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Hhiiie from the places of its growth, which are nearly in tlie fame 

 parallel of Northern latitude with oiirfelves. The Oak which we 

 have from Riga, Koningfberg, and Dantzick, is very periOiable, and 

 of a fpongy nature, becaufe it grows in a colder climate, and increafes 

 in it's bulk much more flowly than that before-mentioned ; but yet 

 this wood, though fo perifliable, is deemed the beft for making beer- 

 barrels, becaufe it does not impart any ill tafte to the beer, the rea- 

 fon of which I take to be, that in cold climates the Oak does not ac- 

 quire fo much acrid fait as it does in warmer ones ; but I do be- 

 lieve, that if the better fpecies of Oak, after being cleft into ftaves, 

 were to be foaked in water for a certain time, this acrid fait would 

 beextra6led from it, and that the cafks made of it would be greatly 

 fuperior to thole m.ade of Riga Timber. 



The Oak, as has been before obferved, in the beginning of its 

 growth every fpring, produces very large veflels, but the reft of the 

 year much fmaller ones ; confequently, wlien the tree fo flouriflies 

 as to acquire an increafe in it's femi-diameter, or on one fide of it's 

 outward furface, of one half, one third, or a quarter of an inch, 

 there will be in this fpace only one feries, or row of inch large vef- 

 fels ; but on the contrary, where the increafe is flow, then, with- 

 in the fame fpace of one half, one third, or a quarter of an inch, there 

 will be formed from twenty to ten, or eleven fuch rows of large vef- 

 fels. This great number of large veflels in fo Ihiall a fpace, not 

 only renders the wood very porous and brittle, but alfo very perifli- 

 able, efpecially if it is ufed in works expofed to much moiflure, and 

 where there is no free current of air : and hence it is, that fliips 

 built of French or Englifh Oak, are much more durable than thofe 

 built of timber growing in the more Northern and cold countries. 



In order, more clearly, to explain the nature of the bell Oak 

 timber, let us revert to fig. 2, reprefenting a portion of a tree which, 

 in one year, had acquired in thicknefs almoft a fixth part of an inch 



