EUROPEAN TIMBER 
43 
hard timber, and when worked up few could tell the 
difference between them. Oak is often " quartered," that 
is, cut radially to the circumference, so as to show the 
silver grain to perfection ; it is generally of various shades 
of brown, with a hard, firm, glossy surface, and with 
exposure changes to an ashen grey and becomes striated ; 
the annual rings are very narrow and regular, wide rings 
and large pores are signs of weakness ; the medullary rays 
are very conspicuous (Figs. 3 and 10), and produce the 
beautiful "figure" or silver-grain so characteristic of oak, 
especially if it be cut on the quarter. Oak is now chiefly 
used for superior joinery and furniture, occasionally for 
windows and doors, sills, treads of steps, and largely for 
wedges, treenails, chocks and framing for railway and 
other wagons, and in coachbuilding and keys for railway 
chairs. Good oak gate-posts will outlast iron and take no 
upkeep ; it is the best wood for carving, English oak being 
especially appreciated for this purpose. 
The weight of the different varieties does not vary much 
— 45 to 49 lbs. per cubic foot. 
There are numerous oaks grown in Europe, most of which 
produce excellent timber. The holme or evergreen oak 
{Q. ilex), a native of the Mediterranean districts of France, 
Spain, and Italy, produces wood more like the Enghsh 
oak than any other kind, and the Turkey oak {Q. cerris) 
produces some of the heaviest of European oak, but the 
timber is not so much used as that of the common 
oak, though suitable for the same class of work, and 
the rays being numerous it has a varied and handsome 
grain. 
Fumed oak is a good deal used in the furniture trade. 
It is a method adopted to give the wood that olive-brown 
tint peculiar to old oak. The wood is enclosed in an air- 
tight chamber, and under the wood are placed tins of liquid 
