The following constitute the principal kinds of native hard woods used: Black-walnut, black or brown ash, butternut, white ash, white maple, white oak, red oak, red cherry, and sometimes birch and beech, but not to any great extent. The days of black-walnut are already numbered for lavish use in finishing buildings, and even for furniture. The consumption of this beautiful wood in the last ten years has been so great that the scarcity now felt is causing the price to increase constantly; and in a few years, at most, it will be used but little, even in furniture, and that of the most costly kind. Although it is an elegant wood, and better adapted for furniture, we think that the finish of our houses and public buildings loses nothing by the substitution of the lighter hard-woods in its stead.

Spending several weeks recently in the cities of New York and Boston, and visiting many fine houses as well as public buildings, the author observed the general absence of black-walnut finish even among the opulent. In the West, where we can obtain it at a lower price than in the East, we still adhere to it. Although, in our own practice for the last four years we have been in favor of using light, hard-woods, exclusive of any trimming up with black-walnut. We have found, in the majority of cases, that the prejudice in its favor is so strong that our patrons would overrule our preference, and have the black-walnut.

In the last two years we have finished a few houses in light wood, and the indications are that we shall now soon follow our Eastern friends in its use. The light woods give a welcome, bright effect to an interior, their grain, when finished properly by the painter, standing out clear and beautiful. A room finished with light woods, in our opinion, presents a more cheerful appearance and has nothing of the gloomy effects produced by darker woods. Our furniture generally being dark, the variety of upholstering usually produces all the contrast required for effect without the use of walnut finish.

The author has now in process of construction a residence to cost twelve thousand dollars, with finishing as follows: The parlor and sitting-room finished in butternut; the vestibule, front hall, and staircase, all black-walnut; the dining-room, library, and entire remainder of house, in red oak. The finishing of the hall and staircase in walnut was simply a compromise with the proprietor, who in the beginning was determined to run streaks of walnut all the way through the different rooms, but finally consented to the arrangement given above.

In the East, you can find beautiful staircases in fight woods, and will be surprised at their beauty. There are, as yet, but few in the city of Detroit.

The first proceeding with all kinds of hard-wood is to get it thoroughly kiln-dried; and a good amount of care should be used, so that the planks or boards will not warp and spring while in the kiln.

In securing the best effect of grain, much depends upon the sawyer; the sidings taken off produce fine grain, and quartering the log through is a good way to show the grain.

In our judgment brown ash is one of the richest of our native woods; the pleasing variety of forms the grain assumes, especially the mottled or variegated color (sometimes called by dealers, "calico ash") is very rich, desirable, and much sought after for the Eastern market. Most specimens of this wood are of a soft, brashy nature, easily worked, and take on a fine, smooth finish when worked down, in consequence of which it is much used in furniture.

White oak is an exceedingly tough, hard-wood, and very difficult to work and bring down to a smooth finish. This can of course be done, but it costs a good deal in hand labor to accomplish it.

Red oak is less difficult to work, being more of the nature of ash, but tougher; the grain is finely marked in a variety of forms, and the red, bright color gives it a very fine, rich effect when finished.

White or hard maple is a very hard, bright wood, and very white (except the heart of the tree), used but little for finishing work, but more for floors, the grain being ordinary. Bird's-eye maple is much sought after for car work, and is sometimes used in houses.

Red cherry has a very fine grain, and a rich, reddish color, taking on a fine polish, and in some degree resembling some varieties of mahogany. It is now much used in the East for finishing staircases, dining-room wainscotings, etc., and is very beautiful for such purposes. It is also used extensively in the manufacture of school desks.

Some persons are led astray in regard to the difference in cost of finishing in hard-woods and pine; the price per thousand feet is about the same, but the difference in cost arises from the fact that there is always more waste in hardwood than pine, and that more hand labor is required to produce a fine job of joining in hard-wood.

Doors of hard-wood should always be made by veneering on pine. Make, first, a plain pine stile and rail door, and make the panels of the kind of hard-wood intended; then glue upon the pine frame, covering it up entirely, a thin covering of the hard-wood desired, one-fourth to three-eighths of an inch thick. When this work is dry, cut the desired moldings of the hard-wood, and secure them on the edges against rail and stiles, as in any other door. Such a door, if properly made, will stand without warping. The pine, being better to keep true than any known wood, makes an excellent foundation to hold the hard-wood.

Another plan in common use for making a hard-wood door, two and one-fourth inches thick, for instance, is to make two doors of equal thickness and glue them together, both being framed separately. When thus glued together, a door is much stronger and less liable to warp than one equally as thick made of a single piece of wood.