XXVII.] 
HORNBEAM. 
229 
THE hornbeam TREE ( Carpinus betuld) 
is an indigenous British tree, which thrives well even 
upon a poor soil, and attains the height of 40 to 50 feet 
with a circumference of from 30 to 45 inches. 
The wood is white in colour, close in the grain, hard, 
tough, strong, and of moderate weight; its pores are 
minute, the medullary rays are plainly marked, and there 
is no sap or alburnum ; it may, therefore, be worked up 
to great advantage. Hence we find it employed for a 
variety of purposes ; it is useful in husbandry, and 
agricultural implements made of the sound and healthy 
wood wear well, as it stands exposure without being 
much affected by it. It is also used by engineers for 
cogs in machinery, a purpose for which it is well suited. 
The Hornbeam tree, if pollarded, becomes blackish in 
colour at the centre, owing to the admission of external 
moisture. This renders it unfit for many purposes where 
a clean, bright surface is required, and generally it 
proves detrimental to the quality and durability of the 
timber. 
This wood when subjected to vertical pressure cannot 
be completely destroyed, its fibres, instead of breaking 
off short, double up like threads, a conclusive proof of 
its flexibility and fitness for service in machinery. 
I was not able to secure suitable specimens of the 
standard dimensions to test the transverse strength of 
this wood, and consequently only the tensile and crushing 
or vertical strains appear in the tables. 
