for it. that most timber merchants are now quick to appreciate the difference between brown and common oak, and the best qualities of it are sometimes sold for as much as 10s. per cubic foot.
When the wood shows the blackish streaks running through it, which is known as tortoise-shell grain, it is most valued for cutting veneers. These are laid in thin sheets on other wood, partly to make it go farther, and also because this wood is so difficult to season properly, and so wasteful in conversion that it is not safe to use in the form of thick boards.
My friend, Dr. Weld of Boston, U.S.A., who is a great connoisseur and admirer of fine woods, and especially of brown oak, showed me at his house the most magnificent specimens of panelling and wainscoting, done under his own supervision by Messrs. Noyes and Whitcombe of Boston, with oak which he selected and purchased himself in England. In their works I saw a quantity of carved brown oak pews, and a very large brown oak organ front designed by Mr. C. Brigham, architect, of 12 Bosworth Street, Boston, for a memorial church at Fairhaven, Mass. Mr. Whitcombe was good enough to show me the manner in which the boards are seasoned after they are cut from the logs, which are imported in the rough as an unmanufactured product to escape the heavy duty. Dry white pine boards fresh from the hot-air kiln are laid on each side of the oak boards, and properly stripped in an open covered shed. When the moisture has been partially absorbed, they are all turned over and again sandwiched between fresh dry pine boards; thus saving a great deal of time, which is rarely given to season timber properly in America, and preparing the wood to stand the conditions of dryness, which are more trying to furniture in American than in English houses.
Mr. C. M'Kim, a distinguished American architect, writes me as follows respecting English oak:—"We regard it as the most beautiful oak in the world, costly because of its scarcity and the duties imposed upon it; requiring the best workmanship in putting it together; but preferred above all others for its finer quality, richer colour, and endurance. The most important and dignified panelled rooms in this country are furnished in English oak." I also was pleased to find that the great dining-room in the White House at Washington is completely panelled with English brown oak.
Mr. F.H. Bacon of the A.H. Davenport Company of Boston, one of the best firms for cabinet work in the United States, writes:—"Mr. Davenport has been using it in his business for at least thirty years, and we think it is a wood which will always be in demand, as a room furnished with English oak has a richness and depth of tone which is impossible to get with any other oak. The wood is becoming more expensive, but I think it will always be used by people who can afford it. It is difficult to work; the plain surfaces are generally veneered. It stands perfectly well without warping and twisting, and is not attacked by worms as walnut wood is."
The best example that I have seen of fine brown oak work in England is at Rockhurst, the residence of the late Sir Richard Farrant, in Sussex. This
