THE EUROPEAN VARIETIES OF HARDWOOD 79 
- supplement the supply by judicious planting. The 
tree is well known, the best localities for its growth 
being moist valleys, where, planted in coppices as it 
should be grown, it develops straight, clean trunks, 
which are so much sought after. That grown in 
isolated positions, in hedgerows, produces timber of far 
less value. The wood is of greyish-white colour, close 
in grain, tough and elastic. It has considerable, but 
not clearly defined, sap-wood, which, however, is 
quite as usable as the heart-wood. There is a 
tendency to turn black in the centre when old, this 
feature being perhaps an indication of approaching 
decay. The tree has the habit of sprouting from the 
stools or roots after being cut down, and this second 
growth in some American varieties is supposed to be 
superior to the first. In certain districts of England 
the method is used for obtaining a supply of young 
shoots which may be used for crate, stick, and other 
purposes. 
The uses for the wood are manifold ; chiefly, however, 
it is employed in the construction of coaches, carts, 
motor-car bodies and other vehicles, and for general 
wheelwrights’ use. It is also largely used in the manu- 
facture of requisites for sports, for tool handles, for 
butchers’ blocks and an infinite number of other purposes. 
The supply of British-grown timber is never equal to 
the demand, and has to be supplemented by wood from 
other sources, a large import arriving from America 
in the shape of unmanufactured butts and converted 
planks and boards, a fair amount from Russia, some 
little from the Hungarian forests, and from Japan. 
Plane.—Known as the Eastern Plane, this tree was 
introduced into England. In the Southern Counties it 
grows freely, but is practically unknown in the Mid- 
lands and further North. It is a handsome tree when 
