CHAPTER V. 



ON THE DEFECTS IN TREES — {Continued), 



Where woody layers of irregular growth are found in 

 timber, especially if there be alteration of colour extend- 

 ing over any of them, they may be considered to in- 

 dicate that the tree was not at all times in a healthy 

 state, but that it had suffered from some cause, or from 

 the failure in the nourishment it required to perfect the 

 layers with regularity. 



Any departure, therefore, from the natural colour 

 peculiar to the species, whether it embr.ace one or more 

 concentric circles, or be locally situated, is prejudicial 

 to the wood, and generally, if tried under the adze 

 or plane, it will be found brittle and deficient in tena- 

 city. Such logs should on no account have the prefe- 

 rence of selection for important services in works of 

 construction, but should be used only for minor 

 purposes, if at all. I have noticed this defect in many 

 varieties of trees, but in none is it more conspicuous 

 than in the Kauri of New Zealand, these noble Conifers 

 being peculiarly liable to this whenever they stand 

 exposed upon the north or equatorial side. 



We occasionally see spots in timber, quite foreign in 

 colour to that which is natural to it ; they may be seen 

 in all parts, but are most common at or upon the butt- 



