\VuOif. 



71 



TYilk \\nn<\. 



strongest of woods, and present- 

 ing in its best conditions li 

 texture shoun in the annexed 

 engraving. Ill-comes brittle and V^ : i : 

 soft, when rapidly grown, and 



not harden into heavy, v-? 

 strong, and durable wood, until v 

 it has ripened with age. V- 



2">.">. Tree- grown as reserves, ^ 



in a .-oppi,-,.. ;uid exposed alter- ' " -"I of Rapid Growth, but S| 

 nately to the open air and to 

 the shade of other trees at dif- 

 ferent periods of their growth, 

 have a harder wood than tln-se 

 grown in masses, but it is apt 

 to be knotty from lateral 

 branches ami such tree- beiiiL r 

 more exposed to the winds and 

 to other accidents, do not have 

 so straight and regular a body, nor do they grow :i s high as wheu 

 manv are grown together. Such wood does not readily split into 

 staves. A ditlereiiee in the width of wood layers may In- caused by 

 the greater or le>s shade in which it has grown, so that the character 

 of the seasons can never be learned detinitely in the cross section of 

 a tree, unless it lias <rrown in an isolated position. Still, from the 

 comparison of a trreat number of facts it mi-rht perhaps be possible 

 to determine with some certainty the general character of the cli- 

 mate by this method. 



254. The wood of conifers, </> a rnl<\ is heavier, more clastic, and 

 more durable, according as its growth has Ix-en slower, and the au- 

 nual rings are narrower. We see this shown in the timber from the 

 Baltic, and in the Siberian larch. These qualities are found greatest 

 in the timber grown in cold climates, and differences may sometimes 

 be detected in the north and south sides of the same tree. As a 

 general rule, trees growing in swampy land have a more open and 

 spongy texture than the same species grown on dryer land. 



255. Celluloid', which constitutes the principal body of wood-fiber, 

 is alike in all kinds of wood, when separated from other substances, 



