USES OV WOOD. 191 



articles of fancy — walking-sticks, boxes, cases, 

 tablets, and for things innumerable whicb are 

 manufactured by the lathe for purposes of use 

 and ornamentation. The wood of the Crab, the 

 original stock, in its wild state has this quality of 

 hardness and fineness of grain, and the innumer- 

 able cultivated varieties which have sprung from 

 it retain the same qualities, a circumstance which 

 is unusual with the wood of other trees brought 

 into cultivation, for as cultivation generally in- 

 duces a greater rapidity of growth, there is, conse- 

 quently, a looseness of fibre induced that promotes- 

 softness of texture and prevents the closeness of 

 grain which makes the most valuable quality of 

 all timber. 



From the remarkable slowness of its growth, 

 the Araucaria [Araucaria imbricata) produces 

 wood of singular solidity and hardness | but the 

 tree in civilized countries is seldom or never 

 grown, except for ornament, and its natural habi- 

 tats are so inaccessible as to render the procuring 

 of the wood for commercial purposes practically 

 impossible. 



Almost excelling every other tree, except the 



