http://www.british-trees.com/Oldsite/p10.htm This is the link for John Evelyn's "Sylva", researched and written at the behest of the British Admiralty. At that time, it took close to 100 acres of 100 year old English Oak to make one ship-of-the-line.
If you spend the time to read it all, you'll note he refers to the ancients as though he talked to them last week!
As an arborist, I find some of the discussions fascinating, as we still argue points he presents!
