•24 



CHIPS. 



[Mah. 1S80. 



Chips. 



Sycamore, that has been useful 

 simply for cigar boxes, conies into 

 fashion for an inside house finish in 

 place of cherry, ash, maj^le, and walnut, 

 and good quarter-cut boards are worth 

 A: 10 a thousand. 



The art of sculpture in wood seems 

 to have been native among the early 

 Greeks, carved idols soon appearing 

 as substitutes for those stones and 

 trunks of trees Avhich were at first 

 worshipped as divine symbols. These 

 were frequently so old that no account 

 could be given of their origin, and they 

 were consequently said to have fallen 

 from the skies. 



Kespecting Male and ^E^rALE 

 Plants. — Prof. Hoffmann (in Botan- 

 Ische Zeitvng) says that the proportion 

 of male plants to female plants in the 

 case of dioecious plants, such as willows, 

 hops, etc., depends on the closeness 

 with which the seeds are sown. When 

 the seeds are sown very closely to- 

 gether, the proportion of male to 

 female plants is 283 males to 700 

 females ; while, when the seeds are 

 sown at wider distances apart, there 

 are only 76 males. 



Thuja GiOANTEA.--- This truly gigantic 

 tree abounds along the coast of British 

 Columbia and on the lower parts of 

 the rivers of the coast range. It 

 disajipears in the dry central plateau, 

 but re-appears in the slopes of the 

 Selkirk and (toUI ranges, on Shuswap 

 Lake, and in the North Thompson 

 Valley. On the coast it not unfre- 

 quently exceeds 15 feet diameter, but 

 the largest trees are apt to be hollow. 

 The wood is good, and said to be very 

 durable, but as yet has been very 

 little used except for shingles. 



Sugar Maple. — Tlie proj^er season 

 for making sugar is March, the sap 

 runs only on warm days which are 

 preceded by keen frosty nights. The 

 sap first drawn is always best ; it 

 then yields a pound of sugar to four 

 gallons of sap. The sap last drawn is 

 commonly fit only to make molasses. 

 A sugar maple tree standing in an 

 exposed situation will yield more sugar 

 for the quantity of sap than one less 

 exposed. The trees ought to be ta]iped 

 with a chisel or an auger, not with an 

 axe. In a good season fair- sized trees 

 yield from two to three pounds each. 



Olive-wood is again growing in 

 favour, and for clocks and cabinet 

 cases bids fair to continue so. Choice 

 sticks go oft" at £12, and £10 is secured 

 for no very exceptional stock. This 

 wood is being used for a dress and 

 garment fringe ornament, a dry-goods 

 novelty for 1886. 



IjANCe-wood gets a lift from the 

 toboggan sports. Tliis wood has Ijeen 

 confined for service to dog-cart shafts 

 and fishing-rods. It must be freshly 

 imported as needed, else by storage it 

 "dolts" or becomes blue. It had a 

 favour in the archery days of 1881, 

 but no such advance in prices as 

 toboggans secured. 



There would seem to be no doubt 

 as to the adaptability of California to 

 lemon growing. A single limb of one 

 of the trees belonging to a Mr. Murpliy 

 is described as about three inches in 

 diameter at one point and nine or ten 

 feet high. " The number of lemons it 

 has on cannot be stated, because no 

 one has a day or two to spare time 

 to count them." 



CUPRESSUS NUTKAKNSLS {TliHJopsis 



horealis). — This is the Yellow Cifpres^ 

 of the Canadians. It is an abundant 

 coast tree on the mainland around 

 Nootka Sound ; it is also found in the 

 interior of Vancouver's Island and in 

 some parts of Queen Charlotte Islands. 

 It often attains to 6 feet diameter. 

 The wood is said to be stx'ong, fine, 

 and free of grain, pale yellow and very 

 durable ; it has been used to a limited 

 extent for boat-building and various 

 ornamental puqioses, but is as yet 

 little known in commerce. 



The fruit of the elder, so frequently 

 used for colouring spirits, will alsj 

 produce a blue colour when treated witli 

 alum. The privet boiled in a solution 

 of salt, furnishes a serviceable colour, 

 and the over-ripe berries yield a scarlet 

 red. The seeds of the common burning 

 bush "euonymus," when treated with 

 sal ammoniac, produce a beautiful 

 purple retl. The bark of the currant 

 bush, treated with a solution of alum, 

 produces a brown. Yellow is obtain- 

 able from the bark of the apple trees, 

 the box, the ash, the buck-thorn, the 

 l)oplar, etc., when boiled in water and 

 treated with alum. A lively green is 

 furnished bv the broom corn. 



