ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, V. v. 1-3 



that of the lime ; those are difficult which arc, 

 hard and have many knots and a compact and 

 twisted grain. The most difficult woods are those 

 of aria (holm-oak) and oak, and the knotty parts 

 of the fir and silver-fir. The softer part of any 

 given tree is always better than the harder, since 

 it is fleshier : and carpenters can thus at once mark 

 the parts suitable for planks. Inferior iron tools can 

 cut hard wood better than soft : for on soft wood 

 tools lose their edge, as was said : in speaking of the 

 lime, while hard woods ' 2 actually sharpen it : where- 

 fore cobblers make their strops of wild pear. 



Carpenters say that all woods have 3 a core, 

 but that it is most plainly seen in the silver-fir, 

 in which one can detect a sort of bark-like charac- 

 ter in the rings. In olive box and such woods 

 this is not so obvious ; wherefore they say that box 

 and olive 4 lack this tendency ; for that these woods 

 are less apt to ( draw ' than any others. ' Drawing ' 

 is the closing in of the wood as the core is dis- 

 turbed. 5 For since the core remains alive, it appears, 

 for a long time, it is always removed from any 

 article whatever made of this wood, 6 but especially 

 from doors, 7 so that they may not warp 8 : and that 

 is Avhy the wood is split. 9 



It might seem strange that in ' round ' i0 timber 

 the core does no harm and so is left undisturbed, 

 Avhile in wood whose texture has been interfered 

 with, 11 unless it is taken out altogether, it causes 



7 6vpw/j.a.T(i)v conj. Sch. ; yvpup.drcav Aid. cf. 4. 1.2; Plin. 

 16. 225, abietem valrarum paginis aptissimam. 



8 a<TTpa&r) fj conj. Dalec.; aarpaQij UMVAld. 



9 i.e. to extract the core. 10 See below, 5. 



11 irapa.KifnBe'iffi, i.e. by splitting or sawing, ite Ae/cTjfle tai 

 conj. W. 



447 



