1843. 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



405 



The properties of the various descriptions of wood coming under the 

 denomination of timber — their relative strength and durability — their 

 lilness for (he various purposes of building, with regard to their stiff- 

 ness in different situations and under different conditions, have all 

 been treated scientifically and practically, in a manner highly useful to 

 the architect, and the results have long been in our hands. 



The attention of the profession has even been called, both in ancient 

 and modern works, to the planting, growth, and felling of timber, and 

 the varieties which local circumstances and soil may produce in the 

 same species. That information of this kind is in the highest degree 

 useful to the architect, and indeed indispensable to be known, is not to 

 be doubted, and the important practical results which may be derived 

 from inquiries strictly scientific, must be familiar to ail of us, who, on 

 a former occasion, have had the pleasure of listening to the Botanical 

 discources of our friend Dr. Dickson. But in the ordinary routine of 

 our profession it is seldom, comparatively speaking, that we have to 

 refer even to the original principles from which our practice is de- 

 rived, and still less to questions connected with the organization and 

 natural history of timber trees. 



The architect, in fact, has seldom any connexion with the choice or 

 conversion of his timber beyond certain limits. His choice is restricted 

 to such qualities of timber, of such length and scantlings as he can 

 find in the market, and on this point less information has been placed 

 in the hands of the architect than any other connected with this sub- 

 ject. It has been thought, therefore, that a few words on the qualities 

 of timber, to be found in the market as imported from the Baltic and 

 from America, might not be unacceptable to the meeting. We will 

 begin with European timber in the log, then proceed to American 

 timber, and afterwards to the subject of deals. 



Baltic Timber. 



Memel Timber. — The largest supply of square fir timber brought 

 from any part of the Baltic to this country at the present time is from 

 Memel : it is divided into three qualities — the best, termed crown, the 

 best middling, and second, or brack Memel. 



Of the first quality little comes to the London market, but a conside- 

 rable quantity to the outports. It is of admirable quality and manu- 

 facture, nearly as clear of knots as the Riga timber, but not quite so 

 close in the grain, nor so rigid, nor so durable : the more free it is 

 from knots, the more liable it is to be shaky at the core. The knotty 

 timber is less liable to this defect at the heart, because the knots serve 

 as bolts through the limber to keep all the parts together. Crowu 

 Memel timbprW usually somewhat more than 13 inches square, and the 

 best of it is Iroui 2S to 55 feet long, that which is longer being usually 

 knotty at the upper extremity. The best middling is the highest qua- 

 lity of Memel timber commonly imported into London. Much like- 

 wise of the second middling or brack timber comes to the London mar- 

 ket. The chief defect of this quality of timber is that it contains 

 large knots which renders it unfit to be cut into small scantlings. 



Dantzic Timber.— Whenever squared fir timber of great length and 

 size, coupled with durability is required, the Dantzic timber is to be 

 employed. On the average, Dantzic timber is the longest and largest 

 fir timber that comes here from any port in the Baltic. It may be 

 procured, upon order, as much as 70 feet long and 16 inches square — 

 it commonly runs 14 or 15 inches square. The cheaper sort of brack 

 timber has the defect of being full of large knots; the best middling 

 is knotty in a moderate degree, but the crown Polish-squared Dantzic 

 timber, that which has been squared in the province where it was 

 felled, may be considered, upon the whole, the very best timber that 

 the north of Europe supplies, — next to that of Riga, it is the most du- 

 rable of fir timber. 



The timber from Pillau, Konigsberg, and Stettin resembles that of 

 Dantzic, but is rather coarser in the grain and more knotty: that of 

 Stettin, though not very long, is sometimes of very large size, as 

 much as 20 inches square. 



Riga Timber. — Riga used formerly to be the port from whence al- 

 most all the fir timber in the log, from 12 to 13 inches square required 



n this country for building purposes was imported. As timber in the 



log.it is peculiarly applicable for beams, girders, and joists, being 

 very rigid, and bending little under great weights ; it is, moreover, 

 very regularly squared, very straight, clear of knots, straight in the 

 grain, and very durable. Owing to its rigidity and freedom from knot', 

 it is, however, more liable than some other timber to the defect ol 

 being rent and shaken at the heart, for which reason the fir timber 

 from other ports on the eastern coast of the Baltic is by many preferred 

 for building purposes and less of this species of timber is consequently 

 now imported into this country. 



Formerly a considerable quantity of timber in the log was imported 

 from Narva, St Petersburg, and Archangel, but scarcely any now comes 

 from these ports— the St Petersburg timber is defective as being very 

 subject to rend itself and become shaky as it dries. 



Norway Timber. — But little timber and that of small scantling 

 is now supplied from Norway, although at one time, large quan- 

 tities were imported from Longsouud, Porsground, and Brewick, 

 but owing to the change in the mode of taking the duty some years 

 since, by which the small timber of Norway was made liable to the 

 same duty as the large timber from the Baltic (an exception being 

 made only in favour of timber used in the Cornish mines), the impor- 

 tation of timber from that country almost ceased : — it is now, however 

 again making its appearance in the. London market. Some of the 

 superior Longsound timber is of an excellent quality, and is, perhaps, 

 the most durable of fir timber. 



The timber from Gottenburgh, Stockholm and Geffle is not usually 

 well squared, seldom exceeds 30 feet in length, indeed is generally 

 much shorter, and has, moreover, the bad property of rending and be- 

 coming shaky if kept in the state of the log, so that unless immediately 

 converted, it loses much of its value ; very little, however, of this tim- 

 ber is now imported into England. 



American Timber. 



The only description of American timber known in this market in 

 the state of the log, are the red pine and the yellow pine — for although 

 pitch pine has been brought here, rid Halifax, from the southern 

 ports of the United States, yet that species of fir timber is scarcely 

 known in this country as an article of consumption ; it is said to be 

 extremely brittle. 



Red Pine.- — The red pine approaches very nearly in quality to Riga 

 timber; it is almost as stiff and is free from knots, but. the irregular 

 manufacture and tapering of the logs occasion much loss in the con- 

 version of the timber for use in buildings : the manufacture of this 

 timber is, however, improving, and it is consequently rising in public 

 estimation. It is the produce of Upper Canada and the adjacent por- 

 tions of the United States ; it is brought down in rafts from the great 

 lakes (on the borders of which it grows), by means of the River St. 

 Lawrence to Quebec, where it is shipped for England. Great caution 

 is necessary in the use of this timber ; if the voyage from Quebec was 

 as short as that from Riga it would not, perhaps, be more liable than 

 Riga timber to take the dry rot, but owing to the length of time that 

 it remains in the ship, or owing to the yellow pine wood, which, as 

 deals or timber is generally in the same hold with it, a cargo of red 

 pine timber seldom arrives which does not exhibit, on some part or 

 other of the surface of the logs, indications of the presence of dry rot, 

 and therefore, although the timber, if not so treated, might not be 

 liable to this defect, yet treated as it has been before it arrives here, 

 it often is infected, and if then placed under circumstances only slightly 

 favourable to the growth of the fungus, it will be the means of intro- 

 ducing the dry rot into a building, unless a closer examination be 

 made of the surface of each log to be used than is usually done, or 

 some means adopted to counteract the infection. 



Yellow Pine Timber. — The yellow pine timber in the log comes 

 from Quebec, from St. John's, from Miramichi, and from some other 

 ports in New Brunswick. That from Quebec is not so fit for the 

 better purposes to which yellow pine is applied as that of St. John's, 

 nor is that of St. John's so fit for those purposes as that from Mirami- 

 chi. That of Miramichi is the lightest and most spongy, and the least 

 fibrous of all. It is exceedingly mellow, to use the joiner's term, has 



