CATALOGUE OF THE TIMBERS OF THE WORLD 55 



It has been imported into England on a commercial basis, in boards 

 and planks since 191 1, but has probably never yet been estimated at 

 its real value. Mr. F. R. S. Balfour has used a considerable quantity in 

 fitting and joinery in his house in Scotland. It has been used to a small 

 extent for boat- and shipbuilding, and, since the war, has been imported 

 for aircraft construction, but for this purpose there has not yet been 

 sufficient time to gauge its value. In the Western United States it has 

 been used for buildings (including floorings), fence-posts, boats and ships, 

 but Sarjent states that on the Pacific coast it is employed almost ex- 

 clusively for matches. Durable in all situations, it is particularly so in 

 contact with the soil ; and has been used for railway sleepers. Elwes 

 mentions the case of a tree that was perfectly sound though it had fallen 

 more than two hundred years, and had been overgrown by a huge spruce 

 tree, whose trunk was 7I feet in diameter, and whose roots extended 

 Uke the claws of a parrot around each side of the [cedar]-tree and locked 

 underneath. 



The annual rings are marked by the contrast between the wide, white 

 spring-wood and the narrower, reddish summer- wood, the former grading 

 gradually into the latter. As this is a coniferous timber no pores are 

 present, nor do resin passages occur, though resin and fragrant essential 

 oil does occur in this wood. The medullary rays are excessively fine and 

 almost invisible, though causing a general indistinct radiating pattern 

 on the cross-section. 



Cedar, Red. 



There are many timbers which are known under this name, chief 

 amongst which are the following : 



Cimonia capensis, Linn. ; Cape Colony. Cedrela Toona, Roxb. ; 

 India. (This is the Moulmein cedar {q.v.).) Acrocarpus fraxinifolius, 

 Wight ; Sikkim, Western and Southern India, Burma. Thuja gigantea, 

 Nutt.; Western North America. Juniperus occidentalis, Hook. ; Western 

 North America. 



Of these, with the exception of Moulmein cedar, little is known in the 

 United Kingdorn, nor are they in ordinary commercial use. 



Cedar, Red Australian. Source dubious. Weight, 52 lbs. 4 oz, 

 Australia. 



The wood is of a red colour, with a brighter hue than that possessed 

 by Central American cedar {Cedrela odorata), which it otherwise strongly 

 resembles in many of its characteristics. It is, however, heavier, harder, 

 and generally more curly in the grain, and more figured, besides being 

 less strongly scented. It has been imported in boards, planks, and logs, 

 and some handsome furniture and fittings have been made of it. 



