OAKS. 257 



e -43. p' -59. c 4214. cf -556. v' -99, and is, therefore, decidedly 

 inferior in strength to good English-grown Oak. It is carefully 

 sorted or " bracked " for market, the planks of best or " crown " 

 quality being marked W, those of second best or " crown brack " 

 quality WW. Riga Oak, a very similar wood, also probably 

 sessili/ldra, only comes to market in "wainscot logs" of moderate 

 dimensions, for furniture or veneers, for which purposes it is the 

 finest quality in the trade. 



From Italy and Spain a variety of Oak timbers were formerly 

 imported to our dockyards, partly the produce of varieties of 

 Q. Bdbur, but partly apparently from the evergreen Cork and 

 Holm Oaks (Q. Suber L. and Q. Ilex L.). Most of this wood 

 was comparatively small, curved, brown, hard, horny, tough, 

 difficult to saw or work, and very liable to shakes and, therefore, 

 unsuitable for boards. 



Oak, Turkey (Qu^rcus Ctrris L.). Middle and Southern 

 Europe and South-west Asia. Known also as "Adriatic, Iron, 

 Wainscot" or "Mossy-cupped Oak." Germ. "Zerreiche." A 

 tall species with straight, clean stems, hard-wooded in the south 

 and in plains, softer in the north or on hills, very liable to 

 ring and star shakes. Sapwood broader than in Q. R6bur 

 heart a redder brown ; broad pith-rays more numerous. On the 

 whole inferior. 



Throughout Europe, and more especially in Britain, Oak was 

 employed for every purpose both of naval and civil architecture 

 until about the beginning of the eighteenth century, when Pine 

 was first largely imported from the Baltic and North America. 

 In our dockyards Oak continued to be in large demand until 

 about 1865, all other hard and heavy woods used in shipbuilding 

 being compared with it as a standard and described as "Oak- 

 substitutes." Oak has, however, one serious drawback in this 

 connection, viz., the presence of a powerful wood acid which 

 exerts a rapidly corrosive action upon any iron in contact with 

 it, this rusting being apt in turn to react upon the timber, 

 producing rot. With the introduction of armour-plating and 

 steel ships, wood of any kind has become far less important 



