CHARLES KNIGHT, PALL MALL EAST.

LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, & GREEN, PATERNOSTER-ROW;
OLIVER & BOYD, EDINBURGH; ROBERTSON & ATKINSON, GLASGOW ;
WAKEMAN, DUBLIN; WILLMER, LIVERPOOL; AND
BAINES & CO., LEEDS.

MDCCCXXIX.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES,

Stamford-street.

The subjects of this Volume (TIMBER TREES, and FRUITS) are complete
in themselves, although they form only a portion of the matter intended to
be treated of under the head of "VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES."
The re-
maining divisions of ESCULENT VEGETABLES, SPICES, SUBSTANCES
WHICH ARE USED FOR CLOTHING, &c., are in hand.

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES

USED IN THE ARTS,

AND IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY.

PART I.

TIMBER TREES.

CHAPTER I.

TIMBER is one of the most essential substances in the Arts; and, in every situation in which it has been found, mankind appear to have first resorted to it, for habitations, for domestic implements, for the means of transporting themselves and their property by land and by water, and for the formation of their weapons, whether to be used in war or in the chase. The varieties of timber in use among different nations are very many, and not a few of them are but little known in England. It will, therefore, be necessary here to confine our notice to some of the more important.

THE OAK.

In point of strength, durability, and general application, Oak claims the precedence of all timber; and to England, which has risen to the highest rank among the nations, mainly through her commerce and her marine, the oak, "the father of ships," as it has been called, is inferior in value only to her religion, her liberty, and the spirit and industry of her people.

B