464 ON THE FURNITURE WOODS OP COMMERCE. 



wood, and the root or burr of the yew and the commom maple are the 

 most beautiful. The knobby tubercles that form on the root and trunk 

 of the common elm, from repeatedly stripping off the side branches, 

 afford a very beautiful wood called " curled elm." 



We will pass on now to notice the principal woods, giving promi- 

 nence to Mahogany as being that most largely used. 



In 1820, when the duty on mahogany was 11Z. 17s. 6d. the ton, the 

 imports were 16,005 tons ; in 1830, nearly the same, although the duty 

 had been reduced in 1826 to 11. the ton. In 1850 the imports were 

 33,650 tons ; and in 1861, 53,108 tons, valued at 569,000?. Mahogany 

 unquestionably occupies the highest rank in the scale of furniture 

 woods ; it has long continued in steadily increasing request for all kinds 

 of* cabinet work, ornaments in woods, and generally for all purposes to 

 which timber is applied for interior decoration. A thousand pounds 

 has frequently been given for a good log of mahogany — and few pro- 

 bably of the visitors at the International Exhibition gave a second 

 glance at the huge squared log of mahogany, which was shown in the 

 Haytian Court, worth many hundreds of pounds, or reflected upon 

 what might be its ultimate destination when sawn or cut into veneers. 

 The principal sources of supply for this wood are Belize, British 

 Honduras, which furnishes one half, St. Domingo, Cuba, and Mexico. 



Spanish mahogany imported from Cuba, Hayti, and other "West 

 India islands, is in smaller logs than the Honduras, seldom^ exceeding 

 sixteen to twenty-four inches square, and from six to twelve feet long. 

 The colour is paler, the lustre less, in consequence of the medullary 

 plates being smaller aud irregularly distributed ; the grain is also finer 

 than the Honduras, and the texture harder. 



Many of the more expensive woods are cut into thin strips, termed 

 veneers, which are glued on to pine surfaces, or other common 

 woods, and by this process nine-tenths of the wood are saved. 

 By the use of beautifully adapted circular saws, worked by 

 machinery, veneers are often cut of the thickness of one-fortieth of an 

 inch, a little thicker than the sheet of paper on which this is printed. 

 By the largest saws, logs of mahogany, three feet square, can be cut up 

 into unbroken sheets of veneer at the rate of about ten or twelve to 

 the inch, and so beautifully smooth as to require scarcely any dressing. 

 The longitudinal edges of the veneers are protected by a calico band 

 glued on, to prevent them from splitting when removed. "Walnut is 

 cut, not in longitudinal sections like other veneers, but in thin spiral 

 sheets from the circumference of the tree. This makes the thinnest 

 veneer of the whole, but it is frequently defective. 



Rosewood, obtained from Brazil, and walnut, from Belgium and Italy, 

 are probably, next to mahogany, the most important furniture woods. 



There is still great confusion as to the trees which furnish the South 

 American rosewood. From the Portuguese name of Jacaranda, the 

 scientific name of Jacaranda Brasiliana has been applied to it. There 



