Nov. 1, 1898.] Supplement to the " Tr»pical AgtHculturist:' 
375 
the processes nie which lead to their formation 
are as yet but little understood. It is certain 
that these bodies are present only in very small 
quantities, but perfectly permeate the cell walls 
and commonly appear together with more or less 
sharply marked changes in colour. 
Generally, tr. ea with durable wood form a 
distinct heartwood, but their sapwood is no more 
durable than that of other kindss. Since dura- 
bility depends mainly on resistance to living 
organisms, proper experiments to determine the 
relative durability of woods are exceedingly com- 
plicated, and satisfactory results are still wanting. 
In the absence of better data, the "life" of 
railway ties as commonly observed will in some 
measure ans 'er this purpose. 
Besides being intimately related to the mechani- 
oal properties, the structure also determines 
the texture and almost entirely the beauty of 
the wood. Texture may be said to be coarse 
when large pores in rows or scattered, appear as 
holes on the ends or as dark streaks (troughs) 
on the sides, as in oak and ash ; it is moderalely 
coarse if all its elements are large, as in pine, 
and it is fine if all the elements are small, as 
in cherry, and much more so in boxwood. Apart 
from the appearance of the wood, the texture 
is often in itself a projierly which fits or unfits 
the wood for a particular use. Thus red oak is 
useless for a faucet or for a delicate piece of 
carving, because in the one case it leaks, in the 
other its own coarse-texture lines will mar and 
distort the picture. 
Structure is the first element of beauty in 
wood. Its uniformity of structure makes white 
pine monotonous ; the striking difference of 
spring and summer wood renders hard pine ob- 
trusive ; the arrangement of vessels, fibers, and 
pith rays characterize oak, and the peculiar 
arrangement of the same elements gives to elm 
those handsome figures of dark wavy lines on an 
even background of brown. 
Without analyzing or inquiring into their cause, 
the several patterns have become familiar to all, 
and our bedroom sets in oak and maple, cherry 
or walnuts, testify to their recognition and im- 
portance. 
Size, form and abundance of wood more than 
any other features have influenced the develop- 
ment of our wood industries. Man is indebted to 
the large, long shafted and well-formed conifers to 
a degree rarely appreciated for assisting him in 
his progress. Occurring on extensive areas and 
conbining most useful qualities, they are 
generally sought for structural purposes. Masts 
of spruce and jiine are carried across the seas, 
telegraph and other long poles of the same spe- 
cies are hauled hundreds of miles because of 
their form and the ease with which straight, 
elastic material can be] found among them. If 
a carpenter weie obliged to lely upon beech, 
birch, chestnut, oak, poplar, etc., and had to use 
them in combination, house building would be 
not only much more dithcult and costly, but 
unsatisfactory. While the stringer or ijoist of 
pine would keep straight, its neigbour. the oak, 
would sag down, the chestnut would warp out 
of line, the beech and hickory would soon be 
infested with boring insects, and the whole would 
be a failure. Abundance in suitable size, form, 
and qualities have made white pine the king of 
American woods, and so fully are these properties 
aiipreciatcd in ])racti(e that it re(]uired ;i. severe 
struggle to intioduce even such unexcelled male- 
pal as cypress sis a substitute. 
GENERAL ITEMS. 
The Eucalypti are roughly divided into three 
classes : Gams, stringy-barks and iron-barks. It 
has always been remarked that the stringy-barks 
do not make good firewood. As a mutter of 
facts, says the Tijnber Trades Journal, this wood 
will not burn as other wood doe-i, for though 
the bark and leaves are combustible the timber 
cannot be burnt without being mixed with some 
more inflammable material. No tests have yet been 
made to discover how far the wood of Jariah (iJ. 
marffinata), E- ohliqua, E. piperita, E. MacrorrJiyn- 
cha and other stringy barks will resist fire. Logs 
or sticks when placed in a fierce fire have, however, 
been observed to char through very slowly, nnd 
this process goes on only as long as a fire fed 
with inflammable wood is kept up. When this 
firing is removed the logs become black and cold 
at once. The discovery of a timber which may 
be used for internal fittings withoui danger by 
fire has engaged the attention of architects and 
others for some time past, and numerous 
methods of treating woods, for the purpose of 
rendering them non-inflammable, have been sug- 
gested. Many of these experiments have been 
made with that most inflammable of all timbers — 
pine. Whether they would have been more suc- 
cesful had they been made on a timber like 
stringy-bark, which has a natural power of resis- 
tance to fire, cannot be said positively, but its 
probability cannot be doubted. Stringy-birk 
is reported to be very sensitive to moisture. 
Hence, although it is easily worked, can be 
smoothly planed and takes a good polish, it is 
liable to warp when exposed to damp. The warp- 
ing takes the form of a swelling of the fibres, so as to 
produce small ridges on the surface. How far this 
would be detrimental to its use for internal fit- 
tings must be decided by experts, but there can be 
little doubt in the mind of any person fully 
acquainted with the characteristics of this wood, 
that its use as joists, or for staircases, would enor- 
mously reduce the losses by Are in cities. Stair- 
cases and lift-wells form natural chimneys in case 
of fire, and if these were lined with timber qs 
difficult to burn as stringy-bark is known to be 
by practical bashmen in its natural state, fires, 
which now burn out a whole building, might per- 
haps be confined to a single floor or room, or 
prevented altogether. 
The Report of the Royal Commission on Tuber- 
culosis is an interesting document, and among the 
numerous suggestions for securing pure milk and 
wholesome meat which the Commissioners make, 
we find many valuable hints as legards improve- 
ments in the sanitation of cowsheds and byres and 
slaughter-houses, the qualificalions of meat in- 
spectors and other matters of local interest. 
Ischaemiim angustifolium, better known as 
Bhabar grass, and belonging to a genus well repre- 
sented in Ceylon, is a minor forest product of some 
importance in North India (Saharunpur) whence 
it is largely exported for paper-making and is also 
used in tlio local industries of rope.-makiiig. The 
quantily cut annually cannot be estimated exactly, 
but is proluibly over 200,000 maiinds, and the 
outturn could, if nectssary, bo cuisiderably iu- 
