THE OAK. 7 



of which is known to be very worthless. But what is 

 of more importance to us is, that, de facto, the impos- 

 tor abounds, and is propagated vigorously in the New 

 Forest and other parts of Hampshire, in Norfolk, and 

 the northern counties, and about London; and there 

 is but too much reason to believe that the numerous 

 complaints that were heard about our ships being 

 infested with what was called, improperly enough, 

 dry-rot, were owing to the introduction of this spe- 

 cies of oak into the naval dockyards, where, we 

 understand, the distinction was not even suspected. 

 It may thus be discriminated from the true old Eng- 

 lish oak: the acorn-stalks of the Robur are long and 

 its leaves short, whereas the Sessiliflora has the acorn- 

 stalks short and the leaves long; the acorns of the 

 former grow singly, or seldom two on the same foot- 

 stalk: those of the latter in clusters of two or three, 

 close to the stem of the branch. We believe the Rus- 

 sian ships of the Baltic, that are not of larch or fir, 

 are built of this species of oak; but if this were not 

 the case, their exposure on the stocks, without cover, 

 to the heat of summer, which, though short, is exces- 

 sive, and the lifts and chinks, which fill up with ice 

 and snow in the long winter, are enough to destroy 

 the stoutest oak, and quite sufficient to account for 

 their short-lived duration." 



When the oak stands alone, it is a spreading rather 

 than an elevated tree: in that situation the timber is 

 also said to be more compact and firm, and the 

 crooked arms of the trees are better adapted for ship- 

 building than when the trees are close together. In 

 thickly planted groups, the oak will reach an eleva- 

 tion of eighty or a hundred feet before it begins to 

 decay; and in some of the choicer trees, forty, fifty, 

 or even sixty feet may be found without a single 

 lateral branch, and of such diameter that, even at the 

 smaller extremity, they will square to eighteen inches 

 or two feet. These are as well adapted for beams 



