What’s a Canaan fir?
I saw a bunch for sale on a Christmas-tree lot. The Canaan (“kay-nen”) fir is a type of balsam fir. Balsam firs are evergreen trees that are very popular Christmas trees. People like balsam firs because they’re dark-green and pretty, hold their needles well, and give the house a pleasant “balsam” smell. And Christmas-tree farmers like balsam firs because they’re “high-value” trees. They usually sell at a higher price than Christmas trees such as pines. Something makes the Canaan fir different than a regular balsam fir. Namely, it’s able to grow in soggy soil and in places that sometimes get late frosts in spring. Its roots don’t rot. And it doesn’t freeze its just-opened buds off. Regular balsams can’t say that. Though they don’t talk much anyway. The Fraser fir, another high-value tree, can’t say that either. Christmas-tree farmers who can’t grow those firs are able and happy to grow Canaan firs. Canaan firs came from the mountains of West Virginia. An Ohio State scientist, Jim Brown,
