NA TURE 



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THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 1876 



LAS LETT'S " TIMBER AND TIMBER TREES" 



Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign. By- 

 Thomas Laslett, Timber Inspector to the Admiralty. 

 Crown 8vo, pp. 352. (London : Macmillan and Co. 

 1875.) 



IN all parts of the world where the vegetation partakes 

 of an arboreous character, the wood is applied by 

 the natives either for building their huts or houses, for 

 their canoes or war- vessels, or for various domestic pur- 

 poses, according to the extent of civilisation under which 

 they live. This universal application of timber dates 

 back to the earliest ages, and though the world's con- 

 sumption of wood has been increasing ever since, and 

 more especially in modern times, the supplies have never 

 yet absolutely failed. Though the trade in timber, pro- 

 perly so called, that is forbuildmgpurposes as distinguished 

 from ornamental woods, is one of immense proportions 

 and great value, the more general application of iron at 

 the present day for constructive purposes has to some 

 extent, no doubt, prevented a dearth in the timber mar- 

 ket. Notwithstanding this substitution of iron both in 

 shipbuilding and in general mechanical work, no abso- 

 lute diminution in the quantities of timber imported into 

 this country has been effected. On the contrary, the 

 official returns show a gradual increase both in rough 

 and in planed or dressed timber, large quantities of which 

 now come regularly from Sweden and Norway, from 

 Russia, British North America, and other countries. 



There are but few, if any, of our commercial articles, 

 whether they be of home or foreign produce, that have a 

 wider range of interest or more numerous ramifications 

 than the wood and timber supplies. Primarily the subject 

 may be divided into two divisions, the first dealmg with 

 timber as used for constructive purposes, and the second 

 with woods as used by the cabinetmaker or for orna- 

 mental work ; and still another important division is that 

 of dye woods. 



When we consider that the value of timber chiefly for 

 building purposes imported into this country during the 

 year 1874 amounted to over twenty millions sterling, it is 

 surprising that so little is generally known or so few 

 books have been written on a subject of such great com- 

 mercial and general importance. Besides the produce of 

 our own forests, composed for the most part of oak, 

 larch, fir, ash, beech, &c., the bulk of the wood imported 

 from Sweden, Norway, Russia, <S:c., is the produce of 

 coniferous trees, the botanical origin of which are for the 

 most part known ; but over and above these are numerous 

 woods which, though they are and have been articles of 

 commerce for many years past, are still quite imknown 

 as to their botanical sources. And it is not a little 

 remarkable that most of these unknown woods are the 

 produce of some part of the South American continent. 

 From Brazil and Paraguay, for instance, we are constantly 

 receiving samples of finely-marked hard and apparently 

 durable woods, but no information ever reaches us of the 

 nature of the trees furnishing these woods. If collectors 

 V. ould only bear in mind that samples of wood with native 

 Vol. XIII. — No. 323 



names only are next to valueless, and would use every 

 endeavour to secure and bring home a flowering spe- 

 cimen of the tree producing any particular wood, they 

 would be helping to develop the resources of the forests, 

 besides contributing to the knowledge of the flora of the 

 country. But this is a matter which does not concern the 

 importer so long as the necessary suppUes are forth- 

 coming and remunerative prices can be realised ; and it 

 is by the agents or exporters alone at the port of ship- 

 ment that this information can be obtained, consequently 

 our knowledge of the sources of the ornamental hard 

 woods of commerce remains pretty much as it did ten or 

 even twenty years ago. It is true that at the several 

 International Exhibitions, notably those of 1851 and 

 1862, some remarkably fine collections of woods were 

 exhibited, but only in comparatively few cases were really 

 trustworthy catalogues prepared. Even the British 

 Guiana collections, which were remarkable for the size 

 of the specimens and the care exercised in their selec- 

 tion, were wofuUy deficient in scientific nomenclature, and 

 remain so to the present time, simply on account of the 

 absence of flowering specimens, which should have been 

 collected at the time of cutting the timber. 



It is no doubt in consequence of these obstacles and 

 the scant material at command that no one has hitherto 

 been tempted to take up our timber and wood supplies as a 

 special subject. Many are the collections that have been 

 formed of British and foreign woods, but they have never 

 found a champion in the same way that drugs did in the late 

 Daniel Hanbury, who grudged neither time, trouble, nor 

 expense in seeking authentic information in his favourite 

 pursuit. The most complete lists of woods perhaps ever 

 published are those contained in the Jury Reports of the 

 Great Exhibition of 185 1, where, besides notes on the 

 qualities of the woods and their uses, their weights per 

 cubic foot and their specific gravities are in some cases 

 given. In 1852 a useful " Descriptive Catalogue of the 

 Woods commonly employed in this country for the Me- 

 chanical and Ornamental Arts " was published by Charles 

 Holtzapftel, but this book is of course now out of date, 

 and nothing of any importance has since appeared beyond 

 a few occasional lists and papers scattered about in diffe- 

 rent journals. 



It was therefore with some satisfaction that we took 

 up the book whose title stands at the head of this notice, 

 with the hope that we should find it a trustworthy hand- 

 book of woods in general. It required, however, but a 

 slight glance to show us that it was devoted almost exclu- 

 sively to the consideration of timber for building or car- 

 pentry work, to the exclusion of ornamental woods. 

 This we regret the more as the timber and hard wood 

 trades, though distinct in themselves, are nevertheless 

 closely allied subjects, and treated together with proper 

 care and attention, would form a most valuable work. 



Taking the book as it is, we find that a large portion of 

 the early part is devoted to the question of the formation 

 and structure of wood, matters which we think unneces- 

 sary in a work of this description, occupying space which 

 might be much more advantageously used. A chapter is 

 also given on the computation of the ages of trees and 

 their rate of growth. After referring to the computed 

 ages of well-known large trees, by which it has been esti- 

 mated amongst others that the oak attains to an age of 



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