THE OAK. 31 



good quality is found in either of the species, the other 

 possesses in somewliat greater or less degree, and there is 

 little doubt that both will long continue to be applied 

 indifferently to purposes where solidity, strength, and 

 durability are required. 



But the Oak begins to be valuable long before it has 

 attained such a size as renders it fit for ship and house- 

 building. " The ground Oak, while young, is used for 

 poles, cudgels, and walking-staffs, much come into mode 

 of late, but to the waste of many a hopeful plant which 

 might have proved good timber ; and I the rather declaim 

 against the custom because I suspect they are such as are 

 for the most part cut and stolen by idle persons, and 

 brought up to London in great bundles, without the 

 knowledge or leave of the owners, Avho would never have 

 gleaned their copses for such trifling uses." ^ 



According to Loudon, the proper age at which Oak 

 copse should be cut down varies from " fifteen to thirty 

 years, the rule being that the principal stems of the 

 plants, at one foot from the ground, should not be less 

 than six inches in diameter. In favourable soils in the 

 south and west of England this size will be obtained in 

 from twelve to fifteen years ; but in the colder climate 

 and inferior soil of the Highlands of Scotland from twenty- 

 five to thirty years are required. The cutting over of 

 copse is performed at the same season as that in which 

 full-grown trees are felled, when in both cases the bark is 

 an object as well as the timber." The timber-merchant 

 and the painter, if called to give an opinion on any par- 

 ticular Oak, would, in all probability, greatly differ. To the 

 former, a clean, straight, and regular stem would suggest 

 calculations as to the number of cubic feet of timber it would 

 be found to contain when the axe, and square, and saw 

 should have done their work. A well-grown tree, there- 

 fore, in the vigour of its age, will be to him the perfection 



1 Evelyn. 



