; 2 >° 
16 
PINETUM BRITANNICUM. 
Five specimens of each sort, kept in a dry place, at a temperature of 37 0 C., for 144 hours, gave the 
mentioned weights :—Florida, 0.640 kilos.; Nord, 0.636 kilos.; Vancouver, 0.528 kilos.; Canada, 0.480 
kilos. It appears, therefore, that there is a difference of 13 per cent, in favour of the new wood compared 
with that of Florida. 
“ The great advantages to be derived from the use of Vancouver timber are due to its extraordinary dimensions, which are such as to 
obviate the necessity of having recourse to compound masts. For instance, a compound mast of 85 per cent, in diameter, and made up of Florida 
Pine in the middle, and of Canada or Nord on the outside, weighs about 12,200 kilos.; while a single mast of Vancouver wood of the same 
dimensions does not weigh more than 8900 kilos.; shewing a difference in favour of Vancouver of 3300 kilos. 
And the resistance of these masts would be in the proportion of 766 to 866 =0.86 ; so that the diameter of 
the single mast might be diminished, whereby economy in weight would be gained. 
“ But it is in material and in workmanship that the greatest economy is obtained, as will be seen at once from the following table :— 
Diameter. 
Length. 
Value of 
Material. 
Work¬ 
manship. 
Compound mast 
Mast of a single piece (Vancouver) 
Difference 
85 c.m. 
85 c.m. 
33 m - 
33 m. 
13,684,00 
4,511,00 
1,222,00 
407,00 
9 . 1 73.00 
815,00 
Which shews a gain of more than two-thirds in material and workmanship. 
“ Results .—The facts relative to these twelve pieces of mast timber may be summed up thus :— 
“ 1. Almost complete absence of knots. 2. Resistance nearly equal to, and weight a little less than, that of Florida timber. 
3. Substitution of masts of a single piece for masts of several pieces, by which a small gain in weight, and a great gain 
in material and work, are secured.” 
Similar experiments were made in this country by Mr Wilson Saunders, of Floyd’s. The following 
are the results of his experiments :— 
“ Lengths of each of the woods enumerated in the following table, carefully squared to 1 4 inch, were submitted to pressure of weights 
pendant from the centre, the lengths being supported between standards exactly 6 feet apart. The weight at which each broke, and the amount 
of deflection from the horizontal line at the time of breaking, is given in the following table :— 
Lb. 
Inches. 
Douglas Fir 
280 
4 
Fracture, rough and long. 
Pitch Pine 
280 
4 
Fracture, short and even. 
Canada Spruce 
196 
4-7 
Fracture, short, rough. 
Red Pine 
168 
6 
Fracture, rough. 
Larch—British 
168 
5-2 
Fracture, short, even. 
Deodar, from the Himmalayas 
154 
3-8 
Fracture, short. 
“ The specimens experimented on were carefully selected from the best description of wood, and free from all defects. The deflection is in 
inches and tenths of an inch. Each wood had two trials, and the figures give a mean result.” 
Thus, none of the Firs approached in strength either the Douglas Fir or the Pitch Pine, it having 
required a weight of 280 lb. to break a small bar of this wood no more than 1% inch square. 168 lb. 
broke a piece of British Farch of the same scantling. Moreover, between the Douglas Fir and Pitch 
Pine, whose strength was equal, there was this great difference, that while the latter snapped short under a 
strain of 280 lb., the Douglas yielded unwillingly with a rough and long rend, slowly, toughly, and almost 
imperceptibly. The Deodar again (the weakest of all) gave way short and brittle, sending its fragments 
leaping into the air. 
At the time of the Great French Exhibition of 1867, the late Captain Fowke conducted a more 
extensive series of experiments upon a much larger series of timbers. The results of his experiments have 
not yet been published, but we understand that they corresponded with those of Mr Saunders. 
We meet with the following instance of the durability of the Douglas Fir in an extract of a letter by 
W. D. Ferris, late Sergeant-Major of Toronto Police Force, dated New Westminster, British Columbia, Feb. 
23, 1863, and published in the Toronto Globe of April 9, 1863. The instance was a tree lately discovered in 
British 
