PROPERTIES AND USES OF TIMBER. 373 



of wood. Our dockyards would furnish a ready 

 market for native oak, though our woods were 

 stocked with it a hundredfold more plentifully than 

 they are. The planter need therefore be under no 

 apprehension that the supply of this tree will ever 

 exceed the demand, so long as we are a naval power 

 and a commercial country. British oak is said to last 

 three times as long as the species brought from Ame- 

 rica, and twice as long as that imported from most 

 parts of the continent of Europe ; so that our own 

 produce will always be preferred to any other, when 

 offered for sale in our own markets ; and, should we 

 ever have it in such quantities as to be able to ex- 

 port it, its superior quality will obtain for it a ready 

 market abroad. 



The bark of the oak is the most valuable of any 

 for tanning, and is largely imported into Britain for 

 that purpose. Coppice-oak, in Scotland, is chiefly 

 raised for the sake of the bark, which is more va^ 

 luable in young trees than in old ones. 



FIR. 



The timber of the different species of Fir is more 

 extensively used than any other. That of the Scots 



