SOME COMMON CONIFERS AND THEIR TIMBERS 27
constructional work, rafters, joists, flooring and all types of
building work, railway sleepers, telegraph poles, posts and
fencing. The timber is not specially resistant to fungus attack,
but when impregnated with some preservative, like creosote, it
has a long life: thus it is reckoned that telegraph poles used in
this country and adequately creosoted, last for 70 years. The
wood is very variable; home-grown Scots pine is often fast grown
and resinous, and excellent for outside work; slow, evenly grown
wood is, to all appearances, a different wood, and is much used
for interior joinery. The strongest wood is that which has from
12-16 growth rings to the inch.
Similar timber to that of Scots pine is produced by the
Corsican Pine, now regarded as a variety of the Austrian Pine
and named P. nigra var. calabrica (Loud.) Schneid. although
often still referred to as P. Laricio Poir. Whatever its relation to
Austrian pine, Corsican pine is of much more value as a timber
tree and is now widely planted, for example, by the Forestry
Commission in East Anglia. It is a tree which can be grown
on poor soils and its timber is used extensively in mines for
pit-props; what is available is of small size and knotty.
The Weymouth Pine (P. Strobus L.) is fairly common in
Britain, although it is no longer planted for its timber because
it suffers so badly from the attacks of a gall louse (Adelges)
and also from a fungus, the White Pine Blister Rust (Cronartium
ribicola Fischer). The tree yields a softer, more even textured
wood than that of Scots pine, a wood which, imported from
North America, is known as white pine and Quebec pine. It
is a timber valued for pattern making, backings for veneers and
other purposes which demand a wood which will not warp and
twist. At one time the supply in North America was thought
to be almost inexhaustible, but prodigal exploitation has come
near to achieving the seemingly impossible, and Quebec pine is
now an expensive wood.
Although not a native tree the Common Spruce (Picea
Abies (L.) Karst.) is now widespread in Britain. Familiar to
most people as the Christmas tree, the spruce has a very wide
distribution in Europe, occurring especially in the mountain
regions; it seems to have been grown in Britain for at least
400 years. Its timber is scarcely as valuable as that of Scots pine,
except for certain special purposes, but the tree is valuable
because it can be planted on poor and exposed soils unsuitable
for other trees. The wood is whitish, without a distinct heart-
wood, and of rather lighter weight than red deal. It is not
durable outdoors, nor is it an easy wood to preserve; moreover,
it contains small, black and extremely hard knots which detract
from its working qualities. Its uses are many—it is the white