FINISHED WOODS. 



ftSH. — This name is applied to four 

 species of forest trees. Most 

 of the species are indigenous 

 in North America, and some 

 are found in Europe and Asia. The 

 majority of these trees are large, affect- 

 ing shady and moist places, banks of 

 rivers, or marshes. The wood is tough 

 and elastic, and is used by wheel- 

 wrights, carriage-makers, and ship- 

 builders. The Hungarian species is a 

 favorite with cabinet-makers. 



Cherry. — The common cherry tree 

 {Primus cerasiis) is of Asiatic origin, 

 and is said by Pliny to have been intro- 

 duced into Italy by Lucullus about 

 seventy years before Christ, and about 

 120 years after was introduced into 

 Britain. It is extensively cultivated in 

 the timber regions of Europe and 

 America. There are now more than 

 300 varieties. The wood is of a red- 

 dish hue, hard and tough, and much 

 used by the cabinet-maker; the gum is 

 edible, and the fruit is eaten either 

 fresh or dried, and is used for pre- 

 serves. The cherry is best propagated 

 by grafting with seedlings of the wild 

 cherry. 



Mahogany. — This wood is a native 

 of South America, Honduras, and the 

 West Indies Islands, and among the 

 most valuable of tropical timber trees. 

 It is a large, spreading tree, with pin- 

 nate, shining leaves. The trunk often 

 exceeds fifty feet in height, and four 

 to five feet in diameter. The flowers, 

 three or four inches long, are small 

 and greenish-yellow, and are succeeded 

 by fruit of an oval form and the size of 

 a turkey's egg. The wood is hard, 

 heavy and close-grained, of a dark, 

 rich brownish red color, and suscepti- 

 ble of a high polish. The collection 

 of mahogany fpr commerce is a most 

 laborious business, often involving the 

 construction of a road through a dense 

 forest, upon which the wood may be 

 transported to the nearest water-course. 

 The natives make this wood serve many 

 useful purposes, as canoes and handles 

 for tools. The largest log ever cut in 

 Honduras was seventeen feet long, 

 fifty-seven inches broad, and sixty-four 



inches deep, measuring 5,421 feet of 

 inch boards, and weighing upward of 

 fifteen tons. 



Mahogany is said to have been em- 

 ployed about the year 1595 in repair- 

 ing some of Sir Walter Raleigh's ships, 

 but it was not used for cabinet work 

 until 1720, when a few planks from the 

 West Indies were given to Dr. Gibbons 

 of London. A man named Wollaston, 

 employed to make some articles from 

 this wood, discovered its rare qualities, 

 and it was soon in high repute. 



White Walnut. — Walnut (the nut of 

 Jupiter) is the common name of large 

 nut-bearing forest trees of the genus 

 Juglatis, which, with the hickories, make 

 up the walnut family, in which the 

 trees have a colorless juice, a strong 

 scented bark, and compound leaves. 

 Three species of the walnut are found 

 in the United States. The wood is 

 hard, fine-grained, and durable. 



Bird's-eye Maple. — This is one of 

 about fifty species, which are distribu- 

 ted over North America, Europe, North- 

 ern Asia, Java, and the Himalayas. 

 While the wood of some of these is 

 perfectly straight-grained, that in other 

 specimens presents marked and often 

 elegant varieties. The bird's-eye ma- 

 ple has its fibers so singularly con- 

 torted as to produce numerous little 

 knots which look like the eye of a 

 bird. It is a variety much valued for 

 cabinet work of various kinds and in- 

 terior finishing, while the straight- 

 grained wood is used for making lasts, 

 buckets, tubs, and other articles. It is 

 also employed in ship-building. 



Oak. — The English name of trees of 

 the genus Quercus. Oaks are found 

 over nearly the whole northern hemi- 

 sphere, except the extreme north; in 

 the tropics along the Andes, and in the 

 Moluccas. All oaks are readily recog- 

 nized by their peculiar fruit, consisting 

 of an acorn with a cup which never com- 

 pletely encloses the nut. Some of the 

 oaks furnish valuable timber. Tannic 

 and gallic acids are obtained from 

 them and the bark of many is useful 

 for tanning. The nuts not only supply 

 human food but that of various animals. 



