OAK TIMBER 145 
and the wood is then softer and more porous, beautifully 
speckled, and shrinking little (fig. 39, middle). Such 
wood is excellent for sculpture and carving, and is very 
pretty ; it is also well adapted for cooperage. 
In deep soil of moderate quality, in hilly country, 
and growing as coppice under standards, we have a wood 
of irregular growth and not very valuable, but useful 
in an all-round way for sawing and splitting (fig. 39, 
bottom). 
Speaking generally, it is found that, other things 
being equal, the most resistant, closest, and toughest 
timber comes from isolated trees growing in the open; 
straight and long timber, less marked for the above 
qualities, comes, on the contrary, from trees grown in 
close, high forest. This is the conclusion arrived at by 
the naval authorities in France and England, and may 
be accepted as according with the facts of structure, &c, 
Some differences may be put down to the varieties, 
but probably Boppe is right in concluding that rate of 
growth, &c. due to differences in the soil and climate 
are the determining causes. 
The builder employs oak for sills, staircase treads, 
keys, wedges and trenails, gate-posts and doors, and 
superior joinery. 
Railway-sleepers are best made of young oak, as 
it is denser, and the Austrians say such sleepers last 
from seven to ten years if not treated, and for as long 
as sixteen years if treated with zinc chloride and other 
preservatives. 
