CHAPTER IV. 



ON THE DEFECTS FOUND IN TREES. 



HAVING described the characteristic points of growing 

 timber trees, it will perhaps be interesting if, before pro- 

 ceeding to a detailed account of the various kinds, we 

 were to give a description of some of the defects to 

 which trees are liable prior to their being felled and 

 hewn, or otherwise prepared for the market. 



There is one defect so common to nearly all trees, that 

 I will treat of it first. It is known to carpenters as the 

 heart-shake. It is met with to a greater or lesser extent 

 in nearly every species of timber that we have to deal 

 with, and as it has a very important bearing upon the 

 value of the tree affected, we cannot afford to disregard 

 it, inasmuch as the quantity of good and serviceable 

 material obtainable from a log, depends almost entirely 

 upon the distance we are constrained to go from the 

 pith, or centre, in order to get clear of it. Experience 

 has shown that among the woods least affected by the 

 heart-shake are African Oak, or Teak, as it is sometimes 

 called; Sabicu ; Cuba Mahogany; and English Elm; 

 while Indian Teak * and Australian Tewart have it in 



* In India, the forest officers have attributed the heart-shake in Teak 

 to the ringing, or barking, the trees, to kill them before they are felled. 

 It has, however, been proved that, where this has not been done, and the 

 trees were felled green, heart-shake was found in them. 



