134 VOICES FROM THE WOODLANDS. 



of such arts as pertain to different conditions of society, 

 men might find materials to their hands. Why, else, does 

 beech- wood differ from that of ash ? Why to the one is 

 imparted such firmness of texture that it may be wrought 

 like a block of stone, were it not required for mill- work or 

 wheels ; while on the other is bestowed a flexibility and 

 elasticity like that of steel? that further, according to 

 Linnaeus, the wood of the singular and elegant spindle-tree, 

 if cut when the plant is blossoming, is so tough and diffi- 

 cult to break that watchmakers use it for cleaning watches, 

 and musical instrument makers as keys for organs ; and 

 that the limner prepares from it the best charcoal for 

 designs ? Lastly, without the box and pear-tree, blocks of 

 sufficient hardness could hardly be obtained for purposes of 

 wood-engraving. 



Men have found materials to their hands in trees of 

 which the uses long remained undefined. Dwellers in the 

 north made their canoes with the bark of giant birch-trees, 

 but they knew nought concerning the imperishable nature 



