CHAPTER II. 



TIMBER, ITS PROPERTIES AND VARIETIES. 



THE enormous variety presented by the hundreds 

 of different kinds of woods known or used in different 

 countries depends for the most part on such peculiari- 

 ties as I have referred to above, together with some 

 others which have not as yet been touched upon. 

 Everybody knows something of the multitudinous 

 uses to which timber is put, and a little reflection will 

 show that these uses are dependent upon certain 

 general properties of the timber. Speaking broadly, 

 the chief properties are its weight, hardness, elasticity, 

 cohesion, and power of resisting strains, &c., in 

 various directions, its durability in air and in water, 

 and so forth ; moreover, special uses demand special 

 properties of other kinds also, and the colour, close- 

 ness of texture, capacity for receiving polish, &c., 

 come into consideration. 



