. It is
soft, easily worked, and polishes well. This is one of its most valuable
qualities. It is deficient in a number of properties which are desirable
in wood, but partly makes up for them in its ability to take a smooth
finish. It is pale brown, streaked with red, the sapwood darker. In that
particular it is unusual, for most softwoods have sap lighter in color
than the heart.
It has been already pointed out that difficulty is met when an attempt
is made to list the uses of noble fir, because it loses its name before
it leaves the sawmill yard and takes the name of some other wood, and
those who put it to use often do so without knowing what the wood really
is. It is known that some of it is manufactured into house siding. It
works nicely and looks well, but since it is liable to quick decay it
must be kept well painted when it is exposed to weather. It serves as
interior finish, and this seems to be one of its best uses. It is so
employed for steamboats and for houses, and many shipments of it have
been made to boat builders on the Atlantic coast. It is used for
shipping boxes, and its light color fits it for that purpose, as the
wood shows painting and stenciling to good advantage.
European nurseries have propagated noble fir with success, but it does
not do so well in the eastern part of the United States, though it lives
through winters as far north as Massachusetts. It is not known to have
been planted for other than ornamental purposes. Unless it would grow
much faster in plantations than in its wild state, it will be too long
in maturing to make it attractive to the timber planter.
WHITE FIR (_Abies concolor_). The whiteness of the wood and the
silver color of the young branches give this species its name, but
it is not the sole possessor of that name, but shares it with three
other firs. In California, Idaho, and Utah it is called balsam fir.
The branches and upper parts of the trunk where the bark is thin,
are covered with blisters which contain white resin. In Utah it is
known as white balsam, as silver fir in some parts of California,
and as black gum in Utah. The reason for that name is not apparent,
unless it refers to the black bark on old trees. It has several
other names which are combinations of white and silver with some
other term. Its range is mostly in the Sierras and in the Rocky
Mountain ranges, extending from southern Colorado to the mountains
of California, north through Oregon, and south through New Mexico
and Arizona. The immense proportions are reached only in the Sierra
growth, those trees in the Rockies being hardly above ordinary size.
In its free growth the tree is reputed to be the only one of its
genus found in the arid regions of the Great Basin, and similar
localities in Arizona and New Mexico. It is not distinguished by all
botanists from the similar species, _Abies grandis_.
White fir attains a height of 250 feet and a diameter of six in some
instances, but the average size of mature trees among the Sierra
Nevadas is 150 feet tall and three or four in diameter. In the Rocky
Mountain region the tree is smaller. It grows from 3,000 to 9,000
feet above sea level. The leaves are long for the fir genus, and
vary from two to three inches. The tree’s bark is black near the
base of large trunks but of less somber color near the top. Near the
base of large trees the bark is sometimes six inches thick. The wood
of this species is light and soft. Carpenters consider it coarse
grained, by which they mean that it does not polish nicely. It is
brittle and weak. The rings of annual growth are generally broad,
with the bands of darker colored summerwood prominent. In lumber
sawed tangentially, rings produces distinct figure, but it is not
generally regarded as pleasing. The medullary rays are prominent for
a softwood, but quarter-sawing does not add much to the wood’s
appearance. It decays quickly in alternate wet and dry situations.
Trees are apt to be affected with wind shake, and the wood’s
disposition to splinter in course of manufacture has prejudiced many
users against it. However, it has some good qualities. The wood is
free from objectionable odor, and this qualifies it as box material.
Fruit shippers can use it without fear of contaminating their wares.
It is light in color, and stenciling looks well on it. Its weight is
likewise in its favor.
Trees of this species seldom occur in pure stands of large extent,
but are scattered among forests of other kinds. Sawmills cut the fir
as they come to it, but seldom go much out of their way to get it.
The United States census for 1910 showed that 132,327,000 feet of
white fir lumber were cut in the whole country, but as several
species pass by that name it is not possible to determine how much
belonged to the one under discussion, but probably about half, as
that much was credited to California where this tree is at its best.
The fir does not suffer in comparison with trees associated with it.
Its trunk does not average quite as large as the pines, yet larger
than most of the cedars; but in height it equals the best of its
associates, and in symmetrical form, and beauty of color of foliage,
it must be acknowledged superior. The dark intensity of its green
crown when thrown against the blue summer skies of the Sierras forms
a picture which probably no tree in the world can surpass and few
can equal. Its cones suffer from the depredations of the ever-hungry
Douglas squirrel which is too impatient to wait for nature’s slow
process to ripen and scatter the seeds; but he climbs the trunks
which stand as straight as plummet lines two hundred feet or more,
and clinging to the topmost swaying branches, clips the cone stems
with his teeth, and the cone goes to the ground like a shot. A
person who will stand still in a Sierra forest in late summer, where
firs abound, will presently hear the cones thumping the ground on
all sides of him. If his eyes are good, and he looks carefully, he
may see the squirrels, silhouetted against the sky on far-away tree
tops, seeming so small in the distance that they look the size of
mice; yet the Douglas squirrel is about the size of the eastern red
squirrel. He does not always let the cones fall when he cuts their
stems, but sometimes carries them down the long trunk to the ground,
then goes back for another. The squirrel hoards the cones for
winter, but does not neglect to fully satisfy his appetite while
about the work. A single hoard--carefully covered with pine needles
as a roof against winter snow--may contain five or ten bushels of
cones, which are not all fir cones, but these predominate in most
hoards.
[Illustration]
GRAND FIR
[Illustration: GRAND FIR]
GRAND FIR
(_Abies Grandis_)
In California, Oregon, and Idaho this tree is called white fir, but it
has several other names, silver fir and yellow fir in Montana and Idaho.
In California some know it as Oregon fir, western white fir, and great
California fir. Grand fir is more a botanist’s than a lumberman’s name.