1788 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



and the leaves sit close to the twig, without the intervention of any foot- 

 stalks." (p. 66.) This was published in 1793, a circumstance which we con- 

 sider worthy of notice, as proving that the superiority of the timber of Q. 

 pedunculata was known to practical men before that period. In 1827, an 

 experiment was made in the New Forest, Hampshire, with a piece of the best 

 oak timber grown in the forest that could be procured. It was reduced to 

 the dimensions of 5 in. square, and 1 1 ft. long, placed on two firm supports, 

 exactly 1 1 ft. apart ; and it was found that 4f tons 3 qr. 17 Ib. were required 

 to break the beam. The experiment was performed in the presence of Lord 

 Lowther, at that time First Commissioner of Woods and Forests, and other 

 government officers j and an account of it was laid before the Royal Institu- 

 tion in June, 1827. 



Whatever may have been established theoretically respecting the compara- 

 tive properties of the wood of the two species, yet, practically, they are al- 

 most alike employed both in territorial and naval constructions and machinery. 

 The wood of the oak is more durable, in every state in which it can be placed, 

 than that of any other tree which abounds in large quantities in Europe. It is 

 hard, tough, tolerably flexible, strong, without being too heavy, not easy 

 to splinter, and not readily penetrated by water ; and hence its value in ship- 

 building. Some woods are harder, but they are more fragile ; and others are 

 more flexible, but do not possess so much toughness, hardness, and durability. 

 Where the grain is twisted, no timber is so well adapted for posts, either in 

 house-building or in setting up mills, engines, or large machines. No wood 

 lasts longer where it is subject to be alternately wet and dry ; and oak piles 

 have been known to endure many centuries. Shingles, pales, and laths 

 last longer of this wood than of any other; and casks, and every other descrip- 

 tion of cooper's work, are most durable, and best adapted for containing wines, 

 ales, and other liquors, when they are made of oak. Oak timber is particu- 

 larly esteemed Tor the spokes of wheels, for which the small slow-growing 

 oak of mountainous districts is greatly preferred to the more rapid-growing 

 and larger oak of the valleys. Oaks of from 15 to 30 years' growth make 

 the most durable poles. The young tree, when from 5 ft. to 10 ft. high, makes 

 excellent hoops, which, Evelyn says, we ought to substitute for those of hazel 

 and ash, as they are six times more durable : it also makes the very best walk- 

 ingsticks, and very good handles to carters' whips. Of the roots, Evelyn says, 

 were formerly made hafts to daggers, handles to knives, tobacco-boxes, mathe- 

 matical instruments, tablets for artists to paint on instead of canvass, and elegant 

 camleted joiners' work. Oak wood, every one knows, is preferred before all 

 others for ship-building, in the temperate regions of both hemispheres. The 

 Q. pedunculata (the chene blanc of the French), from its toughness, does not 

 splinter when it is struck by a cannon ball, and the hole made by a ball is con- 

 sequently much easier to plug up ; but it is said, on the other hand, that this 

 species, when it is grown in good soil, somewhat moist, contains a great deal of 

 white or sap wood, which soon begins to decay, and, proceeding rapidly, ulti- 

 mately destroys the heart wood. (Nich. Obs., &c., p. 44.) Secondat (Mem. du 

 Chene, p. 3.) attributes the property of not splintering, when pierced with 

 bullets, to the wood of Q. sessiliflora; which, he says, the English had a great 

 deal of formerly, and valued highly for the construction of ships, and which he 

 describes as a tree attaining a prodigious size and height, and only succeeding 

 in good soil : but, as these characters belong more to Q. pedunculata than to 

 Q. sessiliflora, at least according to Willdenow, Bosc, and other authors, 

 we conclude that Secondat has here mistaken the name of the kind to 

 which he has assigned these properties. The best oak for ship purposes, 

 according to Jaume St. Hilaire, is that which is grown in the south of 

 France ; and the best ships in the world, he says, are built in Toulon, or in 

 Spain. The worst oak for ship-building, according to this author, is that sent 

 to Britain from Dantzic, and other ports of the Baltic. The bark of both 

 species is indiscriminately used for tanning, though that of Q. sessiliflora is 



