CHAPTER XVII.
THE OAK (Quercus)—(continued).
The foregoing are the principal European Oaks at present employed in this country; others have occasionally 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
