CHAP. cv. coryla v ce;e. gue'rcus. 1811 



sap is worked with the heart of oak (as it sometimes is), it will ultimately 

 tend to weaken and injure the building wherein it is used ; for, however fair 

 and well it may appear at first, it will most assuredly decay in a short time." 

 (p. 75.) " For want of examining the original thickness of the sap [wood] of 

 oak trees, and the progress of its decay, and from finding so much of young trees 

 wasted by the decaying of their sappy coats (which generally occupy a consi- 

 derable space, particularly if the trees were very vigorous at the time of their 

 being felled), some have been led to imagine that, by trees lying for any 

 length of time, the sap [wood] increases in its thickness, or that part of the 

 heart is transformed into sap again, which is by no means the fact ; and, if any 

 part of the heart were subject to such change by so lying, there can be no 

 reason assigned why, in the process of time, the whole should not undergo 

 the like change : but this is absurd, and contradicted by experience; for, after 

 the sappy parts are once formed into perfect wood, it ever remains in that 

 state until it naturally decays." (p. 76.) 



In felling oak trees the heads of which contain crooked pieces fit for par- 

 ticular purposes in ship-building, care should be taken either to cause the tree 

 to fall on a side that will not injure the crooks, or to separate the branches 

 containing these before cutting down the trunk. South mentions the Langley 

 Oak, which was felled in 1758, in the New Forest, and which had a large head, 

 full of knees and crooks. He thus describes the mode in which these were 

 preserved : — " The knees and crooks were cut off, one by one, whilst the tree 

 was standing, and lowered by tackles, to prevent their breaking. The two 

 largest arms were sawed off at such distances from the bole as to make first- 

 rate knees ; scaffolds were then erected, and two pit-saws being braced toge- 

 ther, the body was first cut across, half through, at the bottom, and then 

 sawed down the middle, perpendicularly, between the two stumps of arms that 

 had been left, at the end of one of which stood a perpendicular bough, bigger 

 than most timber trees. To prevent this being injured, a bed was made of 

 some hundreds of faggots, to catch it when it fell." (Bath Society's Papers, 

 vol. vi. p. 8.) 



Oak Copse is cut down at various periods between J 5 and 30 years ; the rule 

 being, that the principal stems of the plants, at 1 ft. from the ground, should 

 not be less than 6 in. in diameter. In favourable soils in the south and west 

 of England, this size will be obtained in from 12 to 15 years ; as, for example, at 

 Moccas Court ; but in the colder climate, and in the inferior soil, of the High- 

 lands of Scotland, from 25 to 30 years are required. The cutting over of 

 copse is performed at the same season as that in which full-grown trees are 

 felled, when in both cases the bark is an object as well as the timber ; but, in 

 the cutting over of coppice trees, it is necessary to bear in mind, that the stools 

 are intended to shoot up again, so as to produce another crop. To facilitate 

 this, they require to be cut over smoothly, so as not to lodge water ; and close 

 to the ground, in order that the shoots for future branches may proceed at 

 once from the roots, and not at some distance over them ; in which case they 

 would be liable to be blown off. (See the chapter on coppice wood, in 

 the Encyclopcedia of Arboriculture.) 



Disbarking the Oak. The season for disbarking the oak for the tanner is later 

 than that for disbarking the birch, the larch, the willow, or any other tree 

 the bark of which is sufficiently valuable to be taken off. In most of the trees 

 mentioned, the sap will be found sufficiently in motion towards the end of 

 April : but the oak, relatively to these trees, will always be found a month 

 later. As the mode of performing the operation, and managing the bark 

 afterwards, till it is sold to the tanner, is the same in all trees, we shall defer 

 giving it till we treat on the subject of arboriculture generally. 



Accidents, Diseases, Insects, Epiphytes, Sfc. The British oak is not subject 

 either to many accidents, or to many diseases ; but, like every other plant, 

 it has its parasitical and epiphytical vegetation ; and it is infested by numerous 

 insects. 



Accidents. Oaks are said to be more frequently struck by lightning than 



6 b 3 



