226

NATURE AND PROPERTIES OF TIMBER.

[sect. X.

been first noticed as a distinct species in this country by Mr. Bobart, in Bagley Wood, andnear Newbury , in Berkshire. * It has been observed by Miller, near Dulwich , in Surrey ;and it appears to be the common oak of the neighbourhood of Durham , and perhaps gene-rally of the north of England.

A few trees of this kind have been observed by Mr. Atkinson, in the grounds of Thomas Hope , Esq. near Dorking , Surrey ; and there are also some very fine trees in the Earl ofMansfield’s grounds at Kenwood,f where the author had an opportunity of comparing thetrees of the two species ; but could not observe any difference in their growth or generalform, except that the sessile-fruited oak had a more graceful appearance, -which renders itsuperior as an ornamental tree.

The leaves have longish footstalks, often nearly an inch long, and they are more regu-larly and less deeply sinuated than those of the robur. The acorns sit close to the branches,having very short or scarcely any stalks.

The wood is of a darker colour than that of the robur, and the larger septa are not soabundant; sometimes there are very few septa. The smoothness and gloss of the grainmakes it resemble that of chesnut. It is heavier, harder, and more elastic, than the woodof the robur, and is very subject to warp and split in seasoning. It is very tough and diffi-cult to split, therefore not fit for laths. This is most probably the reason that oak laths areso seldom used in the north of England. In respect to the comparative durability of thewoods of the two species, it is a question that requires to be investigated. It appears, as faras can be determined from the structure of the wood, that the fine oak found in old Gothicroofs is of the sessile-fruited kind; at the same time it must be owned, that our means ofjudging are not so satisfactory as to enable us to decide on this point with certainty ; butwe know that the old oak is very durable.

The strength, elasticity, toughness, and hardness of the sessile-fruited oak render itsuperior for ship-building; but it. is both heavier and more difficult to work than therobur; how far they may differ in durability remains to be determined. The wood for theold Sovereign of the Seas was from the north: is it not probable that the greater part of

oaks, as the wood of the robur of Smith is much less subject to warp than that of the sessiliflora. Again, the descrip-tion given by Vitruvius of the wood of the quereus (in book ii. chap, ix.) agrees in everything with the properties ofthat of the sessile-fruited oak ; and as he describes the wood only, it is by it alone that the species is to be known. Per-rault (in his notes on Vitruvius ) and Evelyn (in his Silva) apply the name robur to the sessile-fruited oak : but hadeitherof these writers known that the wood of the sessile-fruited oak is more flexible than that of the other kind, theywould not have done so; for it appears to have been merely the import of the name that they had in view.

* Ray’s Synopsis, &c. p. 440. Flora Brit. Vol. III. 1026—7.

t These trees were first pointed out to the author by his brother, whose assistance in collecting and examining spe-cimens of the leaves, fruit, and wood of these and other trees was very useful.

I Supplement to Encyclopaedia Britannica, art. Dry Rot , p. 681.