Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/187

XXIV.] {| Vertical Experiments on cubes of— of the specimen. E = 972320. S = 3393.
 * rowspan=2|Number
 * rowspan=2|Number
 * 1 Inch.
 * 2 Inches.
 * 3 Inches.
 * 4 Inches.
 * Crushed with
 * Crushed with
 * Crushed with
 * Crushed with
 * Tons.
 * Tons.
 * Tons.
 * Tons.
 * 13–16
 * 3.000
 * 15.875
 * 36.625
 * 61.75
 * 17–20
 * 3.250
 * 16.750
 * 36.500
 * 63.75
 * 21, 22
 * 3.125
 * 16.000
 * 23, 24
 * 2.875
 * 14.750
 * Total
 * 12.25
 * 63.375
 * 73.125
 * 125.50
 * Average
 * 3.062
 * 15.844
 * 36.562
 * 62.75
 * Do. per in.
 * 3.062
 * 3.961
 * 4.06
 * 3.922
 * }
 * 125.50
 * Average
 * 3.062
 * 15.844
 * 36.562
 * 62.75
 * Do. per in.
 * 3.062
 * 3.961
 * 4.06
 * 3.922
 * }
 * 3.922
 * }

THE LIGNUM VTLE TREE (Guaiacum)

is found on several of the West India Islands, and in many other places, but the chief supplies come from St. Domingo and Bahama. It attains, in the former, the diameter of 22 inches, and some 30 to 40 feet in length; but the Bahama is generally very small.

The wood is dark brown, or rather greenish black, in colour, very hard, heavy, strong, and close and wiry in the grain; it is difficult to work in any fashion, but there is nothing equal to it for the making of sheaves for blocks, and when employed in this way it wears well, and seems almost imperishable. I have examined some sheaves after they had been in use for 50 to 70 years, and found them perfectly good, and fit for further service.

The sap-wood is yellow in colour, ¾ to 1 inch in thickness, and, like the sap of English Elm, is of such exceptionable character, that it is equally as good and durable as the heart-wood. In sheave making, a belt of