ON THE HARD WOODS OF COMMERCE. 53 



graver and on the turning lathe ; but the piece sent was too small to 

 print from. The close-grained wood of Podocarpus neriifolius a Bur- 

 mese tree, has been suggested as a substitute for boxwood, but I have 

 not heard that it has been tried. Another close-grained but undefined 

 wood, locally called Banian, much used by the Karens for bows, has 

 been also pointed out as probably adapted to take the place of box. 

 The white close-grained wood Gf Gardenia lucida is apparently well 

 adapted for turning. This wood like that of several other species of 

 Gardenia and Randia, is used by the Burmese for making combs. A 

 kind of plum wood, rather coarse in the grain, is used in China for cutting 

 blocks for books. As a good deal of wood-block printing is carried on 

 in Japan, it would be interesting to ascertain what wood is used by this 

 intelligent and ingenious people for the purpose. Both the stone-wood 

 (Callistemon salignus), a remarkable hard wood found sparingly distri- 

 buted in Gipps Land, and the Pittosporum bicolor^ have been used in 

 Victoria for wood engraving. The wood of Pittisporum undulatum, from 

 New South Wales, was brought forward here by the commissioners of 

 that colony last year as calculated to be serviceable for wood engraving. 

 Although favourably reported upon by the late Mr. P. Delamotte, it is 

 not likely to be of much use to the wood engraver here. Mr. Delamotte 

 stated that although the samples of wood he received were probably in- 

 ferior ones, having been felled at the wrong season of the year, yet it 

 was well adapted for certain kinds of wood engraving, being superior to 

 the pear and other woods, generally used for posters. It is the produce 

 of a small tree, with very close-grained, hard, white wood. When 

 seasoned carefully, it would be well suited for turning. Sound trans- 

 verse sections of more than 10 to 16 inches are, however, rare. Another 

 of the Pittospoi'ums, the boxwood of Tasmania (Bursaria spinosa), 

 which is very close and even-grained, of a yellowish colour, unmarked, 

 has the appearance of being well adapted for wood engraving. The 

 Celastrus rhombifolius, a dense, hard, and heavy yellow box-like wood 

 of the Cape colony, where it is called Pendoom, might be useful to 

 turners and musical instrument makers, especially for flutes, clarionets, 

 &c. It is much used in turnery, but does not grow to any size, 

 never exceeding 4 to 5 inches in diameter. The lightwood of New 

 South Wales {Duhoisia myoporoides) is almost as light as the wood of 

 the lime, very close-grained and firm ; but easily cut, and hence espe- 

 cially adapted for wood carving. 



Leaving the engraving woods, we now pass on to the commercial woods 

 of the turner. Brazil-wood and Braziletto are the produce of legumi- 

 nous trees, at one time much in demand as dye-woods. The former is 

 the produce of Ccesalpinia echinata, and grows abundantly in South 

 America, being imported chiefly from Pernambuco and Costa Bica : 

 hence it is sometimes called Pernambuco wood. When first cut it is of 

 a light colour, but becomes a dark red on exposure to the air. The 

 peach-wood, Nicaragua-wood, and Lima- wood of commerce, are supposed 



