XIII.] 



FRENCH OAK. 



79 



British 47*4 per cent. ; the yield was therefore as nearly 

 as possible the same in both cases.* 



Figs. 200 and 2O# show the method of hewing the 

 French Oak, whereby all the square wood that could be 

 obtained is preserved, by simply following the natural 

 taper or growth of tree, and, by so doing, there can be 

 little, if any, disadvantage, since, the measurements being 

 taken, as in English timber, at the middle, or half the 

 length of the log, the buyer would receive and pay for 

 the correct quantity contained in it. 



FIG. 20(5. 



The error in estimating its worth at the dockyards 

 was one of those things to which professional and prac- 

 tical men are occasionally liable, when they have long 

 been accustomed to a particular form or object, and are 

 unwilling to see in any change that an advantage may 

 sometimes be gained by its adoption. 



About eighty loads of French Oak timber of compass 

 form, that is, of pieces having at least 5 inches bend in 



* Since the foregoing was prepared I have referred to recent Blue 

 Books, and find that the conversions done in French Oak at the royal 

 dockyards are all favourable, the loss upon the French being less than 

 that on the English Oak by about 6 per cent. 



