CATALOGUE OF THE TIMBERS OF THE WORLD 23 



Barwood. Pterocarpus santalinoides, L'Herit., or P. angolensis, DC. 

 Weight, 54 lbs. West Africa. 



The wood is of a bright and vivid red colour, it has a close, firm texture, 

 and is capable of a very smooth surface from the tool. It is imported in 

 short, round logs ranging from 4 to 12 inches in diameter. It is used 

 for the handles of tools and cutlery and would be suitable for turnery. 

 Barwood is also used as a dyewood, and if water is poured on it, the red 

 colouring comes out. 



The large pores are very unevenly scattered. The light wavy con- 

 centric lines are very noticeable, but no medullary rays are visible. 



Basswood. Tilia americana, Linn., T. heterophylla, Vent., and T. 

 piibescens, Ait. Weight, 30 lbs. North America. 



True basswood is the wood of several North American species of lime- 

 tree. The name is often, though erroneously, employed in England and 

 Scotland to designate the wood of Liriodendron tidipifera, which is most 

 commonly known under the name of whitewood or canary wood in this 

 country, and yellow poplar or poplar in America. The consequence is 

 that misunderstandings are liable to arise on the rare occasions on which 

 genuine basswood is ordered from the timber merchant, for the latter 

 assumes that whitewood is wanted. Small quantities are imported into 

 Liverpool and London in the form of logs, and in boards and planks from 

 10 to 16 feet in length and from 4 to 24 inches in width. The wood 

 imported varies both in tint, which ranges from white to light or greyish 

 brown, and also in quality, this possibly to some extent because it consists 

 of the product of several different species of Ume-tree, but also certainly 

 according to the time and manner of feUing and storing the produce of 

 the tree. The wood is soft, light in weight, and by no means strong. 

 " Its lightness makes it serviceable as valves and other parts of beUows 

 for . . . organs (mechanical) and piano-players. . . . Apiarists find no wood 

 more suitable for the small light frames in which bees build the comb. . . . 

 Its whiteness and freedom from stains and unpleasant odours are likewise 

 important when vessels are to contain food-products." (Gibson, American 

 Forest Trees, p. 638.) Indeed, Longfellow mentions the wood in this 

 connection, for at the w^edding feast of Hiawatha : 



All the bowls were made of basswood, 

 White and polished very smoothly. 



In the United States the wood is largely employed, especially in the 

 pianoforte trade, and its uses are very varied, but in England, although 

 it is inquired for in the same trade to a limited extent, there are other 

 woods available that are equally serviceable yet procurable at lower 

 prices, and which, therefore, have the precedence. For joiners' work it 



