Table Of ContentTIMBER
AND TIMBER TREES
TIMBER
AND TIMBER T R E ES
NATIVE AND FOREIGN
BY
THE LATE THOMAS LASLETT
TIMBER INSPECTOR TO THE ADMIRALTY
SECOND EDITION
COMPLETELY REVISED, WITH NUMEROUS ADDITIONS AND ALTERATIONS
BY
H. MARSHALL WARD, D.Sc, F.R.S., F.L.S., F.H.S.
PROFESSOR OF BOTANY IN THE ROYAL INDIAN ENGINEERING COLLEGE, COOPERS HILL
portion
MACMILLAN AND CO.
AND NEW YORK
1894
[All rights reserved]
Published by ICE Publishing, 40 Marsh Wall, London E14 9TP.
Distributors for ICE Publishing books are
USA: Publishers Storage and Shipping Corp., 46 Development Road,
Fitchburg, MA 01420
www.icevirtuallibrary.com
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-0-7277-5265-9
© Thomas Telford Limited 2011
ICE Publishing is a division of Thomas Telford Ltd, a wholly-
owned subsidiary of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).
All rights, including translation, reserved. Except as permitted
by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, no part of
this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the Publisher, ICE Publishing, 40
Marsh Wall, London E14 9TP.
This book is published on the understanding that the author is
solely responsible for the statements made and opinions
expressed in it and that its publication does not necessarily
imply that such statements and/or opinions are or reflect the views
or opinions of the publishers. Whilst every effort has been made
to ensure that the statements made and the opinions
expressed in this publication provide a safe and accurate guide,
no liability or responsibility can be accepted in this respect by the
author or publishers.
First Edition, 1875.
Second Edition, 1894.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
A HANDY-BOOK on Home and Foreign Timber, for
ship and house building purposes, is, in the opinion of
many, much required. The botanical treatises which
are accessible are too strictly scientific in their form
and treatment to interest the general reader, and they
lack that practical application of knowledge to the
wants of the shipwright and carpenter, which it is
one of the aims of this book to give. Hence, I
have endeavoured to concentrate into one form all
the information which books and long experience
could give, and so to arrange the materials as to
make them intelligible and acceptable alike to the
master builder and apprentice.
Keeping this in view, I have introduced into the
work the substance of a course of lectures on the
properties of timber, which I delivered at the Royal
School of Naval Architecture at South Kensington;
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
and of three other courses of lectures on the same
subject, delivered at the Royal School of Military
Engineering at Brompton Barracks, Chatham.
Many new descriptions are treated of, and a great
number of experiments on the strength of timber are
given in detail as well as in the abstract. Further,
there are some useful notes on seasoning timber for
use, and the best means to be taken for its preser
vation.
THOMAS LASLETT.
58, MAR YON ROAD, CHARLTON, S'.E.
September, 1875.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
WHEN the Publishers requested me to undertake the
preparation of a New Edition of this Standard Work,
I felt that an opportunity was offered for doing a
valuable service to the professions and trades to which
it appeals, by showing some of the numerous advances
made in our knowledge of that remarkable structure,
Timber, and the no less remarkable Trees that yield
it, gained by the study of modern botany, and especially
in its economic aspects, since the appearance of the
First Edition of this work nearly twenty years ago.
At the same time it had to be clearly understood
that the work should not be altered in character to
the extent of making it a formal text-book of
theoretical science.
The question whether I should be able to set
forth these matters in the limits of the book, and at
the same time retain all that is best of the popular
style and wide knowledge of his subject shown by
viii PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
the late Author, was a serious one, because it was at
once evident that I must almost entirely re-write
some parts of the book, and make material alterations
and additions.in others.
I have, wherever practicable, retained the numerous
Tables of Experiments and the Illustrations of the
First Edition. At the same time, it should be noted
that much has been done to advance our knowledge
of the technical properties of timber since Laslett
wrote, and the reader should consult the works of
Bauschinger, Rankine, Unwin, Lanza, and others, for
further experimental details on the strength of timber
as building material. In this connection, I have espe
cially to thank Mr. W. J. Luke for valuable suggestions
and assistance in revising the Tables and calculations
of the First Edition, and particularly corrections re
garding the formulae on p. 101 and the Appendix.
Those familiar with the First Edition will notice
that I have completely altered the arrangement of
the work in so far as to bring the timbers of the
"broad-leaved," or Dicotyledonous trees together, as
contrasted with those of the Conifers, in each case
treating of them according to the part of the world
they are found in. Important additions have been
made as regards the timbers of India, Australia, the
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
Cape, Natal, and others of our Colonies, thereby, I
believe, greatly enhancing the value of the work.
I trust, also, that those concerned will find the com
prehensive additions regarding the general characters
of timber and its uses, its defects, and the processes of
preserving it of value.
Those readers who wish to go further into the
literature of timber, and especially of the woods of
our Colonial possessions, will do well to consult the
various works quoted throughout the book, and to
visit the Timber Museum at Kew.* I do not
pretend to have enumerated all, but choice has been
made of some of the leading ones, and I take this
opportunity of acknowledging many obligations to
the works referred to. In order to facilitate reference
to the very numerous additions, especially among
the timbers of our Colonies, I have prepared an
index as complete as possible to all the names of
the trees concerned.
In conclusion, while it is too much to expect
that no omissions have been overlooked in a book
requiring so much labour, I hope that few will be
* An excellent guide to this has since been published, to which I owe
several corrections in the proof-sheets.
