58 



THE OAK. 



that grow in exposed situations^ as on the sides of 

 hills, and commons, and hedge-rows, being more 

 compact and less sappy, is less subject to this 

 fatal disease. Soil and climate have also, no 

 doubt, considerable influence on the nature of 

 growing timber ; the farther south Oak grows, 

 the better the timber would seem to be ; the Oak 

 on the bold shores of the Adriatic is the best Oak 

 known in Europe ; and the Oak timber which is 

 produced in the southern counties of England is 

 preferred to the timber of the northern counties ; 

 that of Sussex being considered as the best. In 

 a contract for tree-nails, drawn up more than a 

 hundred years ago, it is stipulated that they 

 should be made of ^good Sussex Oak, free from 

 knots and slakes/ " 



Much difference of opinion exists as to which 

 species of British Oak produces the best timber. 

 Early writers on the subject claim the superiority 

 for Querciis rohur^ or the old English Oak," as 

 they call it, on the ground that it is of more rapid 

 growth, has a cleaner stem, and fewer knots, is more 

 durable, and contains a larger proportion of heart- 

 wood than the other species, Quercus sessUiflora^ 

 or Durmast Oak. More recent authors, however, 

 maintain that the true ^^old English Oak" is Quer- 

 cus sessiliflora, and account for the fact that it is 

 now less common than the other on the supposition 

 that our forefathers were well aware of the supe- 

 riority of the former species, and applied it so 

 extensively to all works requiring durability, that 

 it has long become comparatively scarce. But a 

 few years since, it was generally believed that the 

 beautiful carved roof of Westminster Hall was 

 constructed of Chestnut. Recent examination 



