APPLICATION OF THE METHOD. 45 



distance from its neighbour, the bole covers itself 

 with epicormic branches and becomes knotty, 

 especially in the case of the peduncled oak. 



Both are trees of great longevity, of great height, 

 and capable of attaining immense girth. Their 

 sapwood, the thickness of which is sometimes con- 

 siderable, decays rapidly, and it is essential to cut it 

 out from timber intended for any important use. 



USES. The oak is employed in large works by sea 

 and by land, is almost the only material used as staves 

 for wine and brandy casks, and sawn up, yields most 

 valuable planking. The bark of young trees is in 

 great demand for tanning purposes. Coppice shoots, 

 standards, and high forest trees of medium age yield, 

 when barked, a firewood of fairly good quality ; but 

 the wood of old oak trees flies to pieces in the fire, 

 and burns badly in open grates. Oak charcoal is in 

 demand for smelting mineral ores. 



Although the quality of the wood yielded by these 

 oaks may be as varied as the soils and climates in 

 which they grow, still it may be said in a general way 

 that the peduncled oak chiefly furnishes beams and 

 large pieces for building purposes, while the wood of 

 the sessile-flowered variety is more in demand for 

 those industries which use sawn and split in 

 other words worked up timber. The bark of the 

 latter, too, is the more valuable. 



EOTATION. To meet these various demands, large 

 trees are much the best, because for a given volume, 

 the loss in working up is less ; large oak alone can 

 be profitably worked up into staves or sawn so as to 

 show the silver grain. Thus wherever the trees can 



