272, THE OAK. 
Oak timber has long since acquired a just celebrity ; and 
there is scarcely any purpose to which it is not applicable. 
If strength or durability, or even elegance, is required, it is 
resorted to; and it is prized in times of peace as well as war. 
It is esteemed in our manufactories of household furniture 
and of spirit casks, in architecture, in the peaceable pursuits of 
agriculture, but above all in shipbuilding. Shakespeare, with 
reference to the compact texture and knotty character of the 
tree, describes it as “ the unwedgeable and gnarled oak.” The 
contorted figure in which the boughs are frequently found 
enhances their value in some parts of the country where there 
is a demand for shipbuilding timber. For this reason the 
means generally employed in the raising of straight timber, 
namely, the closeness of trees to one another, or pruning in 
order to direct the energies of the tree to the top, are departed 
from in the cultivation of naval timber. The oak should be 
allowed a considerable space to ramify. When it has advanced 
to the height of ten or twelve feet, if it is inclined to a straight 
figure, the leading shoot should be cut off, and two or three 
of the lateral branches which take a horizontal range in a 
direction where there is sufficient space for their growth should 
be left, and at the same time the next strongest branches should 
be shortened in order to impede their progress. This method 
generally occasions crooked trunks, which, of whatever bend 
they be, are always for shipbuilding more valuable than straight 
ones. In some cases the shoots left will incline to the per- 
pendicular, and not in a crooked figure; but of trees thus 
treated a far greater number will be found of a superior mould 
for naval purposes than of those whose straight leaders have 
not been removed. In the absence of a demand, however, for 
shipbuilding timber, straight, clean oak timber has lately been 
sought after, at from 2s. to 3s. per cubical foot. 
The British oak sometimes produces a great profusion of 
oak-galls, which is believed to detract from the growth of 
timber in the tree. The chief products of galls are tur- 
meric and gallic acid. They are much used in the manufac- 
ture of ink, and in dyeing; and in medicine they form the 
