XIII.] FRENCH OAK. 
British 47-4 per cent.; the yield was therefore as nearly 
as possible the same in both cases.* 
Figs. 20 a and 20 b show the method of hewing the 
French Oak, whereby all the square wood that could be 
obtained is preserved, by simply following the natural 
taper or growth of tree, and, by so doing, there can be 
little, if any, disadvantage, since, the measurements being 
taken, as in English timber, at the middle, or half the 
length of the log, the buyer would receive and pay for 
the correct quantity contained in it. 
FIG. 2 oa. 
FIG. 20 b. 
The error in estimating its worth at the dockyards 
was one of those things to which professional and prac¬ 
tical men are occasionally liable, when they have long 
been accustomed to a particular form or object, and are 
unwilling to see in any change that an advantage may 
sometimes be gained by its adoption. 
About eighty loads of French Oak timber of compass 
form, that is, of pieces having at least 5 inches bend in 
* Since the foregoing was prepared I have referred to recent Blue 
Books, and find that the conversions done in French Oak at the royal 
dockyards are all favourable, the loss upon the French being less than 
that on the English Oak by about 6 per cent. 
