PROPERTIES AND USES OF TIMBER. 375 



timber, however, is of a very superior order ; and, 

 when its qualities become more generally known, it 

 will probably supplant the Scots fir, in many of the 

 purposes for which the latter is at present exclu- 

 sively employed. It may perhaps be inferior to the 

 wood of the last-mentioned tree, in being heavier 

 in proportion to its bulk, more liable to warp, and 

 less pliable to work ; but it more than counter- 

 balances these defects by the superior closeness of 

 its grain, its greater beauty when dressed, its 

 power of supporting pressure without breaking ; 

 and, above all, its impenetrability to insects, and 

 uncommon power of resisting the effects both of 

 fire and water. Were it used in building, destruc- 

 tive conflagrations would be far less frequent than 

 they usually are, — as a beam of larch will scarcely 

 be charred, when one of Scots fir, of spruce, or even 

 of oak, will be nearly consumed ^. In Italy, where 



* I once saw a remarkable instance of the incombustible na- 

 ture of larchj in the case of an accidental fire in Aberdeen. A 

 house which had been built with home wood, principally Scots 

 fir, was burnt to the ground, but a few joists were observed to 

 remain standing amid the ruins. On examination it was found 

 that these joists were of larch, and that they had so completely 

 resisted the action of the surrounding fire, by which the other 

 species of wood had been entirely consumed, that they remained 



