1813. 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



407 



and confined situation as the yellow pine deal of America. A few 

 yellow deals arp likewise imported from Riga. 



The yellow deals from Memel and from Dantzic may next be no- 

 ticed : — the former 1 1 inches, the latter 12 inches wide ; both of these 

 are very durable. Memel planks are well adapted for all rough pur- 

 poses out of doors, for barn floors, and for the steps of stairs when 

 clean; Dantzic planks are used by brewers and distillers for making 

 the large vessels for holding the liquor, called backs. The very 

 best of the Dantzic planks are likewise extremely fit for joiners 

 work, as they are soft and mellow, and retain the shape, but this only 

 applies to a small portion of them, and those which are soft, are 

 not so durable. Dantzic likewise affords the long yellow plank 40 

 feet long, 3 inches thick, and 12 inches wide used for the decks of 

 ships. Memel planks until of late years, were not imported in any 

 large quantity. 



There are likewise yellow deals from Finland ; Nyland deals 

 14 feet long, resembling some of the coarser varieties of Sundswall 

 deals, are of late introduction. The broad yellow planks 12 inches 

 wide and 21 feet long from Biorneburg in the gulph of Bothnia, are 

 of a quality very nearly approaching to the plank of Archangel, 

 but far more knotty. 



White Deals. 



We now come to the White Deals manufactured from Spruce Fir, 

 the yellow deals of Europe being manufactured from the Scotch 

 Fir. All that has been said of the qualities of yellow deals applies 

 likewise to white deals, except that the sap in white deals is not 

 discernible lrom the heart, and therefore the manufacturer of white 

 deals has so far one difficulty the less to contend with. 



Norway is the only country from which white deals of the very 

 first quality are imported in any quantity; for although the white 

 deals from Stockholm and Geffle in Sweden, like the yellow from 

 those parts, are very good, yet the quantity is too small to render them 

 worth particular notice. The white deals, like the yellow, shipped 

 at Christiania are the very best in the world ; well fitted for joiner's 

 work, being above all other deals of the kind, light and mellow. The 

 white deals of Frederickstadt also are very good, yet rather subject 

 to a small black knot surrounded by dead bark. All the other ports 

 in Norway which have been mentioned as yielding yellow deals, 

 supply white deals of good quality likewise; but from the smaller 

 ports generally, the deals are somewhat narrow, (from SA to Si inches 

 wide,) whereas the deals of Christiania and Frederickstadt are full 

 9 in. wide; the narrow deals fetch a proportionately less price in the 

 market. The white deals from Wekkeroe are sold by the name of 

 Christiania deals, the least mellow and the hardest of which they 

 resemble ; they are of greater average length than the deals of Chris- 

 tiania, being perhaps of a mean length of 19 feet. 



The Lowland white deals of Norway form the exception to the 

 general good quality of the white deals of that country, the lowland 

 white deals having most of the bad properties of the white spruce of 

 America, that is a tendency to warp and to split upon drying. From 

 Dram two qualities of white deals used to come, the upland and the 

 lowland, the former as good in quality as the latter is bad, although it 

 may be observed that both have of late years improved considerably. 

 The white deals of Moss, though showy to appearance, are of this 

 bad quality. Those from Longsound, Schien, and Larwig, are good. 

 A considerable quantity of white deals have of late years been ship- 

 ped from Gottenburgh — with few exceptions, they are of a hard 

 stringy nature ; the saw on passing through them tears their sub- 

 stance into strings instead of saw-dust: the white deals of the width 

 of 11 and 12 inches from this port are, on account of their cheap- 

 ness, one of the materials used by the makers of packing cases. 



Russia. — Northern Russia exports hardly any white deals, although 

 the few that come occasionally from Archangel, mixed by accident 

 with yellow deals, are ol excellent quality — the white deals from that 

 country that come nearest to those of Norway in quality are. those of 

 Narva — they are brought of the width of 1 1 and 9 inches — when 

 properly seasoned they can be used lor all purposes to which Norway 



white deals are applied — next in quality to those of Narva are the 

 white deals from Riga, which are brought both 9 and 11 inches wide. 

 White deals are imported from St. Petersburgh, both 9 inches and 

 11 inches wide, in considerable quantities — they are not uniform in 

 texture, but contain hard veins, and they have the defect, (how- 

 ever long they may have been kept,) of expanding and contracting 

 with change of weather, so that if used in the panel of a door, the 

 wood alternately enters and recedes from the groove into which it 

 fits, as the paint will show, when that kind of deal has been used for 

 a panel. 



Battens are deals 7 inches wide, and are principally used for floors. 

 The best yellow battens are imported from Christiania; a large number 

 of both white and yellow battens were formerly imported from Long- 

 sound in Norway, but battens of this description are now imported 

 from Dram ; they are from about Gi to OJ wide. The white espe- 

 cially are of an excellent quality, and so are such of the vellow as are 

 not sappy ; the sappy ones preponderate in number, and on account 

 of their cheapness are frequently used as a substitute for timber, in 

 building the smaller description of houses. The next in quilitv to 

 the battens of Christiania and Frederickstadt, are those which are 

 imported from Archangel and Onega, though few have of late come 

 from the latter port. Yellow Archangel battens cost usually some- 

 what more per Petersburg standard than the 11 inch planks. Both 

 Archangel and Onega battens have the defect of having black bark 

 round the knots, the wood of which is dead, whereas the knots of 

 Christiania wood are bright, and firmly united to the substance of 

 the tree. Yellow battens are imported also from Petersburg consi- 

 derably inferior in the quality of the wood to those of Archangel and 

 Onega. 



American Deals are of three descriptions, viz., the yellow pine, the 

 red pine, and the white spruce. A fourth, the hemlock-spruce deal 

 is sometimes brought, but it is too bad in quality, and the quantity too 

 small to deserve further notice. 



Yellow Pine Dials. — The best of the yellow pine deals are shipped 

 from the St. Lawrence ; some are floated down the river from the mills 

 to the port of shipment, and when taken on board are saturated with 

 water, and covered with river silt, others are put on board craft, and 

 come bright from the saw to this country. Of the bright deals, the 

 very best quality are those from the Riviere de Loup. In a very 

 good parcel of yellow pine deals about two-fifths will be perfectly 

 clear of knots. 



Yellow pine is of a very light and spongy texture, and the more 

 completely it is of that texture and the opposite to what is hard, 

 fibrous, and stringy, the better it is for all the purposes to which it is 

 properly applicable, such as the panels and mouldings of doors 

 and shutters, and other internal fittings of houses, the framing of 

 cabinet-work; all those purposes in short for which lightness and no 

 great strength is required, it preserves the form which the joiner 

 gives it without warping, and this property, coupled with the facility 

 of obtaining it free from knots, tits it admirably for the carver, the 

 musical instrument maker, the maker of Venetian blinds, for pat- 

 terns lor iron castings and similar purposes; the inferior yellow pine 

 deals being coarser in the texture of the wood and more knotty, are 

 mostly used for ordinary packing cases. If the yellow pine is ex- 

 posed to damp in any confined situation it rapidly decays, but in the 

 open air, for palings raised from off the ground, weather-boarding 

 to sheds, and wherever it is completely well ventilated, it lasts a long 

 time, although exposed to alternations of wet and dry. Its spongy 

 texture prevents it being rent so much as deals of a more rigid substance 

 are liable to be, by exposure to the weather. It is now much used for 

 the decks of ships, as it resists the effects of the sun better than the 

 European deals. 



Red Pine Deals come in very small quantities, so small indeed, 

 that they are seldom separated from the yellow pine deals with which 

 they come mixed ; the best description are such as are brought from 

 the Riviere de Loup. The red pine deals will answer for most of the 

 purposes to which the yellow or Scotch fir deal of Europe is applied. 

 When used for floors in houses, these deals have the defect of turning 



