USES OF WOOD. 207 



is especially adapted to bear exposure to alternate 

 sun, rain, and water, without either warping or 

 cracking or splitting. For the receptacles of frail 

 humanity, for casks, for boxes required for their 

 strength, for that part of the woodwork of build- 

 ings, of bridges, of quays, and of other construc- 

 tions exposed constantly to the action of water, 

 its peculiar qualities of hardness, solidity, and 

 durability render it invaluable. 



Dark in colour, close-grained in texture, hard 

 and heavy, capable of a fine polish, and durable 

 and flexible, the wood of the Evergreen Oak or Ilex 

 {Cluercus ilex) is naturally valuable. For mallet- 

 heads, beetles, axle-trees, wedges (when great 

 hardness is required), wooden pins, palisades, and 

 for the woodwork used about fortifications, as 

 well as for the stocks of tools, it is excellently 

 fitted, and is much employed. It also makes 

 excellent charcoal. 



The Giielder Eose (Viburnum opulus) does not 

 claim a long catalogue of uses, but its wood, being 

 hard, is made into skewers and put to some of the 

 offices of the Dogwood. 



Perhaps the most frequent use of the Hawthorn 



