The fruit of this tree, which has the name of _beech-mast_, and is ripe in September, is palatable to the taste; but, if eaten in great quantity, it occasions giddiness and head-aches. When, however, it is dried and powdered, it may be made into a wholesome bread. The inhabitants of Scio, one of the Ionian Islands, were once enabled to endure a memorable siege by the beech-mast which their island supplied. This fruit has, occasionally, been roasted and used as a substitute for coffee. When subjected to pressure, it yields a sweet and palatable _oil_, which, if properly made, is equal, in quality, to the best olive-oil, and has the advantage of continuing longer than that without becoming rancid. Beech-oil is manufactured in several parts of France; and is used by the lower classes of Silesia instead of butter. The cakes which remain after the oil is extracted are a wholesome food, and may also be advantageously employed for the fattening of swine, poultry, and oxen. In some countries the _leaves_ of the beech-tree are collected in the autumn, before they have been injured, by the frosts, and are used instead of feathers for beds; and mattresses formed of them are said to be preferable to those either of straw or chaff. 237. _The OAK_ (Quercus robur, Fig. 68) _is a well-known timber tree, of native growth in this country, as well as other countries in northern temperate climates._ It is to this valuable tree that our navy is indebted for its existence; and without it this invincible barrier of the country could not be supported. _Oak timber_ being hard, tough, tolerably flexible, and not very liable to splinter, is, in Europe, preferred to every other kind for the construction of ships of war. It is also well adapted to every purpose of rural and domestic economy, particularly for staves, laths, and the spokes of wheels. Until the introduction of mahogany, it was very generally used for furniture; and, in large mansions, it was customary even to line the walls of rooms with _wainscot_, or panelling of oak. This tree is remarkable for the slowness of its growth, for its great longevity, and the dimensions to which it attains. It has, however, been remarked that the trunk of the oak seldom increases to a greater proportionate diameter than about fourteen inches in eighty years. As to its dimensions, it is stated that an oak belonging to Lord Powis, and growing, in 1764, in Bromfield Wood, near Ludlow, measured sixty-eight feet in girth and twenty-three feet in height, and contained in the whole 1455 feet of timber.