628 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March i, 1886. 



Oircassia, Spain, and Portugal. This wood, being 

 very close-grained and heavy, is largely used by turuers, 

 engravers, and carvers, also for the manufacture of 

 mathbCQatical instruments and articles that will take 

 a high polish; the pure bitter it contains preserves 

 it from the attacks of insects. 



Chevi'y. Frunui cerasunj Rosacea?. — This wood is 

 hard and tough, also light and porous; it is used by 

 turners and engravers and for constructing pipes. 

 These trees, when past fruit-bearing, wer»i in oldea 

 times considered to be the habitats of demous. 



ChestiUitj from Castaneit ve.sca^ Cupuliftraj. — The 

 timber is chiefly used for beams and raters of houses, 

 heads and staves of casks, and as protecting gutters 

 for gas-pipes, &.C., underground. There is one plant 

 growing at Tortworth in (lloucestursliire moi-e than 

 1,100 years old. The diameter at base is 15 feet, and 

 by the last accounts received it still bears fruit. 



Doyivood. Cornu.-i siinf/tiiftettj Cornaceie. — The wood 

 is used for preparing gunpuwder charcoal, and, on 

 account of its harnnes-*, for skewers, cogs for wheels, &.C., 

 Eboiu/, from DlOf<pi/ros rheuns, or JJwspyrus ehetuister, 

 Ebenacere. — The hearbwood only of this tree is black, 

 and being very hard, durable, and wear-resisting, its 

 uses are many and various ; besides this wood, wliich 

 is known as *' Bastard Oeyion Ebony," we have a 

 black ebony yielded by JjUupz/ros mtlanoxi/lon., also a 

 fine variegated wood yielded l>y another species, namely 

 Dionpyros qwt.'^Ua, which makes haudso.ne fucuiture. 

 There are also red and green ebony woods. 



KI<lti\ from Samhwus n i/j'(t, Caprifoliacece. — This 

 plant whilst youug grows with great rapidity, but 

 when it attains the height of from 20 to 30 feet, 

 its growth is arrested, and of these dimensions the 

 trea remains for a great length of time. "When young 

 the wood is soft, but. when old it becomes almost as 

 hard as boxwood, and in a variety of cases caii be 

 substituted for it; butcher's skewers an I tops of 

 fishing-rods are commonly made of this wood. The 

 Elder plant is reputed fo have retaliative powers, and 

 it is a custom at the present time in Lower Saxony 

 for the woodcutters to a^k permission (three times) 

 of the tree to fell it, these requests being accompanied 

 by an equal number of salivary ejectiuns. Permission 

 is taken for granted, as ;i. matter of course; but 

 should this form of ceremony be omitted, most dire 

 results are stiited to follow. 



Elm, from Ulim's caiHpwtri<, Ulmaceie, next to the 

 oak, is the most common tre.^ in England. The wood 

 is hard, finely grained, and hence not apt to crack. 

 It is us';d for the keels of vessels and woolen fittings 

 of ships, also for cart-wheels aud coffins; it attains 

 its maturity at an age varying between seventy and 

 eighty years. 



The Ifych Elm, from U/mi'.s montana^ Ulmaceje, 

 furnishes a wood that is both strong and elastic, hence 

 isused for spade-handles, garden-forks, ;mii1 rake-handles. 

 The goarled wuud is largely used by cabinetmakers 

 for veneering. Both this and the preceding elms furnish 

 woods which are tough aud not readily acted upon 

 by water. 



Fir-trees belong to th^ genus Ahie.^ nf tlie natural 

 order Goni ferae ; they were formerly called "fire-trees'" 

 on account of the inflammability of their wood, due 

 to the oleoresiu it contains. These trees having a 

 conical shape can thus be told from what are term d 

 "Pine-trees"; one fir-tree (Afjiea e.vro/sa) is the tallest 

 in Europe, its average height being 150 feet. lu 

 obtaniing the \\\jod of these trees, the liussian peasant 

 chops them down, hut will not uproot them, as an 

 elf of a revengeful disposition is supposed to take 

 up his abode in the neck of the plant, and if disturbed 

 wdl retaliate on the evict or of his tenancy. 



Ahiifi ea-cdsd is the Norway sprufo. and furnishes 

 the white deal used so much for liuildiug purposes. 

 Abies jiina is the silver fir. The stems of each of 

 these fir-trer-s are largely used for making ma'its of 

 vessels, telegraph-poles, signal-poles, and building 

 planks, ami also for splitting up into matibes. 



Pn$ticy oWtained frum Jlachcru iinctorin, Moracero. — 

 The wood in chips is largely used as a dyeing ag'ont, 

 on account of the colour it contains. 



Guaiacuiii, from Guaiacum ojic^'iia/e, Zygophyllaceie. — ■ 

 This wood (the heartwood of the plant) is commonly 

 called " lignum vit;e " on account of its durability and 

 hardness; it is pecuUar, in that the fibres composing 

 it cross each other diagonally, so that cleavage of the 

 wood is difficult. It is much used for making rulers, 

 skittle-balls, wheels and cogs of sugar-mills, pulleys, 

 kc; in parquet-fiooring, by heating the tlat pieces 

 of lignum vitie the natural resin exudes and aids in 

 agglutinating it to its neighbouring pieces. 



Hazel, from Con/lt'.s a vellana, CuiialUen'e. — The wood 

 is very tough and flexible, hence it is used in making 

 hurdles, crates, fishing-rods, hoops for casks, &c. A 

 forked twig of hazel is stated to have the power, 

 when held in the hand of a suitable person and 

 pointing to the ground, of a divining-rod, by direct- 

 ing the holder to a place underneath which water 

 exists. 



Hicl'oiy, from Can/a (dha, Juglandacere. — The wood 

 is tough and elastic, and will stand prolonged strains ; 

 it is used for fishing-rods, walking-sticks, Canadian 

 paddles, kc. 



Jlornbeam, from Carpinua betuiiis, Cupulifene. — The 

 wood is hard, tough, and white; it will burn like a 

 candle, so with frayed ends will act as a temporary 

 torch. It is chiefly used for the manufacture of agri- 

 cultural implements and the cogs of mill-wheel. 



iMiicttrunJ, obtained from Dtujuetia quitortnsis, Anon- 

 acere, or, according to another authority, Guatteria 

 viryata. — This wood is tough and elastic to a very 

 high degree, and being at the same time of light 

 weight it is admirably adapted for making shafts of 

 carriages, bows and arrows, fishing-rods, and lances. 



Larch, obtained from ImvLv Ei/vopcen, Conifer*. — 

 The wood is fit to use for timber when the tree is 

 forty yea'S old; it has a reddish or reddish-brown 

 tinge, but there is a great objection to its use on 

 account of its warping, even after having been seasoned. 

 The wood is apt to be attacked when growing, by 

 the dry-rot, owing to the tree growing on badly- 

 drained soils. It was formerly and superstitiously 

 believed that the wood was impenetrable by fire. 

 The American larch, called *' hackmatack," is a heavy 

 and cros.>-grained wood. 



Lim€f obtained from T/Ua Kuvopnea, Tillacesa. — This 

 wood, called commonly "linden-wood," is used by 

 carvers and turners owing to its being closed-grained 

 and smooth. 



MahoyQui/ from Livittt-nia Mahoyoni, Cedreliaceie. — 

 This well-known wood is valuable for its hardness, fine 

 colour, durability, aud smoothness; it is sent from 

 Central America aud ttie West Indies. When a tree 

 is discovered, a stage is erected about 12 feet high, 

 the branches are removed, and *hen the stem cut 

 down; great difficulty is often experienced in con- 

 veying the trunks to the river, down which they float 

 until stopped by a cable drawn across the stream; 

 rafts are then made of the prices which are chosen, 

 these being conveyed to their destination. Some trees 

 have been known to produce as much as 1,(W0^ each. 



Mtiple (ivi/), from Acrr nfl/ruju, Aurana;. — A variety 

 of this produces curled maple, so called from the 

 accidental undulation of the fibres; it is one of the 

 most ornamental woods known, and exceeds in richness 

 and lustre the finest Mahogany. It is used for furniture- 

 making, and als'o for making stocks of rifles and 

 fowling-pieces. 



Mtiph, (.<:.'/(/ar), Acer sacdu/riiium, Aurana^;. — This 

 furnishes the so-called " birdseye maple," and is highly 

 prized for furniture-making. Fair Rosamond is rep.ited 

 to have taken her fatal draught from a bowl made 

 of r.i'iple. 



M<iiiiitii(n Aah, or Ilonniit-tne, Pyrns finritpai iii, 

 Hosace.'i'. — The timber is nnich used for carriage and 

 cart wheels. 



()<ih, from Qmrnis ro'mr, Cupulifera\--This tree in 

 temperjite climates is the hirgt^st in size, the longest 

 lived, tlie hanlest and most durable as reganls its 

 timber, and the most common of trees. In warmer 

 climat'S the wood grows morti quickly, aud is con- 

 sequently not so hard or durable. The ordinary height 

 is 00 to SO feet, its maximum age fifli-en renturies. 



