CHAP. XXXIII.] YELLOW PINE. 357 



silky appearance, and is, on this account, in great favour 

 with carpenters. It is very valuable for every description 

 of joinery, where lightness may be desirable, and may 

 be applied with advantage to many ornamental uses in 

 both naval and civil architecture. For more substantial 

 works of construction, it is not, however, considered to 

 be so well adapted, as it is not sufficiently strong or 

 durable for employment in them. 



In every season's felling of the Yellow Pine trees, 

 the straightest, longest, and finest pieces are sorted out 

 and dressed or hewn nearly to the octagonal form ; they 

 are then called " Inch masts," and these rough spars are 

 suitable for employment for the lower masts, yards, and 

 bowsprits of ships. 



It is essential to the qualification of the stick for 

 mast, yard, or bowsprit purposes, that it be straight, 

 sound, free from sudden bends and injurious knots. 

 Further, it is important that the grain be straight, and 

 especially it should be free from any spiral turn, as 

 timber of that growth is liable to warp or twist out of 

 shape after being worked. Nearly all the lower masts, 

 yards, and bowsprits of large ships were formerly made 

 of Yellow Pine ; but, for the lower masts of small vessels, 

 and generally for the topmast, topsail-yards, and other 

 light spars where the strain is often sudden and great, 

 this description of Pine was found to be not strong 

 enough, and was therefore seldom employed. 



The employment of Yellow Pine for large spars was 

 chiefly owing to the difficulty experienced in obtaining 

 the stronger Pines of sufficiently large dimensions, and 

 it was only after the introduction of the "Douglas Pine" 

 spars from the Oregon district of Columbia, that they 

 were in some measure superseded. Still, the Yellow 

 Pine wood, when made into masts, has generally proved 



