40 TIMBER AND SOME OF ITS DISEASES, [chap 



peculiar characters : of course more can be done by 

 taking into consideration other characters in addi- 

 tion, such as those of the bark, buds, leaves, &c. — 

 but we then approach the methods employed in the 

 classification of plants in the natural system of 

 botanists. The object under consideration is to 

 arrange small pieces of wood alone, so that, by 

 characters peculiar to each, the expert (for of course 

 it needs practice and experience) can recognise 

 them. 



Like all systems of classification, that of timbers 

 offers every degree of difficulty, and it is easy and 

 natural to begin with cases which present well-marked 

 and readily recognisable features. Excluding such 

 "woods "as those of the tree-ferns, palms, Cycads, and 

 otherswhich do not properly constitute " timber," I shall 

 direct attention only to the Conifers and Dicotyledons, 

 and among these, while regarding especially the true 

 timber-trees, I propose to give a summary of the chief 

 features which prove useful in classifying them. This 

 of course places out of consideration any scheme (such 

 as those adopted by the late Professor De Bary, and 

 others) for the classification of fibro-vascular bundles 

 — the bi-collateral bundles of Cucurbitaceae, &c. ; 

 the radial ones of most roots ; closed, as contrasted 

 with open collateral bundles, &c. — all these matters 



