Chapter VIII. 



GENERAL QUALITIES OF TDIBER, AND SOME 

 OF THE MORE RE:MARKABLE APPLICA- 

 TIONS OF IT.— FORESTS, AND PLANTING. 



As the qualities of the different species of timber 

 compared with each other have been mentioned in 

 the individual notices, httle else will be necessary 

 here than a mere catalogue of some of the leading' 

 properties. 



Oak is best on soils where it is the longest in 

 coming to maturity ; and when two specimens are 

 equally seasoned, their value may be ascertained by 

 trying which, bulk for bulk, is the heavier ; or by 

 soaking them in water till they can contain no more, 

 (and one very effectual way of doing this is by fixing 

 a disc of oak cut across the grain, in a cylindrical 

 jar containing a quantity of water from the top, and 

 exhausting the lower partof the jar by an air-pump); 

 and the one which is the heaviest in the dry way, or 

 has its weight the least increased by the water, is the 

 best. If an oak be dead at the main top, the centre 

 of the tree is sure to be in a state either of actual or 

 of incipient decay ; and it is not safe to use any part 

 of it for purposes where durability or strength is re- 

 quired. The same holds true of all deciduous trees — 

 evergreens are not so liable to be hollow, though many 

 of them become so in the course of a very long time. 

 An oak, or indeed almost any other tree that grows 

 singlv, or on the outside of the forest, is always more 

 firm and durable than one which grows within the 

 forest, and is partially sheltered ; and the more vari- 

 able the climate is, not so much witli regard to 

 seasons as to shorter periods, the timber is the more 



