174 THE TIMBERS OF THE WORLD 



over 600 feet, and the smallest tree in the grove has 97 feet, which 

 is considered a big oak in many districts. . . . There is an oak of 

 remarkable size in another part of the Kyre estate. ... It is 113 feet in 

 total height, with a trunk nearly straight to about 90 feet high, where 

 the head begins, and 15 feet 10 inches in girth " (see page 172). 



Thus it will be seen that as against a diameter of 4 feet 2 inches and 

 4 feet 6 inches in the case of the two exceptional trees in Slavonia, among 

 sixteen trees at Kyre Park, the four largest have perhaps a larger diameter, 

 while the height of the lowest branch exceeds that of the Slavonian. 



The value of the British-grown tree exceeds that of the Continental, 

 yet in the spring of 1914 princely oaks were sold within fifty miles of 

 London at less than is. 9d. per foot cube, whereas I was told that in 

 Slavonia an equivalent of 7s. 6d. per foot cube had been paid for similar 

 trees for the English market. 



The accompanying illustrations ^ (pp. 173, 176) represent two oak 

 trees which grew in the Socna forest in Slavonia. The following were 

 the dimensions of the two main trunks : 



Tree A. Tree B. 



Complete height . . 130 feet (ciVca) 130 feet (circa) 



Height to lowest branch . . 42 feet 3 inches 35 feet 9 inches 



Diameter at height of 5 feet . . 4 feet 2 inches 4 feet 6 inches 

 Diameter at height of 22 feet 9 inches . 3 feet 6 inches 



Diameter at height of 35 feet 9 inches . Over 4 feet 



The wood of such venerable oak trees is often " over-ripe " or otherwise 

 faulty ; it is, in other words, more or less infected by wood-destroying 

 fungi, which are freely seen in similar reputedly virgin forests of Bohemia. 

 If the timber be only slightly affected it can be used in the manufacture of 

 furniture, but is not sufficiently good in quality for export. Large sound 

 trunks from Slavonia are dispatched mainly to Holland and Germany. 



The method of cutting Austrian oak into billets and wainscot wood 

 has already been described (see page 166). In this respect also the English 

 merchant shows a short-sighted policy with regard to the conversion of 

 the native timber. With the foreign oak the best methods to suit the 

 particular requirements of this country have been found and acted upon, 

 but there have been no such wise methods employed with the home-grown 

 product. The cost of conversion in this manner is naturally greater 

 than in the ordinary way, yet what is allowed to one timber is denied 

 to the other. Even where some one has had sufficient enterprise to 

 adopt this process with British oak he has received neither support nor 

 encouragement. The considerable demand in England for Austrian oak, 

 which depends to a large extent on the automatic repetition of specifica- 

 tions, arose for the following reasons. Many years ago it was found 



^ For these photographs and the accompanying information I am indebted to the 

 Photographic Studio " Etienne." 



