70 
TIMBER 
11 to 12 inches square, but it can still be had up to 50 ft. 
at a high price. The large quantity of pitch pine of small 
scantling and with a large proportion of sap now exported 
shows that the larger trees have been cut or are more 
difficult to get ; to obtain good pitch pine now requires much 
more careful selection than formerly, and more allowances 
must be made, but it can be got in shorter lengths and 
smaller scantling and in small quantities even up to 50 ft. 
by 14 inches by 14 inches. 
It has been stated that pitch pine " bled " for turpentine 
becomes reduced in strength and durability, but the late 
Professor Johnson, in his " Materials of Construction," 
says " It is as strong bled as unbled." Some logs are to be 
found beautifully figured, although much of the figure in 
pitch pine only goes a short depth into the wood, and these 
are generally secured for cabinet-makers' work. This 
timber has not been found satisfactory for constructional 
work in parts of Cape Colony, as in some situations there 
it rapidly decays when exposed to alternate damp and heat 
on river beds and near the sea. Such is not the author's 
experience with this timber in Great Britain and other 
places, and he has used thousands of logs, in exposed situa- 
tions and subjected to variations of temperature, which 
have been in position for over twenty years and are still quite 
sound. Pitch pine is now imported to a small extent in 
planks, but much of it comes as stowage with the log 
timber and is poor stuff. It is better to have planking cut 
from the imported log, and for good flooring it should be cut 
on the " quarter." The timber is used a good deal in the 
States for paving, and it is at present being tried as block 
paving for workshops in England, made up of four pieces, 
2 inches by 3 inches, and 3 inches deep, joined by dowels 
underneath to form a block about 8 inches by 3 inches. 
This enables very small pieces of wood to be utilised. 
