QUALITY OF BRTTISH-GIROWN CONIFEROUS TIMBERS. 163 



not well suited for ouidoor work, but when manufactured into 

 household furniture it lasts well, ten years not seeming to 

 have changed the wood in the least. The timber of young 

 trees is notorious for its speedy decay. 



Cedrus Libani. — Age of trees 99 years and 130 

 years ; soil in both cases inclined to be gravelly ; cubic con- 

 tents 153 feet and 231 feet respectively. Timber reddish- 

 white, brittle, though long-grained, light, easily worked, and 

 susceptible of a good polish. I cannot agree with those who 

 state that the timber is by no means durable, for my own 

 experiments demonstrate that it is in this respect of consider- 

 able value. It is certainly apt to snap short, and is extremely 

 brittle, but for all that it is of good lasting quality as shown 

 by the following : — A trough for washing sheep was formed 

 of this wood eighteen years ago, and after being subjected to 

 drought and damp alternately, for it was sunk in the soil, the 

 boarding when removed was perfectly sound, though dark in 

 appearance. The tree from which the boards were cut was 

 close upon a hundred years old, having been planted by the 

 great statesman, William Pitt, when he owned the Holwood 

 property, in Kent. The boards were fully 2 inches thick, and 

 of various widths up to 2 feet, and the trough 12 feet long, by 

 4 feet wide. The position in which the timber was placed 

 was one of the most trying, for, being sunk in the soil, and 

 only filled with water during the sheep-shearing season, the 

 vicissitudes of drought and damp were very considerable, and 

 well fitted to test the quality of wood. The timber lasts well 

 when converted into furniture. In some of the unusually 

 large specimens which have been converted at Woburn 

 Abbey, I consider the timber very near to that of the larch, 

 both in appearance and quality, but it is not so elastic. 



Cryptomeria japonica. — Age 43 years; cubic con- 

 tents 47 feet; soil black, dampish loam, in a low-lying and 

 well-sheltered situation. Timber remarkably light, nearly 

 white, soft, and easily worked. In the dry it has remained 

 sound for twelve years. Compared with foreign planks., those 

 produced in this country differ but little. 



