Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/110

 CHAPTER XV.

THE DANTZIC OAK TREE (Quercus).

Oak derives its name from the port of shipment, but is chiefly the produce of the Polish forests, whence the bulk of it is brought down the river Vistula to Dantzic; small quantities are also sent into the ports of Memel and Stettin by other sources.

There is a considerable quantity of Oak timber exported from these three places in logs, varying from 18 to 30 feet in length, and from 10 to 16 inches square, and also planks 24 feet and upwards in length, averaging about 32 feet, the breadth being from 9 to 15 inches, and the thickness varying from 2 to 8 inches. Large quantities of staves, roughly cleft from the tree, are also exported in various sizes, suitable for the manufacture of every description of cask or barrel.

The Dantzic-Polish or Prussian Oak timber is obtained from a tree of straight growth. It is brown in colour, of moderate strength and hardness, rather porous, and has the medullary rays bright and sufficiently