230 SYLVAN WINTER. 



are mottled knots, and, when polished, this wood 

 makes handsome and ornamental boxes. 



Useful in a humble degree is the Spindle Tree 

 (Euonymus europceus), whose close-grained, hard 

 wood is employed in making spindles and skewers. 

 Formerly it was used by musical instrument 

 makers, and in the present day it furnishes, when 

 reduced to charcoal, a capital drawing material for 

 artists. 



As the Scotch Pine amongst Pines claims 

 superiority for its timber, so may the Spruce Fir 

 (Abies excelsa) be said to deserve pre-eminence 

 amongst the Firs. Its wood is both elastic and 

 light, it is durable, sometimes red and sometimes 

 yellowish in colour durability and colour depend- 

 ing a good deal on the soil in which it grows and 

 it is extremely resinous. Potash is produced by its 

 ashes. For the masts of vessels, for which whole 

 trees, stripped of their bark, are used ; for ladders, 

 scaffold and other poles ; for oars of boats, and for 

 other aquatic purposes ; for the flooring of houses, 

 sometimes for making musical instruments ; for 

 packing-boxes, for the interiors of cabinets and 

 drawers, and occasionally for carvers and gilders 



