CHAP. CV. CORYLA‘CER. QUE’RCUS. 1811 
sap is worked with the heart of oak (as it sometimes is), it will ultimately 
tend to weaken and injure the building wherein it is used ; for, however fair 
and well it may appear at first, it will most assuredly decay in a short time.” 
(p. 75.) “ For want of examining the original thickness of the sap [wood] of 
oak trees, and the progress of its decay, and from finding so much of young trees 
wasted by the decaying of their sappy coats (which generally occupy a consi- 
derable space, particularly if the trees were very vigorous at the time of their 
being felled), some have been led to imagine that, by trees lying for any 
length of time, the sap [wood] increases in its thickness, or that part of the 
heart is transformed into sap again, which is by no means the fact ; and, if any 
part of the heart were subject to such change by so lying, there can be no 
reason assigned why, in the process of time, the whole should not undergo 
the like change: but this is absurd, and contradicted by experience; for, after 
the sappy parts are once formed into perfect wood, it ever remains in that 
state until it naturally decays.” (p. 76.) 
In felling oak trees the heads of which contain crooked pieces fit for par- 
ticular purposes in ship-building, care should be taken either to cause the tree 
to fall on a side that will not injure the crooks, or to separate the branches 
containing these before cutting down the trunk. South mentions the Langley 
Oak, which was felled in 1758, in the New Forest, and which had a large head, 
full of knees and crooks. He thus describes the mode in which these were 
preserved : —“ The knees and crooks were cut off, one by one, whilst the tree 
was standing, and lowered by tackles, to prevent their breaking. The two 
largest arms were sawed off at such distances from the bole as to make first- 
rate knees; scaffolds were then erected, and two pit-saws being braced toge- 
ther, the body was first cut across, half through, at the bottom, and then 
sawed down the middle, perpendicularly, between the two stumps of arms that 
had been left, at the end of one of which stood a perpendicular bough, bigger 
than most timber trees. To prevent this being injured, a bed was made of 
some hundreds of faggots, to catch it when it fell.” (Bath Society’s Papers, 
vol. vi. p. 8.) 
Oak Copse is cut down at various periods between J5 and 30 years; the rule 
being, that the principal stems of the plants, at 1 ft. from the ground, should 
not be less than 6 in. in diameter. In favourable soils in the south and west 
of England, this size will be obtained in from 12 to 15 years; as, for example, at 
Moccas Court ; but in the colder climate, and in the inferior soil, of the High- 
lands of Scotland, from 25 to 30 years are required. The cutting over of 
copse is performed at the same season as that in which full-grown trees are 
felled, when in both cases the bark is an object as well as the timber; but, in 
the cutting over of coppice trees, it is necessary to bear in mind, that the stools 
are intended to shoot up again, so as to produce another crop. To facilitate 
this, they require to be cut over smoothly, so as not to lodge water ; and close 
to the ground, in order that the shoots for future branches may proceed at 
once from the roots, and not at some distance over them; in which case they 
would be liable to be blown off. (See the chapter on coppice wood, in 
the Encyclopedia of Arboriculture.) 
Disbarking the Oak. The season for disbarking the oak for the tanner is later 
than that for disbarking the birch, the larch, the willow, or any other tree 
the bark of which is sufficiently valuable to be taken off. In most of the trees 
mentioned, the sap will be found sufficiently in motion towards the end of 
April: but the oak, relatively to these trees, will always be found a month 
later. As the mode of performing the operation, and managing the bark 
afterwards, till it is sold to the tanner, is the same in all trees, we shall defer 
giving it till we treat on the subject of arboriculture generally. 
Accidents, Diseases, Insects, Epiphytes, §c. The British oak is not subject 
either to many accidents, or to many diseases; but, like every other plant, 
it has its parasitical and epiphytical vegetation ; and it is infested by numerous 
insects. 
Accidents, Oaks are said to be more frequently struck by lightning than 
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