CHAPTER VIII 



THE STRUCTURE AND FORMATION OF WOOD 



We, in these pages, are not concerned with, the 

 botanical characteristics of trees in general, the 

 essentially botanical characteristics that is, such 

 as the flowers and fruit, the leaves and leaf 

 modifications. In order that we have a thorough 

 understanding of the nature of timber, however, 

 it is necessary to know something of the nature 

 of wood, how it arises, grows, is nourished and 

 its form when growth is complete. 



Let us be clear, in the first place, exactly 

 where we may expect to find wood. In our 

 pages we often use the word wood when we 

 refer to timber, and it is commonly so used, 

 but wood may be found in many other plants 

 besides trees. In fact it occurs in the majority 

 of plant stems higher in the scale of develop- 

 ment than the ferns or vascular cryptogams. 

 The stem of an old Wallflower or even of a 

 Cabbage may become woody, but in such an 

 event the wood, it need hardly be added, is 

 useless for timber. In order that the wood of 



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