n the acorn
crop is good in the valley between the Coast and Cascade Mountains, great numbers of the black bear are killed by the farmers
who live near the mountains.
As this region just described is, so is the whole mountain system of West Oregon and Washington. Along the eastern slope of the Coast .Range, around Puget Sound, along the Columbia highlands above a point forty miles from its mouth, and on the western slope of the Cascades, the same luxuriance of growth prevails. Indeed, nearly all the trees enumerated—the black spruce and scrub-pine are exceptions—belong equally to the more eastern region. And the same of the shrubs.
But in this more eastern portion grow some trees that will not flourish in the soil and climate of the coast. Of these the most important is the red fir (Abies Douglassii). Very extensive forests of it inhabit the mountain-sides and Columbia Biver highlands. 1$'grows to a great height, its branches commencing fifty feet from the ground. The bark is thick and deeply furrowed, the leaves rather coarse, and the cone is distinguished from other species by having three-pointed bracts between the scales.
The red fir is more used for lumber than any other kind, though it is of a coarse grain and shrinks very much. It is tough and durable if kept dry. It is a very resinous wood, from which cause large tracts of it are burnt off every year. Yet it keeps fire so badly in the coals that there is little danger of the cinders carrying fire when buildings constructed of it are burned : it goes out before it alights.
The yellow fir (A. Grandis) is also a tree which does not like sea-air, and is very valuable for lumber. It is distinguishable at a distance by its superior height, often over three hundred feet, and by the short branches of the top, which give it a cylindrical shape. It is admirably adapted for masts and spars, being fine-grained, tough, and elastic. The best of lumber is made from this fir, and large quantities of it are exported from the Columbia Biver. The bark of the yellow fir is smoother and not so deeply furrowed as the red, and the oval cone is destitute of bracts.
The other species of fir are Abies concolor, called white fir in California, and found in the mountains south of
