i86 THE USES OF PLANTS. 



durable, and is used on the Continent for water-pipes, 

 casks, beams, and cabinet-work ; and in England for 

 hop-poles, fencing, pit-props, tramway-sleepers, and 

 wheelwrights' work. Affording a rapid return to 

 capital, even on poor mountain-land, no tree is now 

 so extensively planted in Britain. 



Pseudotsuga Douglasii^ Carriere, the OREGON PlNE, 

 or DOUGLAS or NOOTKA FIR, abundant in North- 

 west America, furnishes fine, straight, and durable 

 timber, valuable for spars, but, from occasional want 

 of cohesion between the annual layers, not so good 

 for topmasts as Dantzic or Kauri Pine. The flagstaff 

 at Kew, of this wood, is 159 feet long. Though 

 more rapid in its growth, and probably, therefore, less 

 durable in Scotland than in Oregon, this species 

 seems in many respects more valuable than Larch. 



Dammara australis, Lambert, the KAURI or COWDIE 

 PlNE of New Zealand, largely used there and in 

 Australia, is for size, lightness, elasticity, strength, 

 and durability unrivalled, whether for masts or decks. 

 It also yields abundance of the valuable Kauri gum 

 or resin. 



In 1851 the eight timbers classed Ai for ship- 

 building at Lloyd's were OAK (Quercus Robur, L.), 

 LIVE OAK (Q. virens, Ait.), AFRICAN OAK (Swictenia 

 senegalensis Desv.), TEAK, SAL, GREEN HEART, MORA, 

 and IRON-BARK, of which GREENHEART (Nee- 

 tandra Rodi&i, Schomb.) and MORA (Mora excelsa, 

 Benth.), had then been but recently introduced 

 from British Guiana ; whilst IRON-BARK (Eucalyptus 

 resiniftra, Sm.) was only added to the list during 

 the Exhibition. 



