FANCY WOODS. 175 



when manufactured into tables. Mechanical skill 

 converts the commonest materials into articles of 

 high price; and this is one of the best directions 

 which can be given to the luxury of an age. 



Mahogany is of universal use for furniture, from 

 the common tables of a village inn to the splendid 

 cabinets of a regal palace. But the general adop- 

 tion of this wood renders a nice selection necessary 

 for those articles which are costly and fishiona >le 

 The extensive manufacture of piano-fort ss has much 

 increased the demand for mahogany. This musical 

 instrument, as made in England, is superior to that 

 of any other part of Europe; and English piano- 

 fortes are largely exported. The beauty of the case 

 forms a point of great importance to the manufac- 

 turer. This circumstance adds nothing, of course, 

 to the intrinsic value of the instrument; but it is of 

 consequence to the maker, in giving an adventitious 

 quality to the article in which he deals Spanish 

 mahogany is decidedly the most beautiful; but occa- 

 sionally, yet not very often, the Honduras wood is of 

 singular brilliancy; and it is then eagerly sought for, 

 to be employed in the most expensive cabinet-work. 

 A short time ago, Messrs. Broadwood, who have 

 long been distinguished as makers of piano-fortes, 

 gave the enormous sum of three thousand pounds 

 ibr three logs of mahogany. These logs, the pro- 

 duce of one tree, were each about fifteen feet long 

 and thirty-eight inches wide. They were cut into 

 veneers of eight to an inch. The wood, of which 

 we have seen a specimen, was peculiarly beautiful, 

 capable of receiving the highest polish; and, when 

 polished, reflecting the light in the most varied man- 

 ner, like the surface of a crystal ; and, from the 

 wavy form of the fibres, offering a different figure 

 in whatever direction it was viewed. A new spe- 

 cies of mahogany has been lately introduced in 



