324 SALE AND TRANSPORT OF PRODUCE 



if there be a reasonable market within a reasonable distance. 

 In all cases the higher prices indicate the best quality timber, 

 and usually that of large dimensions ; whereas, the lower 

 prices are for small or inferior timber : 



OAK (Pedunculate or Sessile) : 



Uses. High-class building work, window- and door-sills, 

 coffins, panelling, church fittings, ship-building, cask 

 staves, furniture, railway and other waggon building, 

 spokes, parquet flooring, ladder rungs, railway " keys," 

 posts, piles, groynes, gates, and fencing, and, in fact, 

 wherever great strength and durability are required. 



Note. The pedunculate is the stronger and harder wood of 

 the two. 



"Brown" Oak. In some cases, when Oak are 

 felled, they are seen to be " Brown," though apparently 

 healthy, and the timber is quite sound. Such Brown 

 Oak have a great value, though not now so highly 

 prized as formerly. The timber is cut into veneers, 

 and used for ornamental furniture, picture frames, 

 cabinets, fancy boxes, etc. 



Oak "burrs," 1 and Pollard Oak. Often large 

 " burrs," or cushion-like excrescences, from which a 

 mass of small twigs are growing, are found on the 

 trunks of Oak trees (and other trees), and after the 

 same manner, large cushions are found at the top of 

 the trunks of Pollard Oaks, where they have been 

 periodically pollarded. These burrs or cushions are 

 of great value. They are very ornamental, and are 

 cut into veneers, which present an appearance some- 

 what like " Bird's eye " Maple, owing to the partial 

 development of a mass of latent buds. 



The veneers are used for ornamental furniture, etc. 



1 The primary cause of these " burrs " must generally be ascribed to 

 various errors in sylvicultural management, which result in the flushing 

 of latent buds ; whereas the secondary cause, which prevents normal 

 development, is most usually due to spring and autumn frosts ; though 

 there are other causes, such as repeated damage by deer or cattle ; 

 fungous disease of the young twigs (? Myxoderma\ etc., etc. 



