Forestry  Exhibition  at  Gloucester. 
251 
though  home-grown  oak  is  preferable  in  England  to  oak 
imported  from  a different  climate  like  that  of  Germany. 
I noticed  plants  of  both  Betula  puhesceyis  and  B.  verrucosa 
under  the  same  name  {B.  alba),  yet  these  are  two  very  distinct 
species,  adopted  for  successful  growing  on  very  different  soils. 
Nurserymen  should  try  and  distinguish  the  species  of  common 
trees  like  oak  and  birch.  I found  the  common  alder,  but  the 
grey  alder,  which  is  excellent  for  many  purposes,  though  not  a 
native  tree,  was  not  shown. 
Class  14“,  Articles  of  Domestic  Use  or  Furniture  made  from 
Home-grown  Timber,  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  sections 
of  the  exhibition,  and  great  praise  must  be  bestowed  On  Mr. 
Elwes  for  his  exhibits.  These  illustrated  well  the  fact  that  it 
is  not  necessary  to  seek  abroad  for  the  choicest  timbers,  when 
we  can  find  at  home  in  our  parks  and  woodlands  excellent 
material  for  furniture-making.  One  beautiful  cabinet  was 
made  of  Lucombe  oak,  from  a log  of  a tree  in  the  old  Exeter 
nursery.  This  tree  was  cut  down  in  1903,  and  the  log,  being 
considered  worthless,  was  sold  at  the  price  of  firewood. 
Mr.  Elwes  also  showed  a pretty  cakestand,  made  from  the 
wood  of  a Laburnum  tree  grown  in  Scotland  ; a splendid  chest 
constructed  of  beautifully  figured  Spanish  Chestnut,  grown  in 
Wiltshire,  with  panels  of  bird’s-eye  oak,  grown  in  Gloucester- 
shire ; a commode  made  of  black  walnut,  grown  at  Wood- 
chester  Park,  near  Stroud  ; a very  handsome  chair  made  of 
wild  cherry  ; a holly  chair  with  a maple  seat ; a door  made  of 
Spanish  Chestnut  with  panels  of  rent  brown  oak  ; a door  made 
of  yew.  Mr.  Elwes  has  already  done  a great  deal  to  revive  the 
fine  art  of  panelling,  and  exhibited  some  panels  of  solid  brown 
oak,  representative  of  the  work  done  in  his  dining  room  at  Coles- 
borne.  There  were  also  many  excellent  specimens  of  veneers, 
the  most  interesting,  perhaps,  being  those  of  brown  oak,  which 
were  cut  by  the  Pullman  Car  Company,  U.S.,  from  a tree 
growing  in  Rockingham  Park,  Northamptonshire.  One 
veneered  panel  of  pollard  brown  oak  was  of  immense  size, 
8 ft.  long  by  2^  ft.  wide.  Mr.  Elwes  also  showed  some  nice 
examples  of  parquet  flooring  in  different  designs.  A rather 
novel  use  of  wood  was  shown  in  the  case  of  four  volumes 
of  the  “ Trees  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,”  which  were 
bound  in  different  styles  with  wood  boards — two  of  brown 
oak,  one  of  Lucombe  oak,  and  the  foui’th  of  yew.  Nearly  all 
these  interesting  articles  were  constructed  by  Mr.  Elwes’ 
own  carpenter,  and  were  excellent  in  style — the  main 
object  of  his  exhibits  being  to  point  out  the  numerous 
festhetic  uses  to  which  our  own  home-grown  timber  may 
be  put.  As  Mr.  Price  has  remarked,  “ if  this  exhibit  showed 
nothing  else,  it  showed  the  English  timber  merchant  what 
