USES OF WOOD. 227 



for 'its liglitness and quality- — a double charac- 

 teristic,- very often of especial importance in wood. 

 In colour Scotch Pine-wood is reddish, but the 

 colours of the timber of the other species of the 

 genus Finns and of the allied genus Ahies (the Firs) 

 varies much, inclining from what is called white to 

 various shades of yellow ; and varying, as we have 

 said, in quality and in its greater or less freedom 

 from knots ; but all possess the great qualification 

 of wide utility, for no other kind of timber has any- 

 thing like the same universal application to all the 

 purposes of domestic, commercial, and naval archi- 

 tecture. 



The wood of the elegant and picturesque Plane, 

 of which there are two species, Platanus orientalis 

 and Platanus ocddentalis, is not highly valued, 

 but, like the tree itself,' it may be said to be 

 ' picturesque.' In some' parts of the world it is 

 still used by the carpenter, the cabinet-maker, 

 and the joiner — for the timber, though naturally 

 yellow or yellowish-white, as the tree attains age, 

 becomes brown, the ground of that colour being 

 marked with elegant veins or markings like 

 jasper. If rubbed with oil, it will take, a high 



Q 2 



