94 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 



been customary in Britain that the natural habit 

 of this fine timber tree towards branch forma- 

 tion, and more especially the somewhat more 

 spreading tendency of the English or pedunculate 

 oak, as compared with the Durmast or sessile 

 oak, can be controlled so as to direct its energy 

 in growth towards the formation of a long clean 

 bole, free from thick branches causing knots 

 that would ultimately form weak spots in beams 

 and scantlings of timber. And it is equally 

 certain that this long, strong class of stem is 

 what will now fetch the highest price in the 

 timber market, because it yields the strongest 

 and best wood required for technical purposes. 

 Even more than 300 years ago it was recog- 

 nised that branching growth unfitted the oak 

 for certain purposes; and Holinshed speaks of 

 'most of the wainescot that is brought hither 

 out of Danske, for our wainescot is not made 

 in^ England.' 



Following the change in the market require- 

 ments there must of course, in the case of all 

 woods grown mainly for profit, be a correspond- 

 ing change in the method of growing wood to 

 supply these new demands. This is now being 



