64 TIMBER 



brown and black. The wood of the roots is often beauti- 

 fully veined. Walnut wood is heavy, fine grained, longi- 

 tudinal fibre short and brittle, does not split in seasoning, 

 takes a beautiful polish. The tree grows well in Britain, 

 but the wood is pale, rather coarse, and not much used. 



Large quantities of excellent walnut come from the 

 Black Sea, called Circassian walnut, in short logs up to 

 18 inches a side and in planks 6 to 11 ft. long, 2J to 

 8 inches thick, and up to 19 inches wide ; similar timber 

 comes from Italy, and is much used in the piano trade, but 

 probably the larger portion of the walnut of commerce 

 comes from the United States. A few short logs up to 

 36 inches at the butt come occasionally with mahogany 

 from the west coast of Africa, and this trade seems rather 

 to increase. All walnut trees have a peculiar dividing of 

 the pith into a number of small chambers, which forms a 

 serious defect in the centre of every log. Many years ago 

 walnut to a considerable extent took the place of oak in the 

 furniture trade, but it is now more generally used as veneer. 

 Large quantities of French and other walnut were used in 

 the cabin fittings of the SS. Mauretania ; the grand stairs 

 were constructed entirely of this wood, as much as 

 10,000 ft. of veneer being used. Walnut is much appre- 

 ciated for the best gun stocks, for Swiss carving and 

 turnery, in the pianoforte trade, and in France, where the 

 tree is found in large numbers, the wood is largely used for 

 sabots. 



Weight about 46 Ibs. per cubic foot. 



