USES OF WOOD. 223' 



at least no species of timber, is possessed of 

 both these qualities together in so great a degree 

 as British Oak. Almost all arts and manufac- 

 tures are indebted to it ; but in ship-building, 

 and bearing burdens, its elasticity and strength 

 are applied to most advantage. I mention these 

 mechanic uses only because some of its chief 

 beauties are connected with them. Thus it is not 

 the erect, stately tree that is always the most 

 useful in ship-building ; but more often the 

 crooked one, forming short turns, and elbows, 

 which the shipwrights and carpenters commonly 

 call knee-timber. This too is generally the most 

 picturesque. Nor is it the straight, tall stem, 

 whose fibres run in parallel lines, that is the most 

 useful in bearing burdens : but that whose sinews 

 are twisted and spirally combined. This too is 

 the most picturesque. Trees under these circum- 

 stances generally take the most pleasing forms. 

 Xow the Oak, perhaps, acquires these different 

 modes of growth from the different strata through 

 which it passes. In deep, rich soils, where the 

 root meets no obstruction, the stem, we suppose, 

 grows stately and erect : but when the root meets 



