XXV.] 



AFRICAN OAK. 



301 



but varying considerably from that form, and taking, 

 generally, the most irregular shapes (Fig. 27). Some- 

 times they are angular, at other times they have a thick 

 and a thin edge, resembling, in some degree, a "feather- 

 edge" board; again, we find they are neither tapered to 

 the natural growth of the tree, nor made parallel longi- 

 tudinally, but vary in thickness in that direction, leading 

 to a most serious waste of the raw material in the neglect 

 to preserve the fullest-sized square log obtainable from 

 the tree. 



It will naturally be inferred that, being thus awk- 

 wardly shaped, it is the most difficult of all timber to 

 measure correctly. 



Table CXX.— African (Africa). 

 Transverse Experiments. 



Remarks. — Nos. i, 3, and 4 broke with -a long fracture ; 2, 5, and 6, short, but 

 fibrous. 



