626 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 
who had a preceptory here. It measured, in 1906, 72 feet high by 13 feet 
g inches in girth, but has the habit of ¢yfzca rather than of acertfolia. 
In Wales the finest plane that I have seen is a tall tree growing near the 
icehouse at Dynevor Castle. In 1906 it measured about 100 feet by 104 feet 
with a clean trunk about 4o feet long. 
In Scotland we have seen no plane remarkable for size, but there is one 
growing in the grounds at Benmore, Argyllshire, which has a curious resemblance 
in its foliage to the occidental plane. 
In Ireland, the largest London plane, seen by Henry, is growing at Lismore 
Castle, and measures 12 feet 10 inches in girth, with an estimated height of about 
go feet. Mr. R. D. O’Brien informs us that a tree at Cooper Hill, near Limerick, is 
10 feet 5 inches in girth, with a spread of 74 feet in diameter. 
TIMBER 
The wood of the plane is so little known in the timber trade of this country that 
it is not even mentioned by “ Acorn,” except as a name in use for sycamore, which is 
commonly called plane in Scotland; and in a recent letter in the 7zmber Trade 
Journal, what is known as lace-wood in the trade is spoken of as wood of the sycamore, 
imported from America, though it is really that of Platanus occidentalis. The 
ignorance which prevails among English timber merchants and builders about many 
of our useful woods is remarkable, and has led to many lawsuits, but there is no 
doubt that the wood of the oriental plane is one of much greater value than is 
supposed, both for ornamental work and for coach-building, 
Mr. George Berry of Longleat! says that the timber of the plane tree is used 
almost exclusively by coach-builders and pianoforte-makers. No wood takes the 
paint and stands so well for the sides of large waggonettes as this. In the case of 
pianos, it was used exclusively for bridges, the toughness and hardness enabling the 
pins to be most securely held. He considers that plane timber exported from 
America is of very inferior value as compared with that of English growth. 
Dr. Day sent me from the Lebanon a large board which shows a very beautiful 
and varied figure produced by the medullary rays, and I have seen in Prof. Sargent’s 
house at Brookline, near Boston, very handsome panelling made of the wood of the 
western species. This wood is converted into veneer or three-ply, and sold as 
lace-wood, for covering the walls of rooms, and would make very pretty furniture if 
properly cut and seasoned. Gamble says that the wood is not valued in Kashmir, 
except to make boxes, trays, pencases, and similar articles, which are lacquered or 
painted. I have seen very ornamental boxes made from this wood in Russia. 
(H. J. E.) 
' Garden, xxii. 83 (1882). 
