33^ The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



gives in chapter xi. many proofs in support of his opinion that winter-felled oak is 

 better than spring-felled ; though the practice he recommends was to bark the trees 

 standing, and fell them in the succeeding winter, a custom which is still followed in 

 some parts in England. He also states, on page 73, that having carefully examined 

 and compared many pieces of both winter- and spring- or summer-felled logs, he found 

 almost invariably that the winter-cut timber, after being a few years in store, was in 

 better condition than that which had been cut in the spring. '* The winter-felled 

 logs were sounder, less rent by shakes, and the centres or early growths generally 

 showed less of incipient decay than the spring-felled." 



So much has been written about the timber of the oak that it seems unneces- 

 sary to go into very great detail with regard to this subject, especially as this timber, 

 of which little is now required for the navy, is being ousted by iron and by cheaper 

 imported timber from many of its former uses, and is of far less value than formerly ; 

 but though at the present time English oak is out of fashion, there is no doubt that 

 such durable and beautiful wood must always have a considerable value to those 

 who do not sacrifice durability to cheapness, and who have patience to wait until it 

 has been properly seasoned, which requires from two to six years according to the 

 thickness of the plank. 



There are so many proofs of its everlasting character in the form of roofs and 

 in the old timbered buildings which are common in Cheshire, and of which so many 

 beautiful illustrations are given in Country Life, that I need not repeat them, but an 

 extraordinary instance of its longevity when exposed to the weather was pointed out 

 to me by the late Lord Arundell of Wardour in the ruins of Wardour Castle. This 

 building, according to an account of it published in The Antiquary, November 23, 

 1873, was inhabited before the reign of Edward III., and was besieged and sacked 

 by the Parliamentary army in the reign of Charles I., and blown up by its owner, 

 Lord Arundell, in 1644, rather than allow it to remain in the hands of the enemy. 

 An oak lintel, which must therefore have been exposed to the weather for 260 years, 

 still remained in situ in 1903, and as far as I could see from below was not much 

 decayed. 



In a paper by W. Atkinson' it is said that during the last thirty years he had 

 taken every opportunity of procuring specimens of wood from old buildings, and 

 particularly what the carpenters called chestnut, but never in a single instance had 

 he seen a piece of chestnut, the wood so called being always that of Q. sessilifiora, 

 mistaken for chestnut from a deficiency of the flower or silver grain. He goes on 

 to say : " The roof of Westminster Hall has been said to be chestnut ; while it 

 was under repair I procured specimens from different parts of the roof, the whole 

 of them were oak, and chiefly the Q. sessilijlora. Most of the black oak from trees 

 dug out of the ground I have found to be of the same kind. From finding the 

 wood of the oldest buildings about London to be chiefly of the Q. sessilijlora, I 

 should suppose that some centuries ago the chief part of the natural woods were 

 of that kind ; at present the greater part of the oak grown in the south of England 

 is Q. pedunculata. Specimens of oaks that I have procured from different parts of 



Trans, ffort. Soc. Second Series, i. p. 336 (1835). 



