2172 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



be found from 2 ft. to 3 ft. in diameter, according to the circumstances under 

 which it has grown ; but it will continue growing for a much longer period, 

 and the timber will increase in value as well as in bulk. The wood varies in 

 colour from a yellowish white to a brownish red, the latter being produced 

 by the presence of resin. That wood which grows slowest, and in the coldest 

 climate, is considered the best, and it is generally of the darkest colour. 

 That which grows with the greatest rapidity is commonly white, soft, and 

 spongy in texture, and without resin. A slow-growing tree will not produce 

 layers more than the tenth of an inch thickness, while one of rapid growth may 

 have the layers from a sixth to a fourth of an inch in thickness. The red, or 

 resinous, wood is almost exclusively of very slow growth : it is hard, dry, and 

 does not adhere to the saw ; while the more rapidly grown wood, when it is 

 resinous, chokes the saw, and has a clammy unctuous feel. When rapid-grown 

 wood is without resin, it is white and spongy; and the surface, after the saw, 

 has a woolly appearance. It is evident that such wood can neither be strong 

 nor durable. English-grown Scotch pine, when cut down at 40 or 50 years' 

 growth, has commonly this appearance; but, as we have seen, p. 2 161. /there 

 are many exceptions. Some of the Russian and Baltic pine timber is often 

 clammy, the saw raising up and pushing before it what the carpenters call 

 strings ; while the pine timber of Norway and Riga is generally red and 

 firm. 



Masts of Scotch pine are procured from different ports on the Baltic (see 

 p. 2113.), and also from Norway; and not only masts have been obtained, 

 but entire ships have been built, from the Scotch pine forests in Aberdeenshire 

 (seep. 2161). The most celebrated masts in Europe, however, are those of 



The weight of the wood varies according to its age and other circum- 

 stances. A cubic foot, in a green state, weighs from 54 Ib. to 74 lb.; and, 

 in a dry state, from 31 lb. to 41 lb. According to the Dictionnaire des Eaux 

 et Forets y the average weight of the timber produced by a full-grown tree, in 

 a green state, will be about 68 lb., and in a dry state, about 40 lb. 5 oz. or 

 6 oz. ; losing about a twelfth part of its bulk in drying : while, according to 

 Varennes de Fenille, it weighs, green, 74 lb. 10 oz.; and dry, 38 lb. 12 oz. ; 

 losing only a tenth part of its bulk by drying. 



The wood is valued, like that of every other pine, in proportion to its free- 

 ness from knots ; and it is found that the knots of this species are much more 

 easily worked, and much less liable to drop out of flooring boards, than is the 

 case with knotty boards of the spruce or silver fir. The facility with which 

 the wood of the Scotch pine is worked occasions its employment in joinery 

 and house carpentry, almost to the exclusion of every other kind of timber, 

 wherever it can be procured. It is at once straight, light, and stiff, and, con- 

 sequently, peculiarly fitted for rafters, girders, joists, &c., which may be made 

 of smaller dimensions of this timber than of any other. In point of durability, 

 if it is kept dry, it equals the oak ; more especially if it has been of slow growth, 

 and is resinous. 



The timber of the Scotch pine, when it has grown rapidly, on a good soil, 

 and in a favourable climate, such as in most parts of the low country both of 

 England and Scotland, is found, when not of more than 20 or 30 years 

 growth, to consist chiefly of sap wood, and, hence, to be of very short duration 

 when employed in buildings, or for any other rural purpose. To render it 

 more durable, Mr. Menteath, of Closeburn, in Dumfriesshire, has been in the 

 practice, for upwards of 40 years, of steeping all his Scotch pine timber in lime 

 water, after it has been cut out, and fitted for the different purposes required. 

 It would appear, either that the alkali of the lime neutralises, in some degree, 

 the albuminous matter of the soft wood ; or that the water acts as a solvent, 

 and extracts a part of it ; for, while Scotch pine of 20 or 30 years' growth sel- 

 dom lasts 30 years before it is destroyed by worms, timber of the same age, 

 which Mr. Menteath has steeped, has already lasted 40 years, and is as sound 

 as when first put up. The solution of lime water is formed by a very small 



