Grail! and Texture in Wood. 23 



The Century Dictionary is authority for this definition : 



■'Grain is the substance of wood as modified by the 

 quahty, direction or arrang-ement of its fibers." 



This embraces the conception of the writers quoted but intro- 

 dues a new attribute, viz the quality of the wood elements. 



In only one publication'* so far issued from the Government 

 Forest Service is a definition of grain attempted. From a page 

 of discussion is quoted the following: 



"The terms 'fine-grained', 'coarse-grained', 'straight- 

 grained' and 'cross-grained' are frequently applied in 

 woodworking. In common usage, wood is 'coarse- 

 grained' if the annual rings are wide, 'fine-grained' if they 

 are narrow ; in the finer wood industries a 'fine-grained' 

 wood is capable of high polish while a 'coarse-grained' 

 wood is not, so that in the latter case the distinction 

 depends chiefly on hardness, and in the former on an acci- 

 dental case of slow or rapid growth." 



In order to ascertain the conception of the term 'grain' now 

 held by members of the U. S. Forest Service, expert in wood, the 

 writer obtained from them memoranda from which two excerpts 

 follow : 



" 'Grain' is properly used to designate the structural 

 composition of wood resulting from the character and the 

 association of its component elements within the annual 

 or other periodic layers of growth. It follows that differ- 

 ences in the thickness of the layers of growth do not affect 

 grain and that characteristic differences of grain are due, 

 solely, to the arrangement, direction, size, and form of the 

 elements of the wood." 



"Grain designates the structural composition of wood, 

 resulting from the form, size, arrangement, and direction 

 of its component elements of fibers and vessels. Accord- 

 ing to this usage, grain takes account only of the assem- 

 bling of the different elements within the layers of annual 

 growth. * "^ * If the fibers and vessels which make 

 up the wood are small, the wood is considered fine grained ; 

 if relatively large, it is coarse grained." 



This amplifies the definition of the Century Dictionary but 

 introduces a new phase, viz: That the width of rings or layers of 



* "Timber," Bulletin 10, Division of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agr.. 

 pp. 21-23. 



