304 OUR WOODLAND TREES. 
which is harder, other which is tougher : but none 
which so excellently combines these qualities ; and 
in the power of resisting decay Oak wood has no 
rival. A host of instances could be given in 
proof of the enduring qualities of Oak, and from 
these it may be safely deduced that in the same 
degree in which this noble growth of the forest 
retains its grasp upon life, its wood is endowed, 
when cut from the trunk, with the power of 
resisting the approach of decay. 
