CATALOGUE OF THE TIMBERS OF THE WORLD 99 



a very smooth surface from the tool. According to Pearson {Forest 

 Economic Products of India), " The amount which it will probably be 

 possible to procure in future will sooner increase than decrease, as the 

 forests containing this species are brought under regular management." 

 Gamble says that it gives logs of large size, averaging 25 feet in length, 

 and containing 45 cubic feet. The wood is undoubtedly one which 

 would soon make its good quahties knowTi, if it were brought into more 

 general notice. It possesses aU the quahties which would make it stand 

 well for decorative furniture work and turnery under all conditions. 



The numerous pores are exceedingly small. The medullary rays are 

 very fine and close, equidistant and parallel. 



Hopea Wightiana, Wall. Weight, 54 lbs. India. 



The timber is of a yeUowish-browTi colour, with a very hard, close, 

 compact grain. My specimen appears a good deal heavier than the weight 

 attributed to it, and is strongly marked with a fiddle mottle figure. 

 It would be valued for brush backs, cabinet-work, inlay, and turnery, 

 and perhaps for some of the purposes for which boxwood is used. 



The pores are very small and numerous and are largely plugged. 

 The medullary rays also appear in great numbers and are exceedingly 

 fine and clear cut, paraUel and equidistant. 



Hornbeam. Carpinus Betuliis, Linn. Weight, 51 lbs. 13 oz. Great 

 Britain, Continental Europe, America. 



The wood is yellowish-white in colour, close in the grain, hard, tough, 

 strong, and of moderate weight. There is no distinguishable sap or 

 alburnum ; it may, therefore, be worked up to great advantage. Hence 

 we find it employed for a variety of purposes : it is useful in husbandry, 

 and agricultural implements made of the sound and healthy wood wear 

 weU, as it stands exposure without being much affected by it. It is 

 also used by engineers for cogs in machinery, a purpose for which it is 

 weU suited. The hornbeam tree, if poUarded, becomes blackish in colour 

 at the centre, owing to the admission of external moisture and parasites. 

 This renders it unfit for many purposes where a clean, bright surface 

 is required, and generally it proves detrimental to the quality and 

 durabiUty of the timber. This wood, when subjected to vertical pressure, 

 cannot be completely destroyed ; its fibres, instead of breaking off short, 

 double up hke threads, a conclusive proof of its flexibility and fitness 

 for service in machinery. 



A considerable trade has been carried on of late years in Continental 

 supplies of hornbeam, from France particularly, for use in pianoforte 

 work ; it is used especially for keys, for w^hich it is highly suitable. 



