5 MARCH 1948, Page 14

Directional Grains Some allusion to the varying growth of tree

trunks on the North and South sides has recalled to a correspondent the experience of an old crafts- man and carver. His work chiefly consisted in preparing oak for half- timbered houses ; and he said that he could always tell whether any par- ticular piece of oak had grown on the North-West side of the tree. The side, he argued, more subject to tension reacted to his tools more readily than the side more frequently subject to compression. My experience with elms, though only through the agency of saw and axe, exactly corre- sponds. The South-East side is the softer.