84 BRITISH AMERICA.

ern parts, which they term “ live oak,” is, however, very firm, and remarkably durable.

The grey, or more properly, White oak of Canada, is a tolerably close-grained and lasting wood, and much used in ship-building. It is the same, or dif- fers very little from that of the United States : and it resembles very closely the qum'cus pedlmculata of the continent of Europe, and is probably as durable.

The quercitron oak (quercus tinctora) is consi- dered, in the United States, of very lasting quality. The bark also contains a great portion of tannin, but imparts a yellow colour to the leather, and is therefore objected to.

The red oak of America is the most plentiful, but of very porous and indifferent quality. It is, how- ever, frequently made into staves, and its bark is valuable for tanning.

The beech-tree (fagus sylvatica) thrives abun- dantly, but always on fertile soils. It is, in America, usually a beautiful, majestic tree, and sometimes three feet in diameter. It is useful for the same purposes to which it is applied in England; under water it is remarkably durable, and it affords a great quan- tity of potashes. Its bark contains a fair portion of tannin, and it produces, every second year, heavy crops of mast, or nuts, which are pleasant to the taste, and on which partridges, squirrels, mice, &c., feed; the hogs of the settlers ramble through the woods as soon as the beech-nuts begin to fall, and fatten so rapidly on them, that they acquire one to three inches