60 K0SACE.E. 



as a nurse or intermediate occupant in mixed plantations, 

 and where the oak is intended to remain as the ultimate 

 crop, and also as an underwood applicable to various minor 

 purposes, we have no hesitation in recommending it strongly 

 to the attention of the planter, feeling assured he will find 

 it much better calculated to repay him for its occupancy 

 in all its stages than several other trees, which unfortu- 

 nately are now too frequently introduced in mixed planta- 

 tions, such as the beech, wych elm, or even the ash, ex- 

 cept where the latter is intended to form the principal and 

 ultimate crop of timber. In a soil of tolerable quality, 

 provided it be not too wet, the Gean frequently attains a 

 height of from sixty to seventy feet in the course of fifty or 

 sixty years, with a trunk of proportionate size, and large 

 enough for all general purposes ; in this state its wood is 

 of great value, being of a firm strong texture, red coloured, 

 close grained, easily worked, and susceptible of a fine 

 polish : these qualities render it a desirable material to the 

 cabinet maker, and the furniture made of it is little if at 

 all inferior, both in respect to beauty and durability, to that 

 of the plainer kinds of mahogany. 



In this country, where the wood just mentioned has in a 

 great measure superseded all other kinds in our articles of 

 furniture, and where the Cherry tree has never been culti- 

 vated to any extent as a timber-tree, it is rare to meet 

 with specimens of furniture made of its wood ; but in 

 France and other parts of the continent, where it abounds, 

 it is extensively used for this and various other purposes, 

 and is eagerly purchased by the cabinet maker, the turner, 

 and the musical instrument maker. Its value, however, is 

 not restricted to the uses made of it by those artisans, it 

 is equally applicable to out-of-door uses and general caiv 

 pentry ; and where exposure to the atmosphere or the 



