154 THE CANADIAN HOKTICULTL'KIST. 



OUE NATIVE WOODS. 



We thank the Iowa College Quarterly, issued by the Agricultural 

 College, for calling attention to the absurd fashion which prevails so 

 largely at the present time of finishing the interior of our dwellings 

 with pine, and then painting it with imitations of our uatnral woods, 

 when the real article can be had with a delicate graining far more 

 beautiful and enduring than the best work of the painter's brush. We 

 give the article in full, and trust that the readers of the Canadian 

 Horticulturist will be benefitted by the perusal. 



It is a remarkable fact that, while in many parts of the west the timber 

 belts that are close at hand contain an abundant supply of excellent build- 

 ing material, nearly all our buildings, public and private, are furnished 

 from basement to ridgepole with an inferior wood brought from a distance, 

 i'or outside work in wooden structures, however, this wood is the best that 

 the country affords. Pine shingles, when properly made and laid, and pine 

 weather-boards well painted, roake most effective coverings for roof and 

 wall. But when it comes to tho inside finishing, it is certain that the 

 builder would profit by a change of material. Three things are now ex- 

 clusively used for inside work, namely, pine, paint and plaster. All three 

 are objectionable on the score both of economy and good taste. For stucco, 

 (plaster of paris,) is superior to common mortar ; polish is better than 

 paint; and the native woods are certainly superior to pine. 



It is true that pine, being a soft wood, is easily worked, and that conse- 

 quently pine window and door casings, baseboards, etc.. can be got out and 

 ])ut up with less expense than those of hard wood. But it is the softness 

 of pine that renders it unfit for inside finishing, since it is so easily defaced 

 by the wear and tear to which it is subjected in living rooms. Moreover, 

 pine casings, doors, etc., must be covered with paint by reason of the fact 

 that when left bare or finished with oil the wood grows dark and dingy. 

 Not so with the hard woods that gi-ow on the borders of our streams. 

 Nearly all of them will take a polish, which, when finished with oil or 

 covered with varnish, presents a bright and beautiful surface that will last 

 for centuries. A sugar maple board, for instance, v/ill, when well seasoned 

 and well worked, show a white, smooth, hard finish, with fine and delicate 

 graining. Oak, (both red and white,) furnishes a surface that no pigment 

 can equal ; and the grain of the latter is, as everybody knows, especially 

 rich and varied. So too, white ash, when reduced to smoothness, displays 

 in its gi'aining a variety of patterns which are far more attractive than any 

 color whatever laid on with the brush. Now these bright, close grained 

 woods, which are so imperishable and so susceptible of a beautiful polish, 

 can be got in Iowa at a lower rate per thousand than pine of a like grade. 

 Why then should we go on using a defective wood for inside work, and 

 covering it with spurious imitations of the natural grains, when the genuine 

 originals, thus coarsely imitated, are within the reach of all % The intrinsic 

 value of our native woods for floors may be urged with equal force. It is 



