Our Native Woods

It t a remarkable fact that, while in matiy parts of the went the tiaiber belts that are close at hand cootain an abundant sup[)ly of excellent building material, uearly all our huilding!, public and private, are furnished from basement to ridgepole with an inferior wood brought frora a distanee. For outside work in wooden -truetures, liüwever, this wood is the best that the country affords. I'ino shingles, when properly ruade and laid, and pine weathcr boards well painted, inake most effective coverings for roof and wall. liut when it comes to naide finishing, it U oertain that the builder would profit by a change of material. Thrce things are now exelusively used for inside work, namelv, pine, paint and piaster. All threeareobjri'tionable on the score of' ecouomy and good taste. For stuoco, (piaster of paris,) is superior to ooramon tuortar ; polish is netter than imint; and the native woods are certainly superior to pine. it is true that pine, being a soft wood, is easily worked, and that consequently pino windowand door-casings, base-lwards, etc., can be got out and put up with less expende than those of hard wood. Hut it is the Hoftness of pine that renders it unlit for inside finishing, since it is so easily defaced by the wear and tear to which it h subjected in living rooms. Moreover, pine casing", doors, etc , njust be covered with paint by reason of the fact that when left bare, or unGnished with oil, the wood grows dark and dingy. Not so with the hard wood.s that grow on the borders of mir siri;ims. Nearly all of them will take a polish, which, when finished with oil or coverttl with varnish, prenents a bright and beautiful surface that will last for centuries. a aupar raapie tioiru, ior instancc, wni, when well nea.ioned and well worked. shuw a white, MBOOttl, hard finish with fine and delicate training. (Jak, (both red and white,) furnislies a Mirdee that no fig ment can equal ; and the grain of the latter is, an everybody knoWB, especially rich and varied. So too, white ash, when reduced to Hmoothness, displays in its grain ing a variety of patterns which are lar more attractive thati any color whatever laid on with the bruh. Now these bripht, close-grained woods which are so imperish able and so susceptible of a beautiful poli-h, can be got at a lower rate per thoucand than pipe of a like grade. VVThy tlicMi, should wc go on using a defective wood for inside work. and covering it with spurious imitatiiiriH of the natural grains, whcn the genuine origináis, thus coaroly imitated, are within the reach of all? The intrinsic value of our native woods for ñoOt may be urged with equal force. It is true that if the floor is to be perpetually hidjdea by the uncleanly article, thecarpet, then third class pine is as good as any other lumber; but if a better taste should ever lead us to discard the dust gatheriog nuisance, then the hard woods will come in play. For the best and most desirable floors, wether piaio or ornamental, are made in this country of such woods as maple and oak.