CHAPTER XVII. 
THE OAK ( Quercus )—( continued ). 
The foregoing are the principal European Oaks at 
present employed in this country; others have occa¬ 
sionally been brought in, and there are many new and 
extensive sources of supply open to us whenever it may 
be necessary to draw upon them. 
A few years since I surveyed several fine forests of 
Oak in Belgium, consisting chiefly of trees of straight 
growth and superior dimensions. The wood of these 
was less hard and horny, and of slightly inferior quality 
to the English and French Oaks, but otherwise it was 
quite suitable for architectural and other works. There 
is, therefore, reason to believe that much good timber 
might be drawn thence. Very good samples of Oak 
timber have been imported from Piedmont. The quality 
closely resembles that of the Oak found in the west of 
France. 
Parcels of Dutch or Rhenish Oak were a short time 
since brought into the London market ; they were all 
apparently cut from a dwarfish tree which yielded only 
short thick pieces of timber, and these were dressed to 
produce a greater curve than was natural to them, with 
the view to make them appear fit for use in ship-building. 
The wood was brown in colour, plain in grain, of a 
H 
