134 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
papering is necessary, and the finest and 
most complex pattern may be cut out 
with great ease. Under no consideration 
wiiatever should common varnish or oil 
be used on holly ; it would spoil the whole 
•work. 
While it is sometimes necessary to use 
glue in putting holly work together, it is 
better, when possible, to use tine screws ; 
but when glue must be used, the whitest 
kind should be employed. Unless the 
sawyer is a pretty good hand at cutting, 
he should not undertake to make intri- 
cate work in holly, but if the operator is 
oertain he can finish what he undertakes, 
then we say "go ahead; " but he should 
not tire himself the first day, or work 
hard for a week and then drop off for six 
months. It is best to "make haste 
slowly "and persistently until the work 
in hand is fully completed. 
Holly grows plentifully in South Amer- 
ica, mostly in swampy situations ; also in 
Neraul, Japan, and some other parts of 
the world. The name holly is said to be 
derived from the use of the branches and 
berries to decorate churches at Christmas, 
from which the tree was called Holy 
tree. 
Black walnut is an excellent wood for 
the sawyer, and always looks best when 
about one-quarter of an inch thick. It 
works easily, is not liable to chip, is 
cheap, easily polished or oiled, and does 
not look dirty nearly so soon as many 
other woods. There are nearly thirty va- 
rieties of walnut known, mostly natives 
of America. It is also a native of Persia, 
India, some parts of Africa, and Europe. 
The Eomans were well acquainted wath it, 
and it was cultivated in forests as early as 
Tiberius. The walnut of our own country 
is the largest and handsomest of them all. 
'Sometimes it reaches the enormous di- 
mensions of six or seven feet in diameter 
at the trunk. 
Onk or ash, when used by the sawyer, 
should never be less than three-eighths of 
an in(^h thick. Tliese woods should be 
varnished, never oiled. They both darken 
witli age, particularly oak, which soon as- 
sumes a fine dark color that gives it a 
rich and valuable appearance. 
Novel Method of Exhibiting Native 
Woods in the Drawing Room. 
BY F. B. BROCK. 
"TvURING a recent visit to the National 
^ Museum at Washington, now in the 
course of being fitted up for the reception 
of curiosities and other things pertaining 
to a museum, I was much interested in a 
collection of ornamental woods from 
Japan— a gift from the University of 
Tokio. This collection embodies so much 
originality and attractiveness combined, 
with simplicity in the manner of its ex- 
hibition, that I cannot refrain writing 
you on the subject in the hope that some 
who read this, and whose accomplish- 
ments are such as to permit them to in- 
dulge the art, may be enabled to beautify 
their homes without any expense, other 
than loss of time. 
This Japanese collection consists of a 
series of panel frames 8 x 12 inches each, 
a panel being devoted to each variety of 
wood. The general appearance of the 
panel is shown by the subjoined sketch. 
The panel, a, proper is a thin planed sur- 
face (g in, thick) and, in this collection, is 
unpolished, though it is obvious that a 
polish may be given to the wood. When 
the diameter of a tree is less than eight 
inches two or more pieces are laid side by 
side to give the requisite width. In the 
sketch here given the panel is in four 
pieces, the division lines being indicated 
in the drawing. The frame, b, of the 
panel is cut from the same wood, an inch 
in width by one-half inch in thickness. 
The face wadth of the frame, b, is left 
with the bark on, in order to show its 
formation, and it also forms a pleasing 
contrast to the panel. At the four cor- 
ners of the frame are transverse sections, 
c, of the same species of wood of the same 
depth (2 in.) as the frame, b, and lying 
fiush therewith. These sections, c, must 
be cut from a small limb of the tree, 
which should be approximately an inch 
and a half in diameter. Their faces 
should be sandpapered or polished. 
The artistic i»reparation of the panel is 
next in order. It consists in painting, in 
oil or water colors, a twig and specimen 
le9.ves of the same tree from which the 
