The Story-Book of the Fields 



in the centre. Ebony, so hard and so black ; 

 and mahogany, reddish and fine in texture, 

 come from two foreign trees, the sapwood 

 of which is soft and white. Sandalwood and 

 logwood, which provide colouring matter for 

 dyes, are covered with colourless sapwood. 

 The wood, the hardness of which has been 

 compared to iron, and which on that account 

 is called iron-wood, is the wood of a tree the 

 sapwood of which is in no way remarkable. 

 We know the difference of hardness and 

 colour between the wood and sapwood 

 of the oak, the walnut, or the pear-tree. 

 The sapwood can never be used as wood 

 for dyeing or for cabinet-work. It has 

 to be removed by the axe to lay bare 

 the wood, in which the colouring matter 

 and the close texture are only to be 

 found. 



The wood begins its career as sapwood, and 

 this sapwood is destined to gradually become 

 wood as it grows older and is covered by 

 fresh layers. Colour and hardness proceed 

 from the centre to the circumference, while 

 new soft and white layers are formed on 

 the outside. In some trees the trans- 

 formation from sapwood into wood is very 

 incomplete ; the wood decaying without 



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