ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, V. v. 1-3 



that of the lime ; those are difficult which are 

 hard and have many knots and a compact and 

 twisted grain. The most difficult woods are those 

 of ana (holm-oak) and oak, and the knotty \yarts 

 of the fir and silver-fir. The softer part of any 

 given tree is always better than the harder, since 

 it is fleshier : and carpenters can thus at once mark 

 the parts suitable for planks. Inferior iron tools can 

 cut hard wood better than soft : for on soft wood 

 tools lose their edge, as was said ^ in speaking of the 

 lime, while hard woods ^ actually sharpen it : where- 

 fore cobblers make their strops of wild pear. 



Carpenters say that all woods have^ a core, 

 but that it is most plainly seen in the silver-fir, 

 in which one can detect a sort of bark-like charac- 

 ter in the rings. In olive box and such woods 

 this is not so obvious ; wherefore they say that box 

 and olive * lack this tendency ; for that these woods 

 are less apt to ' draw ' than any others. ' Drawing ' 

 is the closing in of the wood as the core is dis- 

 turbed.^ For since the core remains alive, it apjiears, 

 for a long time, it is always removed from any 

 article whatever made of this wood,^ but especially 

 from doors,'^ so that they may not warp ^ : and that 

 is why the wood is split. ^ 



It might seem strange that in ' round ' ^"^ timber 

 the core does no harm and so is left undisturbed, 

 while in wood whose texture has been interfered 

 with,ii unless it is taken out altogether, it causes 



" Bvpufiarav conj. Sch. ; yvpu/xartay Aid. cf. 4. 1. 2 ; Plin. 

 16. 225, ahietem vol varum payinis aptii-simam. 



" aarpa^ij jf conj. Dalec; affrpa&rj UMV'Ald. 



' i.e. to extract the core. ^" See below, §5. 



" ■wapaKivriBfltri, i.e. by splitting or sawing. irfXfKijdt'iffi 

 conj. W. 



447 



