ALPINE FIR (_Abies lasiocarpa_) is so called because it thrives on high mountains and in the far North. It grows in southern Alaska, up to latitude 60°, and southward to Oregon and Colorado. Its other names are balsam, white balsam, Oregon balsam, mountain balsam, white fir, pumpkin tree, down-cone, and downy-cone subalpine fir. It grows from sea level in Alaska up to 7,000 feet or more in the South. It is not abundant, and not very well known. However, its slender, spirelike top distinguishes it from all associates and it may be recognized at long distances by that characteristic. It endures cold at 40 degrees below zero, and summer climate at 90 degrees. Trees are usually small, and the trunks are covered with limbs to the ground. On high mountains the lower limbs often lie flat on the ground, and the twigs sometimes take root. Under very favorable circumstances this fir may reach a height of 160 feet and a diameter of four, but the usual size is less than half of it, even when conditions are fair, while on bleak mountains mature trees may be only three or four feet high, with most of the limbs prostrate. The sprawling form of growth makes the tree peculiarly liable to be killed by fire. The bark is thin, smooth, and flinty; and in color it is ashy gray or chalky white. Leaves are one and a half inches or less long; the purple cones from two to four inches. Trees bear cones at about twelve years of age. The seeds are equipped with violet or purplish wings, and they fly far enough to find the best available places to plant themselves. The wood is narrow-ringed, light, soft, and in color from pale straw to light yellowish-brown. It is fairly straight grained, and splits and works easily; but trunks are very knotty. Its best service in the past has consisted in supplying fuel to mining camps and mountain stock ranges. [Illustration] DOUGLAS FIR [Illustration: DOUGLAS FIR] DOUGLAS FIR (_Pseudotsuga Taxifolia_) During one hundred and ten years, from 1803 until the present time, botanists and others have proposed and rejected names for this tree. It has been called a fir, pine, and spruce, with various combinations, but the name now seems to be fixed. Laymen have disputed almost as much as botanists as to what the tree should be named. It has been called red fir, Douglas spruce, Douglas fir, yellow fir, spruce, fir, pine, red pine, Puget Sound pine, Oregon pine, cork-barked Douglas spruce, and Douglas tree. More than a dozen varieties are distinguished in cultivation.