Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/66

46 "It is stated that at the lowest estimate, the total quantity of timber in these nine trees amounts to 3,200 cubic feet of the very best quality for naval architecture, and that although they must be of great age, it is remarkable that no symptoms of decay appear in them. They are perfectly sound and free from blemish."

The characteristic properties of the British Oak are, upon the whole, so good, that it has long been accepted by practical men as a standard of quality and fitness for architectural purposes, and in the classification of all other hard and heavy woods in use in the royal dockyards, they are tabulated as "substitutes" for "Oak," the individual species, differing from it either in kind or specific gravity, or in having some important property attached to it, being only specially noted in the specification for building a ship whenever it is considered desirable to secure some particular element of lightness or strength, dissimilar to that of the standard.

The English Oak tree, if grown in sheltered situations or in forests, frequently reaches to a height of 70 to 100 feet, with a clear, straight stem of from 30 to 40 feet, and a circumference of 8 to 10 feet, and much larger specimens (though now only rarely to be met with) were formerly common. If grown in open and exposed situations, it is generally shorter, and frequently takes strange and eccentric forms, assuming a somewhat curved or crooked shape; this, however, is one of its most valuable characteristics, as naturally curved timber is almost indispensable for wood ship-building. It is when grown under these conditions that it appears to attain its maximum of hardness, and is often found so gnarled and knotty that it is difficult to work.

The long, straight, fair-grown trees, which yield the