112 INDUSTRIAL USES OF WOOD. 



placed at right augles to tbem. Log-huts are still used in the 

 Alps, and in countries like America or Australia, where timber 

 is still abundant. A higher class of houses is built with a 

 complete wooden framework of beams and scantling, dovetailed 

 and riveted together, and the interspaces are afterwards covered 

 with planks, or filled-in with lath and plaster, or with rubble- or 

 brick-masonry. Houses with a wooden framework filled-in with 

 masonry are termed half-timbered. In the Middle Ages nearly 

 all houses, and even large edifices, were built with a wooden 

 framework, owing to the abundance of wood ; at present this 

 mode of construction is limited to woodland districts, and 

 especially to Switzerland and the Black Forest. Its use is 

 becoming more restricted in Europe, as communications improve, 

 and stone- or brick-masonry takes its place. 



[In countries like Japan or Assam where earthquakes are frequent, 

 this mode of building is far safer than masonry, tlie interspaces 

 between the wood being fillcd-iu with reeds or bamboos plastered 

 over. In the event of an earthquake, the whole house holds together 

 and the danger of falling masonry is avoided. Owing to the 

 malarious nature of the country in Assam, houses are frequently 

 raised above the ground on piles. — Tr.] 



Brick- or stone-masonry is the best material for the walls of 

 buildings, and is at present most usually adopted [though in 

 fairly dry countries, such as the N.W. of India, walls, and even 

 roofs, are frequently made of mud. — Tr.]. In all these cases 

 the minimum amount of wood is used, and chiefly for doors and 

 window-frames, for the flooring and wainscoting of the diflerent 

 stories (though even this may be partly made of stone and 

 cement, supported by iron girders), and for staircases and 

 roofing. 



Wooden scaflblding used during the construction of buildings 

 of all kinds also requires a large quantity of round timber and 

 some planking, and work-sheds and other similar constructions 

 are usually made with a wooden framework. 



Beams, scantling, planks, &c., and round timber for scaff'old- 

 ing, are the usual forms in which wood is used in superstruc- 

 tures, and the properties which timber should possess for use in 

 superstructures may be considered under the headings — shape 

 and dimensions, strength, durability and weight. 



