HARDWOOD OR BROAD-LEAF SECTION OF TREES 49 
An important trade from these sources is also done 
in staves for the making of barrels. These are obtained 
from some of the finest and straightest tree trunks, 
being cleft or split and afterwards hewn and cut into 
the various lengths and sizes fitted for the making of 
barrels of all descriptions. This business is extensive, 
and a large amount of the finest wood is so consumed. 
Austrian Oak.—From the Slavonian and Crotian 
forests, oak of similarly excellent description to the 
foregoing is obtained and exported from the Adriatic 
ports of Fiume and Trieste. It is shipped in the shape 
of billets, in converted planks and boards, in the form 
of cleft staves and other ways, the chief markets being 
France, England and Belgium. It is held in great 
esteem in England for all purposes where high class 
oak is necessary, and by many is considered to be a 
superior wood to the Russian. The export, however, 
is not so extensive in amount as that of the northern 
wood, the supply showing some signs of exhaustion. 
American White and Red Oak.—Very little of the latter 
mentioned variety is received in Great Britain, the wood 
being considered coarse, lacking in strength, and by the 
cabinet-makers as incapable of being ‘‘ fumed.” The 
first-named description was originally exported in logs, 
but this method was gradually superseded by the 
innovation of converting the same before shipment, 
and for the last thirty years this system has been 
generally common, the trade having been a progressively 
expansive one. 
The wood, while not so strong or so durable as English- 
grown oak, is generally clean and straight and possesses 
good working qualities, although, owing to the method 
of quick seasoning which is the rule in the country 
of its origin it is fendered hard and flinty to the 
workman’s tools. It is largely used for railway-wagon 
