THE OAK 7 



for shipbuilding, these same acorns, now despised 

 by the advanced agriculturist, constituted the chief 

 value of the Oak. Thus in the Domesday Survey 

 the woodlands are estimated at the number of 

 swine for which their acorns and masts afforded 

 " pannage." 



Whatever may be the extension of the use of 

 iron, Oak timber will always be of peculiar value 

 for many purposes, though that important bye- 

 product, the bark, is of sufficient consequence con- 

 siderably to influence the English forester's treat- 

 ment of his woods. There is more tannin in the 

 bark in spring, when the sap is rising, than at 

 any other season, and it is, therefore, the common 

 practice to fell the trees at that season instead 

 of in winter, though for timber only it is admit- 

 tedly preferable to fell in the latter period. 



The most expert judges cannot separate the 

 woods of the two best varieties. Few woods are so 

 durable under all circumstances, few so generally 

 useful. " Oak," says Professor Marshall Ward, " is 

 neither the hardest and heaviest, nor the most 

 supple and toughest of woods, but it combines in 

 a useful manner the average of these qualities." 



The broad, lustrous, light-coloured pith-rays, and 

 the pore-circle of large vessels in the spring wood 

 are the most striking features of Oak wood when 

 magnified. Even the crooked branches are valuable 

 in boat-building ; but the familiar inky stains round 

 the nails of many a park-fence show that the 

 tannic acid in the wood is detrimental to iron, 

 converting it, in fact, into ink, as it does in the 



