Oak is a very hard and durable wood, easily distinguishable by its yellowish-brown colour. The English oak is esteemed the best, and is very extensively employed for ship-building, carpentry, substantial framing, and other works requiring considerable strength. It is little affected by exposure to the weather, and is therefore much used for numerous outdoor works, for the spokes and naves of wheels, etc. Some kinds, having a red tinge, are inferior to the brown, and are used only for ornamental furniture.

Elm is a very useful wood, and exceedingly durable if employed in wet or damp situations. It is unrivalled for dock-works, rough pumps, water-works, piles for foundations, keels of vessels, boards of coffins, and many similar purposes. In drying, it shrinks and twists very much, and is inapplicable to works in which permanence of form is imperative. Elm is porous and cross-grained, but it is not liable to split, and bears the driving of nails better than any other timber.

The colour is a dull red-brown, and much darker than oak.

Ash is a tough and very flexible wood; it is not, however, suitable for building purposes. It is much used for the frames of machines, felloes of wheels, agricultural implements, hand-spikes, handles of hammers, and many similar works. For works subjected to sudden and severe strains, ash may be considered superior to any other timber, its elasticity being so perfect that it may be bent almost double without breaking.

Beech is not employed for building, but is excellent for piles in wet foundations and similar works. This wood is naturally hard and of a close, firm texture. It is extensively used for the frames of machines, furniture, stocks of planes, handles of tools, and lathe-chucks. When stained and polished it looks exceedingly well.

Birchwood is much esteemed by the turner. It is compact in the grain, of a darker colour, and more easily worked than beech.. Some pieces of this wood are as handsomely marked as Honduras mahogany, and, when polished, may be easily mistaken for it.

Mahogany. - Of this wood there are two varieties, viz., Spanish and Honduras. The former is in every respect superior to the latter, and is generally, owing to its great beauty, cut into veneers, which are glued on stout fabrics constructed of Honduras or Bay wood, which, though not often finely figured, is exceedingly good for the inside works of furniture. It is of a reddish-brown colour, sometimes open and irregular in the grain, and the inferior kinds are filled with specks and short grey lines. Some few specimens are of a fine golden colour, with handsome veins and figures.

For furniture and other indoor works, mahogany is unrivalled. It shrinks less in drying than any other wood, is susceptible of a high polish, and is little liable to twist or warp, and holds the glue the best of all. Foundry patterns are often made of it, as it resists the moisture of the damp sand, which does not, therefore, adhere to it so readily as to a softer wood. Maho-gany is also in much request amongst turners.

Rosewood is another valuable furniture wood. Its colour varies from light hazel to deep purple, or nearly black. Some specimens are as open in the grain as coarse mahogany, but the best qualities are cut into veneers, and even solid pieces are used for cabinet and upholstery works. The harder kinds may be very highly polished, but it seldom retains its lustre so long as mahogany.

"Mr. Edwards says, that at the time when rosewood was first imported, there was on the scale of Custom-house duties, 'Lignum Rhodium, per ton, £40,' referring to the wood from which the oil of Rhodium was extracted, which at that time realized a very high price. The officers claimed the like duty on the furniture rosewood. It was afterwards imported as Jacaranda, Palisander, and Palaxander wood, by which names it is still called on the Continent. The duty was entirely removed, and the consumption has proportion-ably increased. It is now only known as rosewood, some logs of which have produced as much as £150 when cut into veneers."

Walnut is a handsomely-figured wood, much used for furniture, for which purpose the finest veneers are also employed. Large quantities are still in demand for the manufacture of gun-stocks; the prices of which, in the rough, range from a few pence to a couple of guineas each.

Boxwood is an exceedingly hard and useful wood, extensively employed by the turner and the wood-engraver. It is of two kinds, distinguished as Turkey and European boxwood. The former is imported from Constantinople, Smyrna, and the Black Sea. In size it is very variable, ranging from two and a half to fourteen inches diameter. The colour is generally a deep yellow, sometimes shaded with orange.

Large quantities of boxwood are consumed in the construction of rules, scales, and blocks for engravers, who employ it to the exclusion of all other woods.

The European boxwood does not attain so large a growth, is more curly, softer, and paler than the Turkish. Its usual size is from about one to five inches in diameter. Being stronger than the Turkish box, it is better for lathe-chucks, and will bear more rough usage.

Ebony. - Of this wood there are three varieties, which are usually distinguished by the names of the countries whence they are exported.

The best and most costly of the three is a native of the Mauritius. It is the blackest and hardest, but, unfortunately, the most unsound of the species. The East Indian is the next in order; it is less wasteful, but inferior to the first in grain and colour. The African, which is the last in the list, is the least wasteful, but it is decidedly very poor in colour, and porous in the grain.

Ebony is almost exclusively employed for turning and ornamental work; flutes, the keys of pianofortes, door-handles, and many similar articles are manufactured from it.

Lime-tree is a clean and light-coloured wood, and quite as easily worked as deal. It requires to be carefully seasoned, otherwise it is very liable to twist and warp, more so than pine. Curriers, shoemakers, etc, use it for their cutting-boards, as it does not influence the course of the knife. It is technically said to be "without grain," as it may be cut with almost equal facility in every direction. Lime-tree is peculiarly free from knots, and, owing to its evenness of texture, is very suitable for carved works. It enters largely into the construction of pianofortes and other musical instruments.