CHAPTER XVII. 



THE OAK (Quercus) (continued}. 



THE foregoing are the principal European Oaks at 

 present employed in this country ; others have occa- 

 sionally been brought in, and there are many new and 

 extensive sources of supply open to us whenever it may 

 be necessary to draw upon them. 



A few years since I surveyed several fine forests of 

 Oak in Belgium, consisting chiefly of trees of straight 

 growth and superior dimensions. The wood of these 

 was less hard and horny, and of slightly inferior quality 

 to the English and French Oaks, but otherwise it was 

 quite suitable for architectural and other works. There 

 is, therefore, reason to believe that much good timber 

 might be drawn thence. Very good samples of Oak 

 timber have been imported from Piedmont. The quality 

 closely resembles that of the Oak found in the west of 

 France. 



Parcels of Dutch or Rhenish Oak were a short time 

 since brought into the London market ; they were all 

 apparently cut from a dwarfish tree which yielded only 

 short thick pieces of timber, and these were dressed to 

 produce a greater curve than was natural to them; with 

 the view to make them appear fit for use in ship-building. 

 The wood was brown in colour, plain in grain, of a 



