in.] THE CLASSIFICATION OF TIMBERS. 53 



it is a climbing plant which yields the wood in 

 question. Again, the bark and cortex in the young 

 and older states its colour, thickness, texture, mode 

 of stripping, &c. Some trees are evergreen, others 

 deciduous ; some grow in swamps, others on dry- 

 plains or hills ; some are gregarious, and so on. 

 Moreover, in classifying the trees of a large country, 

 the facts of geographical distribution of some of them 

 can often be utilized for instance, no one need look 

 for teak on the Himalayan heights, nor for deodar in 

 the plains of Southern India, and, again, Heritiera 

 littoralis is a tree of the tidal forests of India and 

 Burma, and is not likely to be seen by a forest-officer 

 working away from such districts. Such facts as 

 these, amplified and accurately generalized, might be 

 made much use of in drawing up lists, &c., for the 

 guidance of those at work in geographically different 

 districts, as it is the timbers as commonly met with 

 in the yards that need classifying. 1 



It will be understood that the following table is of 

 course intended to be, not a complete classification of 

 timbers, but an illustration how such classification 

 might be possible, and gradually improved as time 

 and knowledge progress. 



1 Further information on this subject will be found in Laslett's 

 Timber and Timber Trees. Macmillan and Co., 1894. 



