The first sample shipped to the London market after the relaxation of the French laws bearing upon it (about the year 1860) enabled the British Government to give it a trial in ship-building; and as this proved to be satisfactory, a contract was soon after made with a London merchant for a supply to the several dockyards in England.
French Oak, until about the time I am speaking of, was looked upon with some disfavour in this country, and thought to be generally inferior in quality to the British Oak; but this opinion was probably formed from very unfavourable specimens, there being certain localities in France, as there are in most other countries, where the trees do not attain any degree of excellence, and also from the fact that the best timber had been first selected and retained by the French Government.
The Oak timber, however, of the north-west provinces of France is generally of very good quality, and experience in the employment of it in ship-building proves it to be an excellent substitute for that of British produce. It is a very remarkable fact that, of all the supplies sent to the several royal dockyards, the only complaint ever urged against it was that it had not been hewn in accordance with English practice as applied to "sided timber," and that the loss in conversion would be greater in consequence. This, however, was only imaginary, as the converters at Woolwich proved that there was little to object to on that score, their returns for the three years ending in 1863 making the difference in the loss per cent, in the conversion of the French, as compared with that of British Oak, to be quite insignificant, the figures actually showing that the loss on the French Oak was 47.3 per cent, and on the
