TIMBERS. 



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In large vessels a foiu'th futtock is used ; thence 

 straighter timber is suitable. 



The knees occupy the position at stretching 

 horizontally along the inside of the vessel and end 

 of the beams. 



Of British trees, timbers are formed of oak, Span- 

 ish chestnut, larch, red-wood pine, red-wood willow 

 (the stags-head ozier, Salioc fragilis), and sometimes 

 the broad-leafed elm (JJlmus montana) imder wa- 

 ter. 



In Britain, crooked oak for timbers is found chief- 

 ly in hedge-rows and open forests, where the winds, 

 casual injm-y, or overhanging superior branches, have 

 thrown the tree, while young, from its natural ba- 

 lance; or, by the tree, from open situation, or exci- 

 sion of lower branches, parting early into several 

 leaders, which, in receding from each other, form 

 cm'ves and angular bends. On the Continent of 

 Em*ope, in the natural forest, it is chiefly the tops 

 of old lofty trees which afford the crooks ; in conse- 

 quence, those we import are, for the most part, of a 

 free, light, insufficient quality *. 



* As excellent plank can be obtained by importation, the 

 grower of naval timber ought to regard the production of crooks 

 as a more patriotic occupation than the production of plank. It 

 mil generally pay better. 



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