﻿aim at being scientific, we have a brief and handy "trade manual." 

 The book is by no means perfect, for it is just those trees that he 

 has purposely omitted, such as mahogany, teak, greenheart, &c, 

 that ought to have found a place in a book of this kind, notwith- 

 standing that he says the handling of these and fancy woods in 

 general constitute special trades, and lie outside his province. 

 Teak and greenheart cannot possibly be coupled with fancy woods 

 of any kind, and we can see no reason for the exclusion or for the 

 omission of chestnut and hornbeam. 



In these days, when continental languages are so generally 

 used, the introduction of French and German names is almost 

 essential, but we do not see the use of devoting a couple of pages 

 to the etymology of any particular name; these are details not 

 likely to be of much service to the readers of a technical series of 

 handbooks, more especially when, as in the case of the ash, on 

 p. 23, the same information is almost repeated in consecutive 

 paragraphs. The author is scarcely correct, when comparing the 

 " secretionary matters" of ash and oak as attractive and repulsive 

 to insects, he describes the one as "being sweet, and the other 

 bitter." The sweetness of the ash is of course due to the presence 

 of manna, which is so largely formed in the wood of the manna 

 ash, and in smaller proportion in that of the common ash ; but in 

 the oak the prevailing principle is tannin, which is astringent rather 

 than bitter. 



Under the head of Beech (p. 46) the author says, " One species 

 is common to the western parts of Van Diemen's Land, where it is 

 called the myrtle-tree by the colonists, the wood of which upon 

 reaching this country is, we presume, called honeysuckle, from the 

 transverse septa resembling the flower of this plant." On p. 51 it 

 is further said, " The most important beech tree of the southern 

 hemisphere is the F. betuloides, the birch-like or evergreen beech, 

 found in Tierra del Fuego, where it forms vast forests. . . . This 

 beech is also a native of Van Diemen's Land, where it is called the 

 'myrtle tree' by the colonists. It generally grows in the western 

 part of the island." The Tasmanian myrtle is the wood of Fagus 

 Cunninghamii, while the honeysuckle of the same colony is Banksia 

 "ssimilar, the Fagus producing 

 being cut through, show numerous bold 

 knots, producing a very fine figure ; the so-called honeysuckle, on 

 the contrary, owes its beauty to the very large development of the 

 medullary plates, which, upon being cut through, show a silvery 

 grain, somewhat like oak, but, being of a deep red colour, is much 

 richer. The burrs of the myrtle also are of a rich reddish brown 



There is so much good and useful matter in the book that it is 

 a pity that such blemishes should occur. Mr. Stevenson has given 

 a great deal of information as to the uses of the woods. The 

 instructions also as to the best means of seasoning for each wood is 

 a valuable feature, and might with advantage be extended. We 

 may also urge that when another edition is asked for, an index will 

 be supplied. Jt R> Jt 



