302 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



cessary to particularise the phenomena. The fact is not so apparent 

 in the soft parts, although we cannot doubt of its existence. 



OAK. Among the most useful of ike productions of temperate 

 climates are the different species of oak, truly the pride of the north- 

 ern hemisphere, to which part of the globe they are almost exclu- 

 sively confined, with the the exception of a few on the mountainous 

 parts of the equatorial regions. They are shrubs, or trees, many of 

 them of the largest size. More than eighty species are known, of 

 which one half inhabit North America, either within the territory of 

 the United States, or on the mountains of Mexico. Among the va- 

 rious uses to which the wood is applied, the most important is ship 

 building. The European oak is tougher and more durable than our 

 own ; but if the American vessels are more liable to decay than the 

 European, it is more owing to the timber not being thoroughly sea- 

 soned, than to any other cause. In Europe, it is usual, after stripping 

 the oak of its bark, to leave it standing for three or four years before 

 it is cut lor use. The European oak, which is most common there, 

 and is so highly prized ibr its wood, has leaves resembling those of 

 our white oak, and it attains a height of from sixty to one hundred 

 feet, with a trunk six to twelve feet or more in circumference. 



Previous to the introduction of mahogany, oak was much used for 

 furniture. Old specimens produce a very beautiful effect when carved, 

 as may be seen in many of the large arid ancient European mansions 

 as well as churches. Some of those specimens denote a magnificent 

 size attained by the tree, as well as a beautiful texture. In Dudley 

 Castle there is, or was, an oak table seventy -five feet long and three 

 feet wide, formed from one plank ; and at Goodrich Castle is an oak 

 beam sixty-six feet long by two feet square its whole length. The 

 mainmast of the Royal Sovereign, built in the reign of Charles I., 

 was ninety-nine feet long by three feet diameter at the lower end, and 

 formed out of one piece of oak. These samples will give an idea of 

 the size to which the oak in Europe has attained. The quantity 

 of this timber used, especially in ship-building, is as wonderful as the 

 magnitude of the trees. It is said that fifty acres of oak plantation 

 are required to produce the timber for a seventy-four gun ship ; and 

 that when the British Royal Navy was the largest, say in the early 

 part of the present century, the ships composing it contained in their 

 structure more than eleven hundred thousand loads of oak. 



OAK BARK. The bark of the oak, which is very useful in tan- 

 ning. The bark of oak trees was formerly thought to be extremely 

 useful in vegetation. One load, Mr. Mills in his Treatise on 

 Husbandry informs us, of oak bark, laid in a heap and rotted, after 

 the tanners have used it for dressing of leather, will do more service 

 to stiffen cold land, and its effects will last longer than two loads of 

 the richest dung ; but this has been strenuously controverted. The 

 bark, in medicine, is also a strong astringent ; and hence is recom- 



