§4 
TIMBEH 
brown and black. The wood of the roots is often beauti- 
fuhy vemed. Wahmt wood is heavy, fine grained, longi- 
tudinal fibre short and brittle, does not split in seasoning, 
takes a beautiful polish. The tree grows well in Britain, 
but the wood is pale, rather coarse, and not much used. 
Large quantities of excellent walnut come from the 
Black Sea, called Circassian walnut, in short logs up to 
18 inches a side and in planks 6 to 11 ft. long, 2^ to 
8 inches thick, and up to 19 inches wide ; similar timber 
comes from Italy, and is much used in the piano trade, but 
j)robably the larger portion of the walnut of commerce 
comes from the United States. A few short logs up to 
86 inches at the butt come occasionally with mahogany 
from the west coast of Africa, and this trade seems rather 
to increase. All walnut trees have a peculiar dividing of 
the pith into a number of small chambers, which forms a 
serious defect in the centre of every log. Many years ago 
walnut to a considerable extent took the place of oak in the 
furniture trade, but it is now more generally used as veneer. 
Large quantities of French and other walnut were used in 
the cabin fittings of the SS. Mauretania ; the grand stairs 
were constructed entirely of this wood, as much as 
10,000 ft. of veneer being used. Walnut is much appre- 
ciated for the best gun stocks, for Swiss carving and 
turnery, in the pianoforte trade, and in France, where the 
tree is found in large numbers, the wood is largely used for 
sabots. 
Weight about 46 lbs. per cubic foot. 
