48 TIMBER 
the few shipments that arrive in the markets at the 
present time are principally used for boat-building, 
wagon construction, and builders’ purposes. 
From Memel, another Prussian port, and from Riga and 
Libau, further oak of Russian and other extraction is 
shipped. Practically all this timber is exported in the 
shape of billets or wainscot logs, as they are termed. 
They are prepared by the squaring of two opposite 
sides of the fallen trunk, the tree being afterwards 
split through these squared sides right down the centre 
or heart. Ultimately these logs, when shipped and on 
reaching the consumers’ hands, are converted into 
planks and boards, the wood constituting what is 
known as wainscot oak. A certain proportion of the 
boards and planks which are sawn from these billets 
are more or less covered with the silver grain or figure, 
which is so much esteemed. A greater quantity of 
this figured wood is, however, obtained by the American 
system of conversion, of which an account is given 
in the pages devoted to particulars of that variety of 
wood. 
These importations from Russian ports are of gener- 
ally uniform colour, clean, and contain fine figure when 
properly sawn, and the wood is practically all used by 
builders for bank, office, and other superior work, as 
well as by the cabinet trade for the manufacture of the 
better-class type of fitments, dining-room and library 
furniture. 
The finest wood is of Riga shipment, although formerly 
the best came from Memel. Of late years, however, 
Libau has taken the lead in the matter of amount 
shipped, but the general quality has been decidedly 
inferior. Shipments are also made from the Russian 
port of Odessa, in the Black Sea, and much fine wood 
has been received from this port. 
