A Dealer wants to Know About Fir species- What I Learned About Them in the Northwest

By Jack Dionne

Just this morning the head of a well known Texas line yard concern dropped in to see me, and wanted to know a few things about Fir that were puzzling him. He had been hearing about "Old Grqwth yellow Fir,', about ,,Red. Fir,,, about "B'irstard Fir," and likewise about .,White Fir,', ancl he was frankly puzzled and wanted some first hand infor_ mation about them.

And so I am approaching a subject that I gave a whole Iot of time and attention to last summer when I was in the Pacific Northwest for several weeks, and one that I had decided to stay away from editorially because of the things I had learned-or failed to learn-when I was asking scores of Fir men about it myself.

However, since undoubteclly there are many other dealers like my caller, who would like the same information, I am going to try and tell you how little I know about it, after being on the ground, talking to numerous old Fir manufac_ turers, and visiting a great many Fir mills.

I don't want to say anything controversial. I have no opinions to offer, and I am not trying to qualify as an expert, but simply as a good question-asker and listener who is much interested in this subject.

First, let us dispose of the last named, the ,,White,, Fir.

It is not a Douglas Fir, as the others are, but an entirely different species, considerably lower in quality and wood value to the true Douglas Fir, and yet a wood that has some merit and may in time find a definite place for itself. It has a bad smell while g'reen, and in California, where there is lots of it in the mountains, they usually call it "Skunk" Fir. I hope I am not stepping on any toes in this reference to the White Fir. I am simply reciting what seems to be the unanimous opinion conceining this wood. Yet many men have told me that while much inferior to Douglas Fir, it has many good qualities, and may become very popular as a cheaper wood. It does not look like a Douglas Fir, but has a whitish bark, and is smaller in bulk than Douglas .Fir.

When I come to this question of the Douglas Fir divisions, f hark back eighteen years to the time when there was a famous lawsuit tried in Houston courts, to determine whether the Southern Pine timbers furnished for a factory building were Long or Short Leaf Pine. About thirty experienced Southern Pine men went on the stand, q,r"lin.a as experts, and then gave their opinions on the matter at issue, and they were evenly divided, about half of them

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