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NOTICES OF AUTHORS. 



garding the oak of the south of Europe, prove any 

 thing regarding the oak of England, — that it will 

 always be deteriorated by culture for several years 

 after planting^ or that the quality may not suffer 

 as much from slow^ness of growth as from fastness, 

 or from the climate being too cold as from being too 

 warm? 



The reason why Highland Scots oak spokes are 

 superior to English, is, because the latter are gene- 

 rally split from out the refuse of the timber cut for 

 naval purposes, — ^principally the hranches and tops 

 of large trees ; whereas, those from the Highlands of 

 Scotland are from the root cuts of copse. We be- 

 lieve most carpenters of Scotland are aware of this. 

 The oak from the Highlands of Scotland is, however, 

 for the most part, of excellent quality, growing ge- 

 nerally on dry graxel and rock^ not on cold moist 

 clayey soils. The hardest we have ever seen w^as 

 from a steep, dry gravel bank, of south exposure, 

 in an open situation, much exposed to the western 

 breeze. The Highland oak from these soils is ge- 

 nerally of a greyish colour, and very dense ; where- 

 as that from moist soils is often reddish-brown, and 

 defective. Should Sir Henry weigh portions of oak 

 from these soils in a pair of material, in place of 

 mental scales, we think his conclusions would be 



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