SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
The company mentioned own 160,000 acres of forest in one of the 
southern States, and regularly reafforest the land as they cut out the 
timber at the rate of about 4,000 acres annually, besides what they pur- 
chase in lumber. That reafforestation is in itself an interesting story, 
being in actually successful application by a mercantile concern, and 
their practice is by no means unique. 
Veneer-cutting is accomplished in at least three different ways:. by 
sawing, by rotary cutting or peeling, and by straight slicing. Where 
the quantities used are very great the peeling system is employed, that 
is to say, round logs after boiling are placed in lathes, and go, revolved 
against a vibrating knife, are thus sliced into endless sheets until the 
useless heartwood is reached. This core is commonly 6 or 7 inches in 
diameter, and properly becomes waste. 
In straight slicing a squared log is made fast to a table that is ele- 
vated by mechanism automatically to the thickness of veneer required. 
A knife borne by a heavy carrier is driven with great force diagonally 
across the log, producing perfect sheets of veneer with rapidity, but at 
a less speed than the continuous rotary motion already described. 
Both of these methods have the advantage that there is no loss, or 
waste by saw-kerf, but against that there is the unavoidable defect that 
the grain or fibre of the wood is disturbed. The imperfection may be 
so slight as to be unimportant, yet with some timbers, such as rosewood 
of all kinds, blackwood, or oak, it is so great as to mar good work, and 
the slicing method ought not to be employed. 
For all timbers unquestionably the best result is obtainable, as to 
quality, by using the sawing method. In this the French are masters 
using a horizontal saw against a log which slowly ascends, thus cutting 
the finest boards without disturbing the fibres. In other countries a 
circular saw of about 8 feet diameter is used, which is less slow than 
the horizontal saw, but delivers a rougher board. With the French 
system it is possible to obtain sixteen perfect boards, ready for glueing, 
out of each inch of thickness. Nevertheless there is the unavoidable waste 
by the saw-kerf, which is more than countervailed by the fact that the 
fibres are quite undisturbed, permitting sound work as a result. The 
usual thickness of French veneers when knife cut is half a millimetre, 
or fifty to the inch, and in case of fine walnut burrs sixty to the inch. 
At Annandale a machine is used in our works with a knife 10 feet long, 
which slices logs up to 4 ft. 6 in. in width. The longest knives in use - 
are 17 feet, requiring carriers of great weight and machines of massive 
construction. 
- Ornament is sometimes due to abnormal growths in the trees. This 
leads to a study which has not, I believe, received due attention. Some 
years ago I was able to assist the late Professor Charles Stewart, Con- 
servator of the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons, 
by procuring for him certain specimens of animals that were difficult 
for him to obtain. I mentioned to him the remarkable aberrations or 
distortions of growth in some Australian plants, different from those 
in Europe and elsewhere, as being well worth some one’s studying micro- 
scopically and histologically. This in the hope that the acquired 
knowledge might, in some way not to be foreseen, eventually help the 
pathologist. “Ah, no,” he said, “we have a large collection of galls 
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