VENEER WOODS, TURNERY, ETC. 87 



Veneers. — ^Very choice ornamental woods are employed mainly 

 as veneers. Sucli are, in addition to many of those just enumer- 

 ated : Amboyna wood, the product, it is believed, of some species 

 of Pterocdrpus ; the burrs of Yew, largely used for tea-caddies, etc., 

 in the eighteenth century ; those of Walnut ; and the beautiful 

 Lacewood or Honeysuckle wood of North America (Pldtanus occi- 

 dentdlis). 



Turnery. — ^The turner requires a tough wood, which will often 

 be also hard and susceptible of good polish. No wood is more 

 generally useful to him than the Ash, as it does not splinter. Curi- 

 ously enough, cankered Ash- wood, popularly known as " bee-sucken 

 Ash," being apparently twisted in its grain, is extremely hard and 

 tough, and, therefore, suitable for mallets. Beech is used for 

 wedges, planes, and tool-handles ; Hornbeam for the bearers of 

 the cyHnders of printing-machines ; Pear for T-squares ; and Elm, 

 and in former times Maple, for bowls ; whilst the record of the 

 demand for Walnut for the manufacture of gunstocks reads hke a 

 romance. In 1806 France required 12,000 Walnut-trees per annum ; 

 while in England, before the Battle of Waterloo, £600 was paid for a 

 single tree. Eor cheaper gunstocks American Walnut is now used, 

 whilst the American species of Ash, Beech [Fdgus ferruginea), and 

 Hornbeam {Garpinus carolinidna, known as " blue Beech "), are 

 employed in the United States for purposes similar to those to which 

 their European equivalents are put. The Hickories (Hicoria), 

 more especially for handles, the Persimmon (Liosp^ros virginidna) 

 for shuttles, plane stocks, etc., and the Cherry {Pmnua serotina) 

 are also important to the American turner. In Japan, Kizi {Paul- 

 ownia imperidlis) is the main basis for lacquer- ware : the so- 

 called Cherry [Exocdrpus cupressiformis) and the fragrant Musk 

 wood {Oledria argophylla) of Australia, and the Violet-wood 

 {Copaifera bractedta) of Brazil may be specially mentioned ; whilst 

 in South Africa the various species of Olea known as Ironwood, the 

 Silk-bark or Zybast {Oeldstrus acumindtus), Buffelsbal {Gardenia 

 ThunMrgii)^ Ladle- wood {Hartogia capinsis), and Umzumbit [Mil- 

 Utia Kdfra) ; and in India the Babul {Acacia ardbica), Ironwood 

 (Mesua firrea), Ebonies {Diospyros spp.), calamander (Z). qucesita), 

 Anjan {Hardwickia hindta), Tamarind (Tamarindus indica), Dhaura 

 {Anogeissus latifoUa), Bullet-wood {Mimusops Uttordlis), Satin-wood 

 {Chloroxylon Swietenia), and Sandal-wood {Sdntalum album), are 

 noteworthy. 



Walking-sticks, etc. — ^A great variety of woods are used in th^ 

 manufacture of walking-sticks. Not to mention Jersey Cabbages 

 and the leaf-stalks of the Date-palm and a great variety of Canes, 

 imported specially from Singapore, these include EngUsh-grown 

 Oak, Ash, Blackthorn, Holly and Hazel, Whitethorn, Aspen, Birch, 



