284 HOW TO GROW GOOD TIMBER. 



would also appear that in the New Forest the 

 Q. sessiliflora is also frequently met with. 



Quercus Mobur sessiliflora may be generally de- 

 scribed as of a more upright and formal habit. Limbs 

 straighter and less gnarled. Bark usually smoother 

 than the former. The leaf has many sinuosities, and 

 is set on a comparatively long leaf-stalk (petiole) 

 (Plate II. fig. a). 



The fruit j on the contrary, is so nearly sessile that 

 it may be said to have little more than the indication 

 of a peduncle (fig. b). 



We have already stated our opinion that the sessile- 

 fruited oak does not usually attain the huge dimen- 

 sions of the pedunculate form ; but on the other hand 

 we incline to the belief that it grows more rapidly, 

 and is best adapted for a lighter soil than the latter. 

 There are conditions which might to a greater or less 

 extent affect the quality of its timber, but we do not 

 think that there is much difference in this respect. 

 We believe that their wood has been used indifferently, 

 and the quality is influenced by surrounding circum- 

 stances. Selby, in his "History of Forest Trees," 

 states on this head : — " The result, perhaps, of some 

 original constitutional defect, or arising from the 

 nature of the soil, situation, or other local peculiar- 

 ities of the ground upon which the timber has been 

 raised ; such at least is the result of our own. expe- 

 rience, as we have met with oak of the pedimcled 

 kind, its timber possessing all the inferior qualities 

 attributed to, and supposed to be possessed exclu- 

 sively by, Q. sessiliflora." The longer, straighter 

 spars of the Sessiliflora, in days when oak was so uni- 

 formly used for roofs, seem to have pointed out this 



