24 Forestry Quarterly. 



growth never have direct bearing upon 'grain.' This is so 

 opposed to the popular conception that it can only serve to 

 increase confusion without gain in exactness of expression. 



Stone^ considers 'grain' in reference only to the siae of the 

 wood elements without reference to their arrangement or direc- 

 tion. 



"A plank may be 'fine grained' in one part and 'coarse 

 grained' in another, whereas if the plank is cut from the 

 outside of the tree (tangentially), the grain or size of the 

 pores and cells may be uniform throughout." 



Although the term 'texture' is frequently used in describing 

 woods, few writers attempt definitions of it, while many use it as 

 a synonym in part for 'grain'. Gayer ^ says : 



"The texture of planed wood depends upon its anatomi- 

 cal structure, on the arrangement of its fibres and the 

 direction in which it has been sawn. * * * Wood is 

 said to be even-grained when it possesses fine medullary 

 rays, and not only equal annual zones, but narrow summer 

 zones, as in slow-growing sessile oak, spruce or silver fir. 

 Wood is also even-grained in the case of many fruit trees, 

 with evenly distributed pores (pear, apple, service tree, 

 etc). * * * 



"Fine-textured woods are those which show freedom 

 from knots, fine or even grain, fine waviness, or other 

 marks. As a rule dense broad-leaved species are more 

 finely textured than porous woods, and more easily 

 polished. Coarse-textured woods are coarse-fibred, light, 

 porous woods, those with considerable difference between 

 the spring- and summer-wood, and knotty wood." 



The lack of harmony in the above cited usages of the terms 

 'grain' and 'texture' is due for the most part to their attempt to 

 embrace too wide a field. Wood is a complex structure composed 

 of definite elements with infinitely variable arrangement. Almost 

 without exception, authorities agree that arrangement or direc- 

 tion of these wood elements afifects 'grain'. Disagreement and 

 confusion results when size, form, and character of these elements 

 are included. 



It remained for Prof. J. W. Tourney, of the Yale Forest School, 

 to suggest a practical way of overcoming these difficulties. He 



° "The Timbers of Commerce" by Stone, Introduction page xiv. 

 • Schlich's Manual of Forestry, Vol. V, pp. 60-61. 



