158 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
English and Wych, which resemble each other in some degree. 
They have several of the characteristics of the ash, being tough 
and durable, and are more easily bent. The chief purposes to 
which elm wood is put are naves and felloes for wheels, the 
manufacture of which, being already described in reference to ash, 
does not require repetition. The elm is largely converted into 
boards for packing cases, large quantities being merely sawn from 
all sizes of trees into the required thickness, without regard to 
width. The larger trees of clean and good quality are frequently 
cut on the quarter for coftin-making—elm-wood displaying a 
peculiar figure, which when polished presents a beautiful appear- 
ance, and when washed over with a chemical mixture, as is some- 
times done, very much resembles mahogany, and is in this way 
often passed off for that wood. In the cutting up of straight well- 
grown trees into boards for packing cases, the yield considerably 
exceeds the quarter girth measurement of the rough tree, so that 
the cost of sawing may almost be reckoned as compensated for in 
this way. 
In the preparation of naves, the general custom is to crosscut 
the tree to the desired lengths, which vary from 15 to 18 inches, 
and from 8 to 15 inches in diameter. <A large hole is then bored 
to extract the heart, which prevents the probability of the nave 
cracking while undergoing the process of seasoning, which is 
necessary before going into the turner’s hands. The warping 
nature of elm prevents its use to any great extent either in the 
cabinet or coach-building industries. Shipbuilders continue to 
consume large quantities in a variety of sizes—for ships rails, 
9 inches by 3 inches and upwards; covering boards, 12 inches by 
4 inches and upwards; and catheads, which are short, run up to 12 
inches square. Crooked elm is not common, as in oak and ash, 
but what is produced is converted into waterways for ships, which 
must have the natural and well-grown bend, and their scarcity 
makes this class of wood much sought after. The tops and very 
rough pieces go for pit-props. The elm is not a favourite wood 
with the turner, its warping and twisting nature being highly 
objectionable, and for cleaving it is absolutely useless. 
The sycamore, or plane tree, promises to become extinct, from 
the large demand and the enormously increasing price obtainable 
for it. The supply is far short of meeting the industrial require- 
ments, and the annual imports of inferior American timber of this 
kind is of necessity increasing. The large clean butts are almost 
