226 SYLVAN WINTER. 



joiner, apart from the use made of it in its dis- 

 guised form — its form when ' ebonized.' 



To give a discriminating account of the wood 

 of the useful Pine would require a considerable 

 amount of space. We must therefore be content 

 to limit our remarks to one very typical tree — 

 the Scotch Pine (Pinus sylvestris), which includes 

 within itself nearly all the properties, and nearly 

 all the virtues of the race of Pines. How much 

 human habitations in all parts of the world owe, 

 for the material of which they are constructed, 

 to the ' deal ' furnished by the wonderfully 

 useful Pines, only timber statisticians could even 

 approximately state. The white, coloured, or 

 yellow and resinous wood produced from these 

 prolific and singularly valuable trees has been 

 distributed in countless quantities all over the 

 universe. The proof of the remarkable sound- 

 ness and durability of the timber of the Scotch 

 Pine is found in the fact that after doing service 

 in the roofs of houses for centuries, it is found to 

 be perfectly good and in a remarkable state of 

 preservation. Combined with its strength, dura- 

 bility, and freedom from knots, it is remarkable 



