276 TIMBER AND TIMBER TREES. [CHAP. 



silky appearance, and is, on this account, in great 

 favour with carpenters. It is very valuable for every 

 description of joinery, where lightness may be desirable, 

 and may be applied with advantage to many ornamental 

 uses in both naval and civil architecture. For more 

 substantial works of construction, it is not, however, con- 

 sidered to be so well adapted, as it is not sufficiently 

 strong or durable for employment in them. 



In every season's felling of the Yellow Pine trees, 

 the straightest, longest, and finest pieces are sorted out 

 and dressed or hewn nearly to the octagonal form ; they 

 are then called " Inch masts," and these rough spars 

 serve for employment for the lower masts, yards, and 

 bowsprits of ships. 



It is essential to the qualification of the stick for 

 mast, yard, or bowsprit purposes, that it be straight, 

 sound, free from sudden bends and injurious knots. 

 Further, it is important that the grain be straight, and 

 especially it should be free from any spiral turn, as timber 

 of that growth is liable to warp or twist out of shape 

 after being worked. Nearly all the lower masts, yards, 

 and bowsprits of large ships are made of Yellow Pine ; 

 but, for the lower masts of small vessels, and generally 

 for the top-mast, topsail-yards, and other light spars 

 where the strain is often sudden and great, this descrip- 

 tion of Pine is not strong enough, and is therefore seldom 

 employed. 



The employment of Yellow Pine for large spars is 

 chiefly owing to the difficulty experienced in obtaining 

 the stronger Pines of Sufficiently large dimensions, and 

 it is only since the introduction of the " Douglas Pine " 

 spars from the Oregon district of Columbia, that they 

 have been in some measure superseded. Still, the 

 Yellow Pine wood, when made into masts, has gene- 



