who had a preceptory here. It measured, in 1906, 72 feet high by 13 feet 9 inches in girth, but has the habit of typica rather than of 'acerifolia.
In Wales the finest plane that I have seen is a tall tree growing near the icehouse at Dynevor Castle. In 1906 it measured about 100 feet by 10½ feet with a clean trunk about 4o feet long.
In Scotland we have seen no plane remarkable for size, but there is one growing in the grounds at Benmore, Argyllshire, which has a curious resemblance in its foliage to the occidental plane.
In Ireland, the largest London plane, seen by Henry, is growing at Lismore Castle, and measures 12 feet 10 inches in girth, with an estimated height of about go feet. Mr. R.D. O'Brien informs us that a tree at Cooper Hill, near Limerick, is 10 feet 5 inches in girth, with a spread of 74 feet in diameter.
Timber
The wood of the plane is so little known in the timber trade of this country that it is not even mentioned by "Acorn," except as a name in use for sycamore, which is commonly called plane in Scotland; and in a recent letter in the Timber Trade Journal, what is known as lace-wood in the trade is spoken of as wood of the sycamore, imported from America, though it is really that of Platanus occidentalis. The ignorance which prevails among English timber merchants and builders about many of our useful woods is remarkable, and has led to many lawsuits, but there is no doubt that the wood of the oriental plane is one of much greater value than is supposed, both for ornamental work and for coach-building,
Mr. George Berry of Longleat[1] says that the timber of the plane tree is used almost exclusively by coach-builders and pianoforte-makers. No wood takes the paint and stands so well for the sides of large waggonettes as this. In the case of pianos, it was used exclusively for bridges, the toughness and hardness enabling the pins to be most securely held. He considers that plane timber exported from America is of very inferior value as compared with that of English growth.
Dr. Day sent me from the Lebanon a large board which shows a very beautiful and varied figure produced by the medullary rays, and I have seen in Prof. Sargent's house at Brookline, near Boston, very handsome panelling made of the wood of the western species. This wood is converted into veneer or three-ply, and sold as lace-wood, for covering the walls of rooms, and would make very pretty furniture if properly cut and seasoned. Gamble says that the wood is not valued in Kashmir, except to make boxes, trays, pencases, and similar articles, which are lacquered or painted. I have seen very ornamental boxes made from this wood in Russia.(H.J.E.)
- ↑ Garden, xxii. 83 (1882).
