PREFACE. ix 



work closes with a sketch of the properties 

 and appHcations of the dilferent kinds of 

 British timber. 



With the exception of a few discussions, 

 which could not well be avoided, the matter 

 contained under these heads will be found 

 of a strictly practical clescription, and, so far 

 as it is so, (exclusive of the chapter which 

 gives an account of Sir Henry Steuart's 

 system), it is wholly the result of the author's 

 experience. To this he has nothing to add ; 

 but that, as it is possible he may have some- 

 times fallen into mistakes by drawing wrong 

 conclusions from what he has observed and 

 seen, he has been careful to state the facts 

 on which his opinions rest, that the reader 

 "may the more easily judge for himself 



