306 



The World's Commercial Products 



• 



Minor, North, and . South America, and to a less extent in Africa and Australia.- Three 

 different. species yield commercially useful timber in Europe and North America. The hard, 

 finely grained, close wood is. well adapted for turning, and isused for this purpose, for the 

 manufacture of cogs, and in .cabinet, and marquetry work. . . •. • - . . - 



: Ash; ; > There are some fifty or more kinds of ash' trees, but only one is found wild in the 

 United Kingdom, namely, the English Ash (Fraxinus. excelsior);, which occurs also right-through 

 Europe, in North Africa, and partsrOf Asia. Tlje'wood .known! as United States Ash in England 

 is derived from Fraxinus americana, and North America yields other kinds such as Red Ash, 

 Blue Ash, Green Ash, Black Ash, Oregon A.sh. The English ', Ash, gives the best timber. 

 The white to whitish-brown wood is. moderately hard, arid. very strong, tough arid durable. 

 In fact, in .strength and durability it conies close to oak amongst British woods. In distinction 

 .... :. .•-_'' ( .to many woods, ash 



is most valuable 

 from quickly grown 

 trees, and the wood 

 of young trees is 

 practically as good 

 as that of old trees. 

 Hickory. Un- 

 der the general 

 name of hickory 

 are included vari- 

 ous woods from 

 closely related trees 

 of the genus Carya, 

 closely allied to the 

 walnut. This group 

 of trees is entirely 

 confined to North 

 America and some 

 four or six species 

 contribute to the 

 market supply of 

 hickory. The best 

 known characteris- 

 tic of hickory wood is its toughness, which renders it very useful for many purposes to 

 which ash is adapted. 



Boxwood. The Box Tree {Buxus sempervirms) is wild in a few- places in England, and 

 Box' Hilb- and Boxley owe their names to this plant. It is widely distributed throughout 

 South' Europe, North Africa, and Asia, reaching Japan and the Himalayas, and accordingly 

 boxwood has a large number of names indicative of place of origin, e.g., English, Turkish, 

 Coirsican, Circassian, Persian boxwood, whilst Papri is one of its Indian names. Two other 

 species of, Buxus yield the Cape and Chinese boxwoods respectively. The box is .of very .slow 

 growth, and "never attains a large size. The wood is very hard, dense, and close, with extremely 

 fine grain. In seasoning boxwood -splits with a loud report and is very wasteful. In Europe 

 it is chiefly used for turning, wood-engravirig, mathematical .. instruments; and carving and 

 wood-working tools. Owing to the" decreasing supply of true boxwood, a very similar wood 

 from the West Indies is largely substituted under the name West Indian Boxwood, also known 

 as Zapatero, White Cedar, Cogwood, and by various other names. 



Cedar ds a name applied to a large number of timbers which are quite distinct from one 

 another, but agree generally in being light, soft, of fine, even grain and frequently scented. 



Photo by N. P. Edwards, Littlehampton 



A BIG TREE, CALIFORNIA 



