188 AMENTACE.E 



Portsmouth Dockyard, on timber taken out of the Vindictive, a ship into 

 which some marked specimens had been purposely introduced. When tested 

 as to strength, it was found that while Common Oak from the same ship 

 broke, on an average, under a weight of 931 lbs., only bending 4^ inches, the 

 Durmast sustained, on an average, the Aveight of 1,032 lbs., and was bent 

 5 1 inches before breaking. The experiment served to convince the dockyai^d 

 authorities that they were wrong in rejecting the Durmast; and this Oak is 

 now in great request in the Ncav Forest. All writers admit that this grows 

 faster than the Common Oak ; but Professor Lindley observes that there is 

 no reason for believing that timber of slow groAvth is invariably preferal)le 

 to that which has grown more quickly. 



For the purpose of showing that the prevailing belief of the want of 

 durability in Durmast was a mistake, a number of specimens of the timber, 

 still in good preservation, were exhibited to the Society. " The durability 

 of the Common Oak," says Professor Lindley, "hardly requires proof, it 

 was nevertheless illustrated by pieces of timber taken out of Windsor Castle 

 Avhen under repairs, and by portions of an ancient canoe, or coracle, which 

 had been discovered about ten feet deep, at the bottom of the ' slopes ' of 

 Windsor Castle, by some workmen employed in digging a foundation for a 

 bridge ; with it were found deer's horns, hazel-nuts, etc. The age of this 

 relic, although unascertainable, must be very great, inasmuch as it was 

 probably left where it was found at some period when the Thames, or a 

 branch of it, reached the foot of the slopes — a time, no doubt, far more 

 remote than when ' Cowy stakes ' were driven into the bed of the Thames." 

 Other specimens of old Oak were also exhibited. Among the specimens of 

 ancient Durmast compared with these, were the following interesting relics : 

 Some timber from Glasgow Cathedral ; part of a beam from West Boldon 

 Church, in Durham, of a.d. 1300; pieces of the roof of Westminster Hall; 

 part of the timber of the Hospitium of St. Mary's Abbey, York, of about 

 A.D. 1400 ; a portion of a Saxon log-coffin — this and several other similar 

 coffins having been found in excavating for new houses in Parliament Street, 

 York ; and from the same city was sent part of a huge boss from the centre 

 of the roof of the choir of York Minster, built at the close of the fourteenth 

 century, and rescued from the fire in 1829. This half-burnt timber was in 

 as sound a state as when introduced into the building, as was also that of a 

 beam from Heslington Hall, which was built in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 



There is no doubt from these proofs that the Durmast timber is as durable 

 as that of the Common Oak. Professor Lindley adds : " There, however, 

 still remains the unanswered question — viz.. How far the quality of the Oak 

 timber, of either one species or the other, is dependent upon soil or climate. 

 It is certain that the Scotch foresters condemn the modern Durmast, as they 

 find it with them ; it is equally certain that the woodmen of Dean Forest 

 and the New Forest hold an opposite opinion. It is possible that the Dur- 

 mast, which is the common French species, requires a better climate than 

 that of Scotland." 



Many venerable Oak-trees yet stand in strength and beauty in various 

 parts of the land. The Leaden Oak, in Ampthill Park, was, even in the 

 time of Cromwell, thought too old for naval timber, and had, in a survey 



