LIBRARY THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA PRESENTED BY MRS. NELLIE R. PREUSS / -^ cy / 7/0- v> * * ** THE MEST REES OF BRITAIN. BY THE LATE EEV. C. A. JOHNS, B.A., F.L.S., AUTHOR OP "FLOWERS OP THE FIELD," "BRITISH BIRDS IN THEIR HAUNTS," ETC., ETC. PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OP THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOH PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. LONDON : SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHAEING CEOSS, W.C. ; 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREKT, B.C.; 26, ST. GEORGE'S PLACE, HYDE PARK CORNER, s.\v. ; BRIGHTON: 135, NORTH STKEET. NEW YORK : E. & J. B. YOUNG & Co. LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA CONTENTS. PAGE THE OAK 1 THE ILEX, EVERGREEN OAK, OR HOLM-OAK . . 39 THE SYCAMORE . . 42 THE COMMON, OR FIELD MAPLE 52 THE ASH 57 THE Box 70 THE HAWTHORN 82 THE BLACKTHORN , 103 THE CHERRY 112 THE BIRD-CHERRY 121 THE MOUNTAIN ASH 125 THE WHITE-BEAM 132 WILD SERVICE-TREE 133 THE PEAR 134 THE APPLE 137 THE BEECH 143 THE POPLAR 159 THE WHITE POPLAR, OR ABELE TREE THE GREY POPLAR 161 THE BLACK POPLAR 164 THE TREMBLING POPLAR, OR ASPEN .... 167 THE CHESTNUT 170 THE HORSE CHESTNUT 187 THE HOLLY 194 THE BIRCH 204 THE ALDER 212 THE ELM 218 THE WYCH ELM .231 THK HORNBEAM 234 THE HAZEL . 239 Vi CONTENTS. THE WALNUT 251 THE LIME-TREE 258 THE BARBERRY 265 THE TAMARISK 267 THE STRAWBERRY-TREE 274 THE SPINDLE-TREE 277 THE DOGWOOD 279 THE ORIENTAL PLANE 282 THE OCCIDENTAL PLANE 287 THE BUCKTHORN 292 THE PRIVET 295 THE ACACIA 297 THE WILLOW 302 THE ELDER 320 THE WOODBINE, OR HONEYSUCKLE 326 THE WAYFARING-TREE THE GUELDER HOSE . . 328 THE IVY 332 THE YEW 341 THE FIR TRIBE 350 THE SCOTCH FIR, OR PINE 365 PINUS PINASTER 381 THE STONE PINE 388 THE SPRUCE FIR . . . . . . . . 390 THE SILVER FIR 398 THE LARCH 403 THE CEDAR OP LEBANON 410 THE JUNIPER .418 INDEX 421 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE The Eufus Stone Frontispiece Oak in Wistman's Wood. ..,... 7 Flower-galls and Leaf-galls ...... 19 Artichoke-galls 20 Oak-spangles 21 Oak-galls 23 The Evergreen Oak 39 Sycamore at Kippencross ...... 43 Sycamore Flowers and Seed-vessel . . . . .46 Leaves and Flowers of the Field Maple .... 53 Maple in Boldre Churchyard 54 The Ash 57 Flowers and Seed-vessels of the Ash 64 Wooden Stamp used in Thirteenth Century ... 75 The oldest Woodcut on record 76 Old Woodcut of St. Christopher 77 Thorn at Newham 84 May-pole 92 Common Hawthorn 94 Hawthorn Blossom ........ 96 Fruit of Hawthorn 97 The Hawfinch .102 Sloe-flower 14 Sloe 106 Fruit and Foliage of Bullace-tree . 109 Myrobalan Plum , . . 110 Magnum-bonum Plum o . - o 111 Viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE The Wild Cherry-tree . . .... . .113 Flower of the Wild Cherry 114 Fruit of the Wild Cherry 115 Blossoms of the Bird-Cherry : 121' Fruit of the Bird-Cherry . 123 Portugal Laurel . . . . . . . . J24 The Mountain Ash . . . . . . . .120 Flowers of the Mountain Ash . . . ' . . . 129 Fruit of the Mountain Ash 130 The White-Beam 132 Flower of Pear-tree 135 Blossom of the Apple-tree 137 The Purley Beeches 14-1 Twig of the Beech in Winter ,... 149 Foliage and Flowers of the Beech 152 Morels 156 Truffles ...... .157 Beech-tree in West Hey Wood . . . . . 158 Lombardy Poplar - . ICO Leaf of White Poplar . . . .", . ... 162 Catkins of Grey Poplar . . . . . . .163 Black Poplar . 165 Leaf of Black Poplar .166 Aspen .-.-. 168 The Chestnut . 170 Flower of Chestnut 179 Fruit of Chestnut '-f .180 The Horse Chestnut 188 Horse-shoe Mark on Chestnut . . . . . .189 Leaf and Flower-buds of Horse Chestnut . . . 190 Flower of Horse Chestnut . . . . . . . ]9l The Holly 195 Holly Berries Wint3r of 1845-6 197 Opegrapha Scripta 199 Holly in Bud . . . . . . . , 200 Flowers of the Holly . . . . . . . 201 Butcher's Broom 203 The Common Birch . . 205 Leaf and Flower of the Birch .... . 207 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. IX PAGE The Weeping Birch 208 Dwarf Birch . '211 The Alder 213 Flower and Leaf of the Alder 214 Leaves of the Alder 217 The Elm . . . 219 Seed-vessel 220 Flowers of Common Elm .221 Seed and Leaf of Common Elm 222 Cornish Elm 222 Flowers and Seed-vessels of Wych Elm .... 223 Branch of TJlmus Suberosa 224 Work of Elm-destroying Beetle . 229 Spotted Elm-leaf 230 Wych Elm at Enys, Cornwall 232 Leaf of Wych Elm 233 The Hornbeam 235 Leaf, Flower, and Seed of the Hornbeam .... 236 Flowers and Foliage of Hazel 242 Hazel-nut 244 The Nuthatch 245 Nut in Bark 246 Peziza Coccinea . . . . . . . . 248 The Filbert 249 The Cob-nut 250 The Walnut 252 Fruit of Walnut 253 Twig of Walnut 254 The Lime-tree 259 Leaf and Flower of the Lime-tree 26 1 Flowers and Fruit of the Barberry 2G6 The Tamarisk 268 Flowers of the Tamarisk 269 Dutch Myrtle, or Sweet Gale 272 Flower and Fruit of Arbutus 275 Branch of the Spindle-tree 278 Leaf and Flower of the Dogwood 279 Twig of the Cornel 280 The Plane 28-3 X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Leaf of the Oriental Plane and Plan of the Morea . 285 Leaf and Flower of Oriental Plane 286 The Occidental Plane 287 Leaf-stalk of Occidental Plane 280 Leaf of Occidental Plane 290 Alder-Buckthorn 293 Common Buckthorn 294 Flower of the Privet 296 The Acacia 298 The Huntingdon Willow . 303 Blossom of the Crack Willow 305 Willow 307 Foliage of Huntingdon Willow 310 Herbaceous Willow 315 Willow Gall 316 Weeping Willows at Kew 318 Leaf and Flower of the Elder 322 The Woodbine 327 Wayfaring-tree 329 Guelder Rose 330 Ivy-leaves 334 Branch of Ivy 337 Ivy-berries 339 Yew-tree at Crowhurst 343 Leaf and Flower of the Yew 347 Buds of Stone Pine 354 Cone of Stone Pine 356 Seed of Scotch Pine 356 Seedling 356 The Scotch Fir 366 Section of a Bog containing Fir-stumps . ... 374 Scotch Fir 376 The Pinaster 382 Cones of Pinaster 383 Pinus Lemoniana 386 Dead Branch of Pinus Lemoniana ... , 387 Leaves of Stone Pine 389 The Spruce Fir 391 Cones of Spruce Fir ... 393 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XI PAGE Gall of Spruce Fir 397 The Silver Fir 399 Cones of Silver Fir 400 Twig of Larch . 404 The Larch 405 Chelsea Cedars 411 Cones of Cedar 414 The Juniper ........ 419 THE FOREST TREES OF GREAT BRITAIN, THE OAK. QUERCUS ROBUR QUERCTJS SESSILIFLORA. Natural Order A-MENTACEJE. Class MONOZCIA. Order PuLYANDRlA. As long as ihc Lion holds his fabled place as king of beasts, and the Eagle as king of birds, the sovereignty of British Trees must remain to the Oak. Within the tropics, where Nature performs all her works on a scale of magnificence unrivalled elsewhere, the stately Palm, uplifting its leafy canopy on a shaft two hundred feet in height; the Banyan, forming with its countless trunks a forest in itself; the Baobab, a tree venerable four thousand years ago : each of these may assert its claim to the kingly title. But in England, the country of green fields, in which men labour among their oxen and their sheep ; of lordly parks, with their broad smooth 'lawns and clustering trees ; of narrow church-paths winding along by the side of brilliant streamlets, across flowery meadows, and through woods offering a shade from the heat, and a shelter from the storm, here the Oak reigns paramount. In truth he is a kingly tree, the emblem of majesty, strength, and durability. To what remote ages are we carried back to what varying scenes are we introduced, when we search for the first appearance of this patriarch / B in the pages of history ! Under the Oaks of Mamre, 1 according to Jewish traditions, the father of the faithful reared his tabernacle, and meditated on another, that is a heavenly, country, which God had prepared for him. One of these very trees was long looked upon with veneration by the Israelites, and (according to St. Jerome) was in existence in the reign of the Emperor Constantine, two thousand years afterwards. 2 Near Shechem there stood also a tree of the same species, which probably was remarkable for its size, being called in Genesis xxxv. 4, " The Oak which was by Shechem." Thus early, too, does it appear to have been marked with some peculiar sacredness, for it was chosen as a meet shelter for the grave of Deborah, Rebekah's nurse (verse 8th) ; the particular tree being afterwards distinguished by a set name, " Allon-bachuth," or, the Oak of Weeping. 3 1 It should be borne in mind thai the Oak of the Holy Scriptures is not identical with the British Oak, but is a tree nearly resembling the Evergreen Oak (Quercus Ilex). Celsius and other writers after him are of opinion that the tree alluded to is the Terebinth, or Turpentine-tree. It is difficult, however, for the reader of the English Version of the Bible to connect the name with any other notion than that of a tree agreeing closely in character with the Oak of his own country. What- ever may be the botanical difference between the two, it is still " the Oak " of Palestine as much as Quercus Eobur is " the Oak " of Britain. 2 Mamre is remarkable in Sacred History for Abraham's enter- taining there three angels under an Oak, which Oak also became very famous in after ages; insomuch that superstitious worship was performed there. This the great Constantine, esteemed the first Christian Emperor of Rome, put a stop to by a letter written to Eusebius, Bishop of Csesarea, in Palestine, for that purpose.- Heminff's Scripture Geography. 3 The difficulty of identifying the plants mentioned in the Sacred Volume appears to be increased in the present instance by the similarity of the names elah and allon. In Genesis xxxv. both words occur, and are rendered in our version "the Oak." In Isaiah vi. 13, they occur in juxtaposition : in this passage Cover- dale translates elah "the Terebinth," allon "the Oak," the Authorized Version giving elah " the Teil-tree ; " allon " the Oak." Canon Rogers is of opinion that allon should always be thus rendered. THE OAK. 8 It is here worthy of notice that in Genesis xii. 6, the passage, which is in our version rendered " The plain of Moreh," is in the Septuagint rendered " The high Oak." 1 It is not, therefore, improbable that this Oak, or grove of Oaks, was first consecrated to God by the priestly worship of Abraham, and retained its sacred character until at least the time of Abimelech. 2 It must not be objected that the period is too long (nearly six hundred years) to assign as the duration of one tree ; for, as we shall see hereafter, there is evidence of Oak-trees actually existing which have obtained nearly double that age. In European countries the Oak was an important tree at a very early age, being valued for its fruit. In Asia the estimation in which it was held appears to have had some other origin, for, although we read in the Sacred Volume of "dates, almonds," &c., being used as articles of food, no such mention is made of acorns ; nor is it probable that they were ever eaten by men in a country naturally affording fruits so much more palatable. But in Greece and Italy, before agriculture was invented or introduced, acorns held an important place among the more savoury viands of the inhabitants. The traditions of the poets tell us that strawberries, blackberries, cornels and acorns were the homely fare of the first inhabitants of these countries ; of which, acorns must have been the most valuable, for being of a less perishable nature than the rest, they would bear being stored away for winter use. For this reason, perhaps, it was that the Greeks believed that of all the trees with which they were acquainted the Oak was the first created. We need hot, then, wonder that, holding this belief in its antiquity and extreme use- fulness, they regarded it with veneration, and, in their ignorance of Divine Revelation, entertained the, to us, extravagant notion that the Deity chose it as a medium for making known His will to man. At the same time it is much to be wondered at that the Israelites, who had not 1 Tqv 8pvv T-V wHAT)i/- 7 Judges ix. 6, marginal reading. the excuse of ignorance, should have fallen into nearly the same fatal error, and that, too, with respect to the very same tree. The Oak grove at Dodona in Epirus was long resorted to by the inhabitants of the whole of Greece when they wished to inquire the will of their imaginary god, Jupiter ; and we have seen that the Israelites resorted to the Oak-woods of Palestine with a similar object. Baal, the false god of the Canaanites, is considered by learned men to be identical with the Roman Saturn, the Celtic Yiaoul, and the British Yule, whose festival was kept at the time when we celebrate Christmas. By one of these nations this name was worshipped as significant of the god of fire ; by another it was identified with the sun ; by a third venerated under the form of an Oak. Its priests, who were called " Druids," professed to main- tain perpetual fire, and once every year all the fires belonging to the people were extinguished, and relighted from the sacred fire of the Druids. This was the origin of the Yule-log, with which, even so lately as the com- mencement of the present century, the Christmas fire in some parts of the country was always kindled, and is even now in Devonshire and Yorkshire ; a fresh log being thrown on and lighted, but taken off before it was con- sumed, and reserved to kindle the Christmas fire of the following year. The Yule-log was generally of Oak, though sometimes of Ash ; and as the ancient Britons believed that it was essential for their hearth-fires to be renewed every year from the sacred fire of the Druids, so their descendants thought that some misfortune would befal them if any accident happened to the Yule-log. The worship of the Druids, we are told, was generally per- formed under an Oak. The Mistletoe was held in great reverence, and as it was not commonly found on the Oak, solemn ceremonies attended the search for it. When all was prepared (the Mistletoe having been, no doubt, previously found by some of the assistants), the Druids went forth, clad in white robes, to search for the sacred plant ; and when it was discovered, one of the Druids ascended the tree and gathered it with great ceremony, separating it from the Oak with a golden knife. The Mistletoe was always cut at a particular age of the moon, at the beginning of the year, and it was only sought for when the Druids pretended to have had visions directing them to seek it. When a great length of time elapsed without this happening, or if the Mistletoe chanced to fall to the ground, it was considered as au omen that some great misfortune would befal the nation. The well-known chorus of " Hey derry down," according to Professor Burnet, was a druidic chant, signifying literally, " In a circle the Oak move around." Criminals were tried under an Oak-tree, the judges being seated under the tree, and the culprit placed within a circle made by the chief Druid's wand. The Saxons also held their national meet- ings under an Oak ; and the celebrated conference between the Saxons and the Britons, after the invasion of the former, was held under the Oaks of Dartmoor. The wood of the Oak was appropriated to the most memorable uses. King Arthur's round table was made of it, as was the cradle of Edward II. at Caernarvon Castle, where he was born ; this sacred wood being chosen in the hope of con- ciliating the feelings of the Welsh, who still retained the prejudices of their ancestors, the ancient Britons. It was considered unlucky to cut down any celebrated tree ; and Evelyn gravely relates a story of two men, who cut down the Vicar's Oak, in Surrey; one losing his eye, and the other breaking his leg, soon after. The Oaks of Dartmoor, in Devonshire, have now nearly disappeared. In one spot only is there any vestige of what was once, perhaps, a favourite gathering- place of the Druids. This spot, called Wistman's Wood, is situated on Dartmoor, about a mile above Two-Bridges, on the left bank of the river. Imagine a mountain- stream creeping slowly among blocks of moss-stained granite ; on either side extends a piece of flat boggy ground to 6 THK OAK. an inconsiderable distance ; and at the extremity of these the hills rise to the height of two or three hundred feet, capped here and there in the distance with tors, or rugged summits of granite. The hill- side is confusedly heaped with blocks of the same stone, and it is in the in- terstices between these that the trees composing Wistman's Wood have chosen to fix their habitations a colony of patriarchs in a wilderness. The wood itself forms a ragged and interrupted belt, of about half a mile in length, in- cluding some straggling trees, separated at long intervals. The best way of approaching it is from above, for by so doing one may without difficulty obtain a pretty good view of the whole at once, and plunge in among the trees at pleasure. The trees are all Oaks, from ten to fourteen feet high, gnarled, knotted, and twisted even beyond the usual characteristic of that tree. The trunks vary from two to five feet in circumference. One which was measured con- sisted of three trunks, branched just above the base, each bole being about three feet in circumference. But by far the strangest peculiarity is, that all the branches, with the exception (and this not always) of the extreme spires, are matted with deep beds of moss, principally Anomodon citrtipendulnni, in fine fructification. Some idea of the denseness of this extraordinary integument may be formed from the fact that the moss is, in most cases, from ten to twelve inches in thickness, when the diameter of the branch does not exceed an inch and a half. It seems very probable that the superincumbent weight may operate in producing the depressed character of growth : certain it is, that a single Holly-tree near the centre of the wood, which is free from parasites, has attained the height of twenty feet, and towers above his pigmy companions, like some tall pine in a wood of ordinary growth. When first we saw this tree, indeed, having nothing to compare it with of definite size and shape but the surrounding Oaks, we fancied that it was a Fir-tree, and the Oaks borrowed from it, by com- parison, a dignity not their own. On a rough guess, there THE OAK. I are from 300 to 500 veteran trees in the wood, and, as wo were glad to find, a great number of saplings. Two species of Oak are indigenous to Britain, and they have been named by Botanists Quercus Robur, and Quei'cus sessiliJJora. Quercus sessilijiora is distinguished from tho first species by having its fruit almost sessile, or sittiny in groups on the leafy twig, without the intervention OAK IX WISTMAX'S WOOD. of any proper stalk; whilst Quercus Robur, or Quercus peduncidata, as it is sometimes called, bears its fruit two or three together on a long peduncle, or fruit-stalk. But as this distinction is a modern one, and belongs rather to the naturalist than to the poet or the historian, the names Quercus Robur and Oak, when met with in English books not of a scientific character, must be understood 8 THE OAK. to include both species. The word Oak is identical with the Saxon aack or ok; from which, also, acorn is derived. Hence Turner, the earliest English author on this subject, says : " Oke, whose fruite we call an acorn or an eykorn (that is, y c corne or fruite of an Eike), are harde of digestion and norishe very much, but they make raw humores. Wherefore we forbid the use of them for meates." But finally, not to expend on etymologies too much of the space which should be appropriated to trees and woods ; from the Celtic dene, an Oak, the Druids took their name ; the Greeks also called the tree dnjs, and gave the appellation of Dryads to the imaginary beings who peopled their woods. Like most long-lived trees, the Oak is of slow growth, averaging about a foot and a half in circumference in twenty years, and increasing about one inch in a year for the next century of its existence ; after which its rate of growth diminishes. The extreme slowness of this increase may be better estimated by contrasting it with that of the Larch, which is very rapid in its formation of timber. An Oak at Wimbush, in Essex, in thirteen years had in- creased four inches and a half in circumference ; and in the same time a Larch had increased thirty-three inches, or nearly eight times as much. The Oak does not usually attain any great height, being more remarkable for the thickness of its bole, and its widely-spread head. Excep- tions, however, are not wanting. In the Duke of Port- land's park, at Welbeck, there stood, in 1790, an Oak, called " The Duke's walking-stick," which was a hundred and eleven feet high, the trunk rising to the height of seventy feet before it formed a head. Others nearly equalling this have been noticed. A remarkable characteristic of the Oak is the stoutness of its limbs. " We know no tree, except, perhaps, the Cedar of Lebanon, so remarkable in this respect The limbs of most trees spring from the trunk ; in the Oak they may be rather said to divide from it; for they generally carry with them a great share of the substance of the stem : you often scarcely know which is stem and which is branch ; and towards the top, the stem is entirely lost in the branches. This gives peculiar propriety to the epithet 'fortes,' in characterising the branches of the Oak ; and hence its sinewy elbows are of such peculiar use in ship-building. Whoever, therefore, does not mark the fortes ramos of the Oak, might as well, in painting a Hercules, omit his muscles. But I speak only of the hardy veterans of the forest. In the effeminate nurslings of the grove we have not this appearance. There the tree is all stem drawn up into height. When we characterise a tree, we consider it in its natural state, insulated, and without any lateral pressure. In a forest, trees naturally grow in that manner ; the seniors depress all the juniors that attempt to rise near them ; but in a planted grove all grow up together, and none can exert any power over another. " The next characteristic of the Oak is the twisting of its branches. Examine the Ash, the Elm, the Beech, or almost any other tree, and you may observe in what direct and straight lines the branches in each shoot from the stem ; whereas the limbs of an Oak are continually twisting here and there in various contortions, and, like the course of a river, sport and play in every possible direction, sometimes in long reaches, and sometimes in shorter elbows." " Another peculiarity of the Oak is its expansive spread. This, indeed, is a just characteristic of the Oak ; for its boughs, however twisted, continually take a hori- zontal direction, and overshadow a large space of ground. Indeed, where it is fond of its situation, and has room to spread, it extends itself beyond any other tree, and, like a monarch, takes possession of the soil. The last charac- teristic of the Oak is its longevity, which extends beyond that of any other tree ; perhaps the Yew may be an 10 THE OAK. exception. I mention the circumstance of its longevity, as it is that which renders it so singularly picturesque. It is through age that the Oak acquires its greatest beauty, which often continues increasing even into decay, if any proportion exist between the stem and the branches. When the branches rot away, and the forlorn trunk is left alone, the tree is in its decrepitude in the last stage of life, and all beauty is gone." The diameter of the trunk of the Oak, where it first leaves the ground, is generally much greater than it is a few feet higher. To this circumstance, and to the fact that its roots are not nearly so liable to rot in the ground as those of other trees, it may be attributed that it is very rarely blown up by the roots. The eminent engineer, Mr. Smeaton, is stated to have taken his idea of the form of the Eddystone Lighthouse from observing the proportions of an Oak trunk. Britton, in his "Beauties of Devon," thus writes : " The object from which Mr. Smeaton conceived his idea of rebuilding the Eddystone Lighthouse was the waist or bole of a large spreading Oak, which, though subject to a very great impulse from the agitation of violent winds, resists them all, partly from its elasticity, and partly from its natural strength. Considering the particular figure of the tree, as -connected with its roots, which lie hid below ground, Mr. Smeaton observed that it rose from its surface with a large swelling base, which at the height of its own diameter is generally reduced by an elegant curve, concave to the eye, to a diameter less by at least one-third, and sometimes to half its original base. From thence its sides, tapering more gra- dually, assume a perpendicular direction, and for some height form a cylinder. After that a greater circumference becomes necessary for the insertion and establishment of the principal boughs, which produce a swelling of its diameter. Hence may be deduced an idea of what the proper shape of a column of the greatest stability ought to be to resist the action of external violence, when the THE OAK. 11 quantity of matter is given whereof it is to be composed. Upon this model, therefore, on the 25th of August, 1759, Mr. Sineaton completed his lighthouse, being the third structure of the kind which had been raised on the dangerous rock from which it derives its name." How wisely he acted in choosing Nature for his instructress may be inferred from the fact that it has now stood upwards of a hundred years, without requiring any essen- tial repairs. The trunk of the Oak, thus perfectly adapted as it is by its form to resist the most violent action of the wind, derives additional strength from the slow rate of growth of its timber. A very small quantity of woody fibre is deposited every year, but it is proportionately dense and solid, and the concentric annual layers are very firmly united. Hence it is admirably prepared to withstand lateral violence, as well as to support its enormous super- incumbent weight of branches ; while its tap-root, de- scending perpendicularly to a great depth, and its tortuous underground arms proceeding horizontally at a greater depth beneath the surface than those of most other trees, are equally efficacious in resisting any upheaving force to which its spreading and abundant foliage might otherwise render it peculiarly liable. Were it not for this wonderfully massive structure of the main trunk, the Oak would be unable to bear up the ponderous weight of its enormous limbs, which, each a mighty tree in itself, would rend in pieces any less sub- stantial support. For it must have been remarked by every one who has looked thoughtfully on a full-grown Oak, that the trunk does not divide into several smaller ones, all approaching to a perpendicular direction; but that its unwieldy arms quit the bole almost horizontally, so that the centre of gravity of each lies a long way with- out the base of the tree, and is therefore constantly exerting its utmost power to tear itself away from the central column. This tendency to preserve a horizontal 12 THE OAK. direction is most conspicuous in a full-grown tree, owing to the greater size of the object. But the peculiarity has not escaped the curious eye of the artist, even in the smallest twigs. " In the spray of trees," Gilpin remarks, " Nature seems to observe one simple principle ; which is, that the mode of growth in the spvay corresponds exactly with that of the larger branches, of which, indeed, the spray is the origin. Thus the Oak divides his boughs from the stem more horizontally than most other decid- uous trees ; the spray makes exactly, in miniature, the same appearance, it breaks out in right- angles, or in angles that are nearly so, forming its shoots commonly in short lines, the second year's shoots usually taking some direction contrary to that of the first. Thus the rudi- ments are laid of that abrupt mode of ramification for which the Oak is so remarkable. When two shoots spring from the same knot, they are commonly of unequal length; and one with large strides generally takes the lead. Very often, also, three shoots, and sometimes four, spring from the same knot. Hence the spray of this tree becomes thick, close, and interwoven ; so that at a little distance it has a full, rich appearance, and more of the picturesque roughness than we observe in the spray of any other tree. The spray of the Oak generally springs from the upper, or the lateral parts of the bough ; and it is this which gives its branches that horizontal appearance which they generally assume." This characteristic, which renders the Oak so great a favourite with the painter, makes it no less serviceable to the shipbuilder, who selects the crooked limbs, and applies them, under the designation of knee-timber, to the purpose of supporting the decks of ships. Trees which grow at a considerable distance from each other are the most produc- tive of this kind of timber ; for, thus situated, the branches have ample room to follow the direction of the straggling roots, to which they naturally incline. In some parts of France, it is said, young trees are forced to assume this . THE OAK. 13 curved mode of growth by the suspension of weights to their heads ; and in this country also, experiments have been tried in order to produce similar results ; but in most cases with very doubtful success. This custom was known to Virgil : "Continue in sjlvis magr.a vi flexa domatur In burim, et curvi forrnam accipit ulmus aratri." Georg. I. The foliage of the Oak is as characteristic as any other feature of the tree, whether we regard the sinuated form of each individual leaf, or the aggregate tufts. The principal difference between the leaves of Quercus pedun- citlata (or Quercus Eobur] and Quercus sessiliflora is, that in the former they have scarcely any stems, whereas the leaves of the latter are decidedly stalked, and the lobes on each side are more nearly opposite. Both species burst their leaf and flower-buds about the same time, in April 01 May Quercus sessiliflora being, however, generally somewhat later. At this time their pale-green tint, deli- cately shaded with crimson, seems scarcely to accord with the bulky and more robust character of the rest of the tree ; but, as the season advances, they assume a full, florid green, which they retain till very late in the year. At the approach of winter they put on a rich russet-brown or red hue, and light up many a landscape, which without them would be cold and cheerless. Young trees do not cast their leaves, even when every semblance of life has departed from them, but retain them, probably as a protection for the embryo buds of the succeeding year, which are formed many months before they begin to expand. The Oak is remarkable for sending out young shoots of spring foliage (called Lammas shoots) late in the season, when its proper leaves are fully matured ; and this is more particularly the case when the latter have been injured. On the 2nd of August, 1844, the exposed Oaks at Penrose 14 THE OAK. in Cornwall suffered severely from a violent storm from the west. In the course of a few hours all the leaves which had been unprotected from its influence shrivelled up (without, however, acquiring the true autumnal tint) and died. But not long after, a second spring, as it were, set in, and the trees were partially restored to their former flourishing condition. White, noticing a similar occur- rence, says : ' When Oaks are quite stripped of their ^aves by chaffers, they are clothed again, soon after midsummer, with a beautiful foliage; but Beeches, Horse-chestnuts, and Maples, once defaced by those insects, never recover their beauty again for the whole season." In many of the rural districts Oak-leaves and Oak-apples (to be mentioned hereafter) are worn by boys on the 29th of May, the anniversary of the Restoration of Charles II., who is said to have concealed himself in, an Oak-tree from the Parliamentary soldiers. I must not omit to mention here that the Romans were accustomed to bestow a wreath composed of Oak-leaves, called a civic crown, on any one who saved the life of a citizen ; which was considered the highest service that could be rendered to the State. " And oaken wreath his hardy temples bore, Mark of a citizen preserved he wore." EOWE'S Lucan. Here, too, I may mention the absurd belief, once popu- larly prevalent, that the Barnacle-goose owed its origin to this tree. The quaint old botanist, Gerard, tells the story so faithfully, that I cannot do better than transcribe his own words : " There are found in the North of Scotland, and Islands adjacent, called Orchades, certain trees whereon do grow certain shells tending to russet, wherein are contained little living creatures ; which shells, in time of maturitie, do open, and out of them do grow those little living things, which, falling into the water, do THE OAK. 15 become fowles, which we call barnaldes ; in the North of England, Irent-yeese ; and in Lancashire, tree-geese ' ; but the other that do fall upon the land perish, and come to nothing. Thus much from the writings of others, and also from the mouths of people of those parts, which may very well accord with truth." This he gives from the report of others ; now for what is proved by the evidence of his own senses: "There is a small island in Lancashire, called the Pile of Toulders, wherein are found the broken pieces of old and bruised ships, some whereof have been cast there by shipwracke ; and also the trunks and bodies, with the branches, of old and rotten trees, cast up there likewise, whereon is found a certain spawn, or froth, that in time breaketh into certain shells, in shape like those of the muskle, but sharper pointed, and of a whitish colour, wherein is con- tained a thing in form like a lace of silke, finely woven as it were together, of a whitish colour, one end whereof is fastened unto the inside of the shell, even as the fish of oisteis and muskles ; the other end is made fast unto the belly of a rude mass, or lumpe, which in time cometh to the shape and form of a bird. When it is perfectly formed the shell gapeth open, and the first thing that appeareth is the foresaid lace, or string ; next come the legs of the bird hanging out ; and as it groweth greater, it openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it is all come forth, and hangeth only by the bill ; in short space after it cometh to full maturitie, and falleth into the sea, where it gathereth feathers, and groweth to a fowl bigger than a mallard, and lesser than a goose, having black legs, bill, or beake, and feathers black and white, spotted in such a manner as our magpie ; called in some places a jrie-annct ; which the people of Lancashire call by no other name than a tree-goose ; which place afore- said, and the parts adjoining, do much abound there- with that one of the best is bought for three-halfpence. For the truth hereof, if any doubt, let them repair to 16 THE OAK. me, and I shall satisfy them by the testimonie of good witnesses." 1 This strange fable took its rise from a certain shell-fish being frequently found attached to pieces of wood which had long lain in salt-water. This shell-fish, now called Lepas anatifera, is provided with a long leathery tube, by which it attaches itself to the bottom of vessels, and to other timber ; it is also furnished near the other extremity with a number of curved, feathery fibres, which, when expanded, bear some resemblance to the tail of a bird. 2 From this fancied similarity, and the coincidence that the shell-fish was found in abundance in places which the Barnacle-goose frequented, probably to make them its food, the fable originated a fertile imagination making up for the barrenness of the facts. Before the Reformation, Dr. Walsh tells us, the fishy origin of the bird was so firmly believed, that the question was warmly and learnedly disputed whether it might not be eaten in Lent. The story may have gained a more ready credence from the fact that the Oak is more prolific in animal life, supplying more insects with food, than any other tree. According to Mr. Stephens, an excellent authority, nearly half of the British insects which feed on vegetables, either exclusively or partially inhabit the Oak. If to this number we add the insects which live on the above, it will be found that the total of insects which, during some period of their existence, derive their support either from 1 Herbal, p. 1391. 2 " It is hardly worth while to mention the claylcs, a sort of geese, which are believed by some, with great admiration, to grow upon trees on this coast, and in other places ; and, when they are ripe, to fall down into the sea, because neither their nests nor eggs can any- where be found. But they who saw the ship in which Sir Francis Drake sailed round the world, when it was laid up in the River Thames, could testify that little birds bred in the old rotten keels of ships, since a great number of such, without life and feathers, . stuck close to the outside of the keel of that ship. Yet I should think that the generation of these birds was not from the logs of wood, but from the sea, termed by the poets 'the parent of all things.'" Camdfn's Britannia. THE OAK. 17 the tree itself, or from their fellow-colonists in it, will amount to scarcely less than two thousand. To insects must be referred, also, the various species of gall-flies, whose instinct teaches them to originate a local disease in some parts of the Oak, 1 and thus to pro- vide their offspring with food and a dwelling-house. A history of the Oak would he imperfect without a full notice of the curious productions known by the name of Galls ; and as the subject is an interesting one, I do not scruple to dwell upon it, although, strictly speaking, it belongs as much to Entomology as to Botany. A small fly alights on a twig, or leaf, or bud, of an Oak, and with an excessively acute instrument, with which it is provided by Nature, for this express purpose, punctures the vegetable fibre, and deposits an egg, or perhaps two or more eggs, so minute as to be almost invisible to the human eye. Why from the puncture of one kind of fly a large irregular excrescence should te produced; \\hy from that of another a smooth spherical gall, or a scaly bud, or a flat circular scale, is all a mystery a mystery so deep that no plausible explanation of it has ever been attempted. To say that an alteration takes place in the character of the juices ; that a disease is produced which arrests them, and causes them to arrange themselves in a certain set form this is not to account for the phenomenon : it is merely an unsatisfactory statement of the result, the real difficulty being left untouched. You must, therefore, be content to read the description of the different kinds of galls which have been observed, and test its accuracy, when you can, by comparing it with the natural objects themselves. In the first place, it appears that the different kinds of insects select different parts of the tree in which to deposit their eggs, and that the character of the galls produced 1 In some parts of the New Forest, the Oaks afford a resting-place to countless white Admirals, of which it is not difficult to capture from twelve to twenty in a single sunny morning. 18 . THE OAK. equally varies. The largest species is generally called the Oak-apple, and grows on the extremity of a twig. It is of a soft spongy substance, and an irregular shape, shaded with brown aud pink on the outside ; and it is divided on the inside into a number of cells, each of which contains either a small grub, a pupa, or a perfect fly, according to the season. It not unfrequently happens that one of the ichneumon-flies lays an egg in the body of the original inhabitant of one of these cells. From this egg proceeds a small worm, which lives on the substance of its pre- decessor, inhabits his house, and, when grown to a perfect insect, escapes, and takes flight in search of a similar abode for its own progeny. What faculty, or sense, or instinct can this little animal possess, which directs it to a solid vegetable substance, in the centre of which is stored up proper nourishment for its young ? What geometrical skill enables it to discover in what part of the mass its prey lies buried ? By the aid of what calculating power does it contrive to pierce the body of the included grub only so deep as to deposit its egg in a place of security, without wounding any vital part ? The most remarkable kind of Oak-gall, next to that described, is produced by another insect of the same genus (Cynips). This fly deposits its eggs in the stalk of the stamen-bearing flowers, which is long and drooping. The excrescence which follows resembles a currant in size, shape, and even in mode of growth, it often happening that several are placed at short distances from each other on the same thread-like stem. There is a remarkable fact connected with this species of gall. Those flowers of the Oak which bear stamens only are destined to wither and fall off as soon as they have shed their pollen, being no longer of any use. Those stalks, however, to which galls are attached, remain firmly united with the tree, and grow vigorously as long as the grubs contained in them continue to feed. Another gall, resembling the last in form (being spherical), 19 is found attached to the leaves of the Oak. These vary very much in size, some being as large as a marble ; and each contains a single insect, which, when it arrives at its perfect state, eats its way out through a great portion of the solid substance of the gall. LEAF-GALLS. The habitation of all the parasitic insects hitherto men- tioned is formed out of the pulpy substance of the tree : one, however, which is not uncommon, and is called the Artichoke-gall, is an irregular development of the bud, and consists of a number of leafy scales overlapping each other. 20 At first sight it might almost be taken for a young cone ; but on dissection is found, like other galls, to contain insects in various stages of their growth, according to the Another singular appendage of the leaf is the Oak- spangle, a flat circular disc, attached by its central point, to the under surface of the leaf. The inner side is smooth ; the outer red, hairy, and fringed. Each of these contains a single insect, which retains its habitation until March, long after the leaves have fallen to the ground. Another insect of the same genus (Cynips) deposits its eggs at the base of the trunk, immediately above the root. In the early spring of the year, 1845, I detected two galls formed by this species in Merthen Wood, Cornwall. The larger was about as big as a walnut, and produced in April sixty small flies, much resembling winged ants. They were not very active during their early existence, and possessed the remarkable instinct, common to many other insects, of counterfeiting death when touched. The galls of commerce, I may here remark, are similar in their nature to those already mentioned. They are THE OAK. 21 produced by a dwarf species of Oak (Quercus infectoria), which rarely attains the height of six feet, growing in Asia Minor and Persia. The insect which occasions this gall is of a pa 7 e colour, and may be often found in the galls sold OAK-SPANGLES. in the shops of druggists. The latter vary greatly in the qualities on account of which they are employed ; those which still contain the insect, and are known by the name of black, blue, or green galls, being the best: while. those from which the insect has escaped, which are called white galls, do not contain more than two-thirds of the astringent qualities of the former. They are used for making ink, for dyeing, and for medicinal purposes. About the year 1840 a gall appeared in the southern and western counties, which has since spread itself over the whole of England. This is not only more conspicuous than any other native kind, but threatens to produce seriously injurious effects. This species is spherical in shape, perfectly smooth, and about one inch in diameter. It is seen in the greatest abundance on the annual twigs of young trees, which sometimes have as many as a dozen or more in close proximity. These galls act injuriously, by diverting the sap of the tree from essential organs to 22 THE OAK. their own use, and consequently check the healthy growth of the trees. Unlike the other galls which, for the most part, disappear with the foliage they are most conspicuous during the season when the trees are bare of leaves. They contain a considerable quantity of gallic acid, but scarcely enough to render them of commercial value. 1 I now come to speak of the flower and fruit of the Oak. Of the former, every tree produces. two kinds; the first containing stamens only, and, therefore, producing no fruit. These appear nearly as soon as the leaves, consisting of yellow tasselled threads, which wither and drop off as soon as they have shed the pollen or fructifying dust which they contain ; unless, as I have stated above, they happen to have been perforated by one of the gall-insects. The other kind of flower appears soon after, and is even less conspicuous than the first ; it is this which subsequently produces the acorn. Of the acorn itself no description need be given ; no other natural production, perhaps, has served as a model for so many ornamental works of art ; and this is to be attributed not so much to the popularity of the Oak, as to the finished elegance of form of the fruit itself. " Acorn-shaped " would, I should think, be a word as readily understood as "round" or "square." Acorns and roses are in modern architecture what pomegranates and lilies were in Jewish. Different in proportions though it is in the various species of Oak, there is yet always similarity enough to reveal the genus of the tree which produced it. The ball may be almost buried in the cup, or may be dis- proportionately long ; the latter may be almost smooth, or rugged, or even mossy ; yet, were an acorn of any species to be placed before a person who had never seen any other 1 These being of a closer texture, and harder than any other Oak- galls, are persistent. Coated with leaf gold, they produce a pleasing effect, when mixed with evergreens, for Christmas decorations; and being, moreover, spherical, and for the most part nearly equal in ize, they might, perhaps, be used as a beading for picture frames. THE OAK. 23 than that of the British Oak, he would immediately pro nounce the tree from which it was gathered an Oak. As an article of food, the acorn has been, and in many places still is, highly prized, In the time of Strabo, Rome was principally supplied with hogs which had been fattened 24 THE OAK. on mast in the -woods of Gaul. This mast is supposed to nave included the acorns of the Common and Turkey Oaks, and of the Ilex ; as well as the nuts of the Beech and Chestnut. So important were acorns formerly considered, that by the laws of the Twelve Tables the owner of a tree might gather up his acorns though they should have fallen on another man's ground. It appears from Domesday Book, that in England, in the time of William the Conqueror, " Oaks were still esteemed, principally for the food they afforded to swine ; for the value of the woods in several counties is estimated by the number of hogs they would fatten. The survey is taken so accurately that in some places woods are men- tioned of a single hog. The numerous herds of swine which still continue one of the chief sources of wealth to the rural population of Spain, are fed on the acorns of the Evergreen Oak, which abound in almost every part of the country. They are also a grateful food to deer both when wandering at large in the forests and when confined in parks ; and are greedily eaten by pheasants and partridges. Evelyn, recommending the extensive planting of Oaks, says : "In this poor territory (Westphalia) every farmer does by antient custom plant so many Oaks about his farm as may suffice to feed his swine. To effect this, they have been so careful, that when of late years, the armies infested the poor country (both Imperialists and Protestants), the single Bishoprick of Munster was able to pay one hundred thousand crowns per mensem (which amounts to about twenty-five thousand pounds sterling of our money), besides the ordinary entertainments of their own princes and private families. This being incredible to be practised in a country so extremely barren, I thought fit to mention, either to encourage or reproach us." The same author says, that ' ' a peck of acorns a day, with a little bran, will make a hog, 'tis said, increase a pound weight per diem for two months together." " The Rev. Mr. Robinson, in his ' Natural History of THE OAK. 25 Westmoreland and Cumberland,' says, that ' birds are natural planters of all sorts of trees, disseminating the kernels upon the earth till they grow up to their natural strength and perfection.' He tells us that early one morning he observed ' a great number of rooks very busy at their work upon a declining ground of a mossy surface, and that he went out of his way on purpose to view their labour. He then found that they were planting a grove of Oaks. The manner of their planting was thus : they first made little holes in the earth with their bills, going about and about till the hole was deep enough, and then they dropped in the acorn, and covered it with earth and moss. The young plantation,' Mr. Eobinson adds, ' is now growing up to a thick grove of Oaks, fit for use, and of height for the rooks to build their nests in. The season was the latter end of autumn, when all seeds are fully ripe.' " l But the use of this fruit as an article of food is not confined to the inferior animals : even man has conde- scended to submit to the same humble fare, and among the rest our own progenitors. " The earliest notices which we have of the Oak in Britain are in the Saxon Chronicle, from which it appears that Oak forests were chiefly valued for the acorns which they produced, which were generally consumed by swine and other domestic animals, but, in years of great scarcity, were eaten by man. ' Famines,' Burnet observes, ' which of old so continually occurred, history in part attributes to the failure of these crops.' Long after the introduction of wheat and oats and rye nay, little more than seven hundred years since, when other food had in a great measure superseded the use of mast considerable reliance was still placed thereon, and Oaks were chiefly valued for the acorns they produced. In the Saxon Chronicle, that year of terrible dearth and mortality, 1116, is described as ' a very heavy-timed, 1 Jesse's Gleaning^ in Natural Histor}'. 26 THE OAK. vexatious, and destructive year,' aud the failure of the mast in that season is particularly recorded : ' This year, also, was so deficient in mast, that there never was heard such in all this land, or in Wales.' " The acorns of the Balonia Oak (Querciis JEyilops) are annually brought to England from the Levant and the Morea, and are in great demand for tanning, being said to contain more tannin in a given bulk of vegetable than any other substance. 1 The cups of this acorn are much larger than those of our British species, and are covered externally with long reflexed scales. I have not yet spoken of the application of the various parts of the Oak to the arts of civilized life, it having been my object to devote as much of my space as possible to the tree in its natural state. But inasmuch as a notice of any tree, and especially this King of Trees, would be of necessity considered imperfect without at least some few remarks on this head, I will proceed to give a brief history of the general uses to which the wood and other parts of the Oak may be applied. The particular and most valued qualities of the Oak are hardness and toughness. Shakespeare uses two epithets to express these qualities, which are perhaps stronger than any we can find : " Thou rather with thy sharp and sulph'rous bolt Splitt'st the unwedgeable and gnarled Oak Than the soft Myrtle." " Many kinds of wood are harder, as Box and Ebony ; many kinds are tout/her, as Yew and Ash ; but it is sup- posed that no species of wood, at least no species of timber, is possessed of both these qualities together in so great a degree as British Oak. Almost all arts and manufactures are indebted to it; but in ship-building and bearing burdens, its elasticity and strength are applied to most 1 The cups of this Oak, called " valonia," are now so extensively used, that Oak-bark has materially deteriorated in value. THE OAK. 27 advantage. I mention these mechanical uses only because some of its chief beauties are connected with them. Thus, it is not the erect, stately tree that is always the most useful in ship- building, but more often the crooked one, forming short turns and elbows, which the shipwrights and carpenters commonly call knee-timber. This, too, is generally the most, picturesque. Nor is it the straight, tall stem, whose fibres run in parallel lines, that is the most useful in bearing burdens ; but that whose sinews are twisted, and spirally combined. This, too, is the most picturesque. Trees under these circumstances generally take the most pleasing forms." l The admirable qualities of Oak as a material for build- ing, and other purposes, were known to our ancestors in ages long past, scarcely any other timber being found in any buildings of very high antiquity. The doors of the inner chapels of Westminster Abbey are said to be coeval with the original building : if this be true, they must be more than twelve hundred years old. The shrine of Edward the Confessor, in the same abbey, is also of Oak, and must be nearly eight hundred years old. In the county-hall at Winchester is preserved Arthur's round- table, so well known in stories of English chivalry. It bears the figure of that Prince, and the names of several of his knights. Henry VIII. is said to kave taken great pleasure in showing this table to his illustrious visitor, Charles V., as the actual oaken table made and placed there by the renowned British Prince, Arthur, who lived in the early part of the sixth century ; that is, about 1,300 years ago. Hence the poet Dra}'ton sings : " Aud so great Arthur's seat ould Winchester prefers, Whose ould round table 3'et she vaunteth to be hers." It must have been cut from a tree of immense girth, as it measures eighteen feet in diameter. It has been per- forated in many places by bullets, supposed to have been shot by Cromwell's soldiers. 1 Gilpin's Forest Scenery. 28 THE OA.K. In digging away the foundation of the old Savoy Palace in London, which was built six hundred and fifty years since, the whole of the piles, many of which were of Oak, were found in a state of perfect soundness, as also was the planking which covered the pile-heads. 1 In clearing the channel at Brundusium, in Italy, " the workmen have drawn up many of the Oak piles that were driven in by Csesar. They are small Oaks stripped of their bark, and still as fresh as if they had been cut only a month, though buried above eighteen centuries seven feet under the sand. These piles were driven in by Julius Caesar to block up Poinpey's fleet." 2 Speaking of the uses of the Oak generally, Loudon says, " The wood of the Oak is more durable, in every state in which it can be placed, than that of any other tree which abounds in large quantities in Europe. It is hard, tough, tolerably flexible, strong, without being too heavy, not easy to splinter, and not readily penetrated by water ; and hence its value in ship-building. Some woods are harder, but they are more fragile ; and others are more flexible, but do not possess so much hardness, toughness, and durability. Where the grain is twisted, no timber is so well adapted for posts, either in house-building, or in setting up mills, engines, or large machines. No wood lasts longer where it is subject to be alternately wet and dry ; and Oak piles have been known to endure many cen- turies. Shingles, poles, and laths last longer of this wood than of any other ; and casks, and every other description of cooper's work, are most durable, and best adapted for containing wines, ales, and other liquors, when they are made of Oak. Oak timber is particularly esteemed for the spokes of wheels, for which the small and slow-growing Oak of mountainous districts is greatly preferred to the more rapid-growing and larger Oak of the valleys. Oaks of from fifteen to thirty years' growth make the most durable poles. The young tree, when from five to ten feet 1 Burnet. Phillip?. THE OAK. 29 high, makes excellent hoops, which Evelyn says we ought to substitute for those of Hazel and Ash, as they are six times more durable : it also makes the very best walking- sticks, and very good handles to carters' whips. Of the roots, Evelyn says, were formerly made hafts to daggers, handles to knives, tobacco-boxes, mathematical instruments, tablets for artists to paint on instead of canvas, and elegant cam- leted joiner's work. Oak wood, every one knows, is pre- ferred before all others for ship-building, in the temperate regions of both hemispheres. From its toughness, it does not splinter when it is struck by a cannon-ball, and the hole made by a ball is consequently easy to plug. Through- out Europe, and more especially in Britain, Oak timber was used for every purpose, both of naval and civil archi- tecture, till the wood of the Pine and Fir tribe came to be generally imported from the Baltic and North America, about the beginning of the last century. Since that period, the use of Oak timber has given way to that of Pine and Fir in house-building ; but where not superseded by iron, it maintains its superiority in the construction of ships, and various kinds of machines, and even in house- building where great durability is required. Oak wood is also still employed in joinery and cabinet-making. Much difference of opinion exists as to which species of British Oak produces the best timber. Early writers on the subject claim the superiority for Quercus Robur, or the " old English Oak," as they call it, on the ground that it is of moi-e rapid growth, has a cleaner stem and fewer knots, is more durable, and contains a larger proportion of heart-wood than the other species, Quercus sessiliflora, or Durmast Oak. -More recent authors, however, maintain that the true "old English Oak" is Quercus sessitijlora, and account for the fact that it is now less common than the other on the supposition that our forefathers were well aware of the superiority of the former species, and applied it so extensively to all works requiring durability, that it has long become comparatively scarce. But a few years 30 TUE OAK. since, it was generally believed that the beautiful carved roof of Westminster Hall was constructed of Chestnut. Recent examination has, however, proved that it is com- posed entirely of Durmast Oak. This roof has stood for more than three hundred years. The foundation on which the stone piers of old London Bridge were laid consisted of huge piles of timber, which when taken up were found to be perfectly sound, though they must have been driven upwards of six hundred years. The wood employed is from trees of the same species. Most of the timber found in old buildings which was formerly believed to be Chest- nut, is now known to be the w r ood of the Durmast Oak. In the year 1814 there was raised from the bottom of a lake at Davey Strand, between Dublin and Cavan, a huge canoe, which had been hollowed out of the trunk of a tree of the same kind. It measured no less than forty feet in length, the bottom being four feet three inches in diameter at one end, and about three feet at the other. On a fair computation, the circumference of this tree must have been at least twenty-one feet at the base, and fifteen feet at the height of forty feet from the ground. The antiquity of this relic is almost too great to be speculated on. Much of the wood-work in the old border fortresses of Wales, and the doors of pews in ancient churches, are made from the sama tree. The principal difference ap- parent to the eye between the timber of the two species is, that Qnercm Kobur is plentifully furnished with medullary rays, called by carpenters "silver-grain," of which the other species is almost entirely destitute, resembling in this respect the Chestnut : from this similarity have pro- bably sprung the numerous mistakes of the one wood for the other. On the whole it wculd seem that, whatever good quality is found in either of the species, the other possesses in somewhat greater or bss degree, and there is little doubt that both will long continue to be applied indifferently to purposes where solidity, strength, and durability are required. THE OAR. 31 But the Oak begins to be valuable long before it has attained such a size as renders it fit for ship and house- building. " The ground Oak, while young, is used for poles, cudgels, and walking- staffs, much come into mode of late, but to the waste of many a hopeful plant which might have proved good timber ; and I the rather declaim against the custom because I suspect they are such as are for the most part cut and stolen by idle persons, and brought up to London in great bundles, without the knowledge or leave of the owners, who would never have gleaned their copses for such trifling uses." 1 According to Loudon, the proper age at which Oak copse should be cut down varies from " fifteen to thirty years, the rule being that the principal stems of the plants, at one foot from the ground, should not be less than six inches in diameter. In favourable soils in the south and west of England this size will be obtained in from twelve to fifteen years ; but in the colder climate and inferior soil of the Highlands of Scotland from twenty- five to thirty years are required. The cutting over of copse is performed at the same season as that in which full-grown trees are felled, when in both cases the bark is an object as well as the timber." The timber-merchant and the painter, if called to give an opinion on any par- ticular Oak, would, in all probability, greatly differ. To the former, a clean, straight, and regular stem would suggest calculations as to the number of cubic feet of timber it would be found to contain when the axe, and square, and saw should have done their work. A well-grown tree, there- fore, in the vigour of its age, will be to him the perfection of all trees. The painter will perhaps stop and admire the stately growth of the same tree ; he will notice the symmetry of its form, and watch the brilliant lights play- ing about its thick foliage, but he will feel no desire to transfer it to his canvas. There must be no perpendicular 1 Evelyn. 32 THE OAK. or parallel lines about the object of his choice ; no hemi- spherical evenly- shaped head ; no arms of equal diameter springing from the main stem at the same angle, and ex- tending to an equal distance all round. But show him a veteran patriarch, whose gnarled trunk is eaten out by the frost of centuries, whose knotted limbs are fringed with ferns, and mottled with innumerable mosses and lichens ; even if but a scanty foliage clings to branches which have been shattered again and again by the tempest, or if, instead of a leafy summit, it rears aloft a fantastic assemblage of hoary, sapless antlers ; and you will hear him exclaim, "I go no farther to-day; this is the tree for a picture ! " And move he will not, until with his pencil he has produced the same image which the poet has conjured up with his pen. " A huge Oak, dry and dead, Still clad with reliques of its glories old, Lifting to Heaven its aged, hoary head ; Whose foot on earth hath got but feeble hold, And, half-disbowelled, stands above the ground ; With wreathed roots, and naked arms, And trunk all rotten and unsound." SPENSER. About the end of April the season for barking com- mences, and to this process Oaks, both old and young, are equally subjected ; those of from twenty to thirty years' growth, however, being preferred. Oak bark is occasionally used in medicine, and is employed also as a dye, but is most valuable for the principal called tannin, which is indispensable in the manufacture of leather. Every part of the tree, indeed, abounds in astringent matter, and even the leaves and sawdust will tan leather, linen cloth, and netting or cordage which is to be much exposed to the weather. There is a particular interest connected with trees of great antiquity which attaches itself to nothing else. A Qourishing Oak in the vigour of its age, furnished with a THE OAK. 33 well-proportioned, tapering trunk, and with symmetrically- arranged branches, and flinging its chequered shade far and near over the verdant sward, is a beautiful object, and irresistibly draws the attention to itself. But it does not carry the mind of the spectator back to past events, it does not talk with us about bygone ages and scenes at which no man now living was present ; and if we think of its future fate, there is so much of uncertainty about that, so much of doubt as to the length of time for which it is destined to retain its position, whether it will be laid low by the tempest, or by the woodman's axe, and, if the latter, to what purposes it may be applied, that the mind can select nothing sufficiently definite to engage itself upon. The tan-yard, the saw-pit, and the baker's oven are decidedly not subjects to dwell upon ; and these, in fact, are the only passages in its history which can be predicted with certainty. But the case is very different with the uncouth monster on whom the destroyer has done all but his utmost. Though but a hollow shell, blasted above, and worm-eaten below, and indebted for its scanty verdure more to ferns and moss than to the feeble relics of life which yet remain in it, it is a monument of the past more eloquent than buildings the most time-hallowed ; or, save one, than books of the most remote antiquity. It is now a living tree, and it was the same thirty generations back. Yes ! a thousand years ago it was a stately tree ; when the present dynasty commenced it was older than the oldest men then alive, and it has lived through all the stirring events which have taken place from that time to this, connecting the names of Stephenson and Tennyson with those of Newton and Milton and Shakespeare, and these with Caxton and Chaucer; and having sprung from an acorn born by a tree which perhaps flourished when our Holy Religion was preached in Palestine by the Saviour, whose coming was to banish from the earth all those bar- barous rites which were ; then being enacted beneath the shade of its branches. 34 THE OAK. Evelyn, who wrote his Sylva in tho reign of Charles II., thus dedicated the fourth edition to that monarch : " To you then, Royal Sir, does this Fourth Edition continue its humble addresses, since you are our Nemorensis Rex : as having once had your temple, and court too, under that sacred Oak which you consecrated with your presence, and we celebrate, with just acknowledgment to God, for your preservation." The tree here alluded to, called the " Royal Oak," for- merly stood at Boscobel, in Shropshire, but was destroyed soon after it attained its notoriety by the ill-judged curi- osity of the Royalists. For the same author, speaking of an Oak which put forth its buds about Christmas, says : " King James went to visit it, and caused benches to be placed about it ; which, giving it reputation, the people never left hacking of the boughs and bark till they killed the tree, as I am told they have served that famous Oak near White-Laly's, which hid and protected our late Monarch from being discovered and taken by the rebel soldiers who were sent to find him, after his almost mira- culous escape at the Battle of Worcester." In the course of the spoliation, a huge bulk of timber, consisting of many loads, was carried away in handfuls. Several sap- lings were raised in different parts of tbe country from its acorns, one of which grew near St. James's Palace, where Marlborough House now stands, and there was another in the Botanic Garden, Chelsea. The former has been long since felled, and of the latter even the recollection seems now almost lost. Through the kindness of the Rev. J. Dale, Curate of Donington, the parish in which the Boseobel Oak stands, I am enabled to lay before my readers a full and authentic account of a tree which, from its connection with one of the most important events in English history, will always be remembered with interest. On a single printed leaf which is pasted in at the end of one of the parish registers of Donington, is the THE OAK. 35 following note, in the handwriting of the late rector, Dr. Woodhouse : " Extracts from the ritilosophical Transac- tions, vol. 5, part 2nd, chap. 3, written by the Rev. George Plaxton, Hector of Donington and (Kinnard&ey) from 1690 to 1703." Then follows the type. " The Royal Oak was a fair spreading tree ; the boughs of it all lined and covered with ivy. Here in the thick of these boughs, tho King sat in the day-time, with Colonel Carlos, and in the night lodged in Boscobel House ; so that they are strangely mistaken who judged it an old hollow Oak, whereas it was a gay and flourishing tree surrounded with a great many more, and, as I remember in Mr. Evelyn's History of Medals, you have one of King James I. or Charles I., where thero is a fine spread Oak with this epigraph, ' Sens nepotibus umbra,' which I leave to your thoughts. . . . The poor remains of the Royal Oak are now fenced in by a handsome brick wall, at the charge of Basil Fitz- herbert, Esq., with this inscription over the gate, upon a blue stone in letters of gold : Felicissimam arborem quam in asylum potent i*simi regis Carol! Secundi Deus Opt. Max. per quern reges regnant hie crescere voluit tarn in perpetuam rei tanl ae memoiiam quam in specimen firmac in reges fidei muro cinctam posteris commendant Bazilius et Jana Fitzherbert. Quercus arnica Jovi. 1 " 'Twas put up about twenty or thirty years ago ; but the place deserved a better memorial. I have writ it in such lines as they have cut it, and as the letters now stand ; a few years will ruine both the wall and the in- scription. 1 Translation. This most highly-favourc d tree, planted by the God through whom kings reign, to afford shelter to his Majesty King Charles the Second, was enclosed with a wall by Bazil and Jane Fitzherbert, as well to preserve to posterity a memorial of the auspicious event as to be a token of their own steadfast loyalty. 36 THE OAK v " The emblematical medal my good friend alludes to is the XL vii. in Mr. Evelyn's Numismata, which King Charles caused to be stamped in honour of the installation of his son ; whereupon is the Royal Oak under a prince's coronet, over-spreading subnascent trees and young suckers." In the year 1812, or thereabouts, and before he was aware of Mr. Plaxton's notice, Mr. Dale discovered por- tions of the above inscription " on a blue stone, in letters of gold,", among the long and neglected grass on the Mount in Boscobel Garden. After spending some tirno in arranging the fragments, he communicated the discovery to the occupants of the house, who appear to have taken little interest in the relic. The house and grounds have passed into other hands, and the fragments of the stone in all probability lie buried beneath the present garden walks, which were laid out by the present proprietor after tlie pattern of those which existed in the time of Charles II. Of the tree itself very few, and these imperfect, records remain. Old Plaxton speaks of it as "a fair spreading tree, the boughs of it all lined and covered with ivy," and that in the thick of it the King and Carlos sat. This agrees well with the description of it which the King him- self gives in his narrative : " A great Oak that had been lopped some three or four years before, and, being grown out again very bushy and thick, could not be seen through ; and here we staid all the day." This would be an excel- lent hiding-place ; for, says Mr. Dale, "I have frequently observed that an old Pollard Oak, standing on a bank and overhanging the road between the churches of Albrighton and Donington, about one hundred yards from each, would afford a secure retreat for two or three persons from the observation of all passers-by." It will be seen by the extract from Evelyn's Sylva, that in 16&2 it had ceased to be .a living, monument of the event to which it owes its celebrity. Not many years after, its poor remains were fenced in by a handsome " brick wall ; " but all in vain. Every vestige of the original tree THE OAK. 87 Las disappeared from the spot for more than a century; Mr. Dale thinks, from inquiries made in the vicinity from persons whose age, if they were now alive, would exceed a hundred, that the last remnants were taken away about the year 1734. The handsome brick wall above alluded to stood until 1817, having been repaired in 1787 by Basil and Eliza Fitzherbert, who also attached a new inscription. Mr. Dale has bein unable to discover any written account of the second tree thus inclosed. By general tradition, however, it sprung from an acorn of the Royal Oak, and this is credible enough ; for whoever took the pains to rear young trees for St. James's Park and the Chelsea Gardens, doubtless did all in his power to perpetuate the race on the spot were the event took place. From the inscription of 1787, it would seem that Basil and Eliza Fitzherbert believed the tree then standing to have been the identical one in which the Sovereign took shelter. But although they were mistaken in this respect, it must have attained a considerable size, or they could not have fallen iuto such an erro v . From this and other circumstances it appears tolerably certain that the tree now standing is the immediate descendant of the Royal Oak, and that it was planted about the time of the Restoration in 1660, as nearly in the same site as the remains of the old tree would allow, some of the old people alluded to above recollecting that it did not stand in the centre of the old inclosure. Some notion of the value of a well-grown Oak in its prime may be formed from the following account of the felling, in the year 1758, of a tree in Langley Wood, on the borders of the New Forest, and of another in Mon- mouthshire. The former of these, Mr. South tells us, " stood singly in the Wood, and extended its massive branches nearly forty feet each way. Its head was all knees and crooks, aptly suited to naval purposes ; its bole or shaft was short, not exceeding twenty feet in length ; but it was full six feet in diameter at the top, and perfectly 88 THE OAK sound. It was felled in an unusual manner for the pre- servation of its crooks, which were cut off one by one whilst the tree was standing, and lowered by tackles, to prevent their breaking. The two largest arms were sawed off at such distances from the bole as to make first-rate knees ; scaffolds were then erected, and two pit- saws being braced together, the body was first cut across, half through, at the bottom, and then sawed down the middle, perpendicularly, between the two stumps of arms that had been left, at the end of one of which stood a perpendicular bough, bigger than most timber-trees. To prevent this being injured, a bed was made of some hundreds of fagots to catch it when it fell. This half was so weighty that it crushed a new timber-carriage all to pieces the instant it was lodged upon it; and, none in the country being found strong enough, the King's carriage was sent purposely from Portsmouth to convey it to the dockyard. This tree was Bold in the first place for 40. ; was bought of that pur- chaser by a timber-merchant for 100/ , who is supposed to have cleared 100L more ; which he might very well do, for the contents amounted to thirty-two loads of hewed timber, which, at half-a-crown a foot no unusual price for naval crooks amounts to 200?. precisely, besides fagots, &c., sufficient to defray the expenses. The breadth of the tree across, near the ground, where it was cut, was twelve feet, and it had about three hundred rings of annual growth." THE EVERG-EE* OAK. THE ILEX, EVERGREEN OAK, OR HOLM-OAK. QUERCUS ILEX. Natural Order AMENTACEJi. Class MONCECIA. Order POLYANDRIA. THE Ilex is not a native of Great Britain ; nor, although it flourishes and becomes a large tree in congenial situations, is it likely that it will ever become so far naturalized as to propagate itself to any extent. Nevertheless, as an orna- ment to the landscape it is a great acquisition, affording in 40 THE EVERGREEN OAK. summer, with its sombre foliage, a pleasing contrast to the brighter tints of every other tree in the neighbourhood, and no less valuable when the deciduous trees have thrown off their perishable garniture, and wisely prepared themselves to encounter the storms of winter by clearing themselves of what would oppose their boisterous progress. , The Ilex, too, will stand the sea-breeze uninjured, and thrives better than most other evergreens in the vicinity of cities where it is exposed to the effects of coal- smoke. For all these reasons, therefore, now that more attention is paid to the subject of planting than ever was before, man will in all probability do for it what Nature refuses to perform, and in all artificial plantations it will always be a favourite addition to the woodland scene. It is a fellow-countryman of the Latin Classic Poets from whom it has received frequent and honourable mention. Even with us it attains a considerable size ; but in the milder climates of Italy, Spain, &c., it becomes a large tree, and reaches an age equal to that of some of our most venerable Oaks. Hence it not unfrequently ac- quired an historical interest ; and for this reason perhaps, more than for its picturesque beauty, it was made the theme of poetic song. The Roman naturalist, Pliny, who flourished in the first century of the Christian Era, mentions a tree growing in the Vatican, which claimed a higher antiquity than Rome itself. It had brazen letters in the ancient Etruscan characters affixed to its trunk, from which it would appear that, before the Roman name was known, it was a sacred treel Its age must therefore have been 800 years at least. Three others are mentioned by the same author, growing at Tibur, which tradition made to be older than Tiburtus, who founded that city 1,200 years B.C. Lowth considers the Teil-tree of Scripture to be identical with the Ilex, which abounds in many parts of Pales- tine ; Dr. J. D. Hooker has, however, decided that the prevailing Oak of Palestine is Q. pseudo cocci/era ; a tree which in habit much resembles Q. Ilex. THE EVEBGBEEN OAK. 41 The Ilex was introduced into England previously to 1580; but it was then a great rarity and little thought of. In Italy it is the prevailing evergreen, and in Sicily it abounds on the hills and all along the coast, ascending Mount Etna to an elevation of 3,200 feet. It is easily propagated from the acorn, but is very impatient of being transplanted, owing to its sending its long roots perpen- dicularly downwards, which are furnished with but few rootlets, save at the extremities, and if these are injured the young plant dies. This difficulty is obviated by sowing the acorns either in the spot where the trees are destined to stand, or by confining their roots in pots until they are required for planting. During their early stage they grow with considerable rapidity, but afterwards much more slowly. The bark is even, and of a light colour ; the leaves are of a dark bluish green above, and more or less downy beneath, the younger shoots being as remarkable for their light hue as the full-grown tree is for the characteristic sombreness of its foliage. The shape of the leaf varies greatly in different individuals, and even not unfrequently on the same tree, being sometimes scarcely notched at all, at other times deeply serrated, and at others quite prickly. It is this last variety which has procured for it the name of " Holm-Oak." It also resembles the Holm or Holly-tree, in having its most prickly leaves on the lowest branches. The acorn, which does not arrive at perfection until the second year, resembles that of the Oak, but is somewhat more slender, and the cup is scaly. Some trees bear sweet and edible acorns ; those produced by others are bitter, and both kinds are sometimes to be found on the same tree. An allied species, Quercus grannmtia, which is so like the Ilex as to have been thought formerly merely a variety of the same tree, bears acorns, which, even in perfection, are as good as a chestnut, or even superior to it. These, ac- cording to Capt. S. C. Cook, are "the edible acorns of the ancients, which they believed fattened the tunny fish on their passage from the ocean to the Mediterranean ; a fable, 42 THE SYCAMORE. only proving that the acorns grew on the delicious shores and rocks of Andalusia, -which, unhappily, is no longer the case. I have frequently Been them produced by individuals and offered to the company, as bon-bons are in some coun- tries, with a sort of apology for their small intrinsic value." The wood of the Ilex is dark, close-grained, heavy, and hard. It is also durable and flexible, and, says Evelyn, "is serviceable for many uses, as stocks of tools, mallet- heads, mall balls, chairs, axle-trees, wedges, beetles, pins, and, above all, for palisadoes, and in fortifications. Besides, it affords so good fuel that it supplies all Spain almost with the best and most lasting of charcoals in vast abun- dance." Modern writers on the subject confirm this account, and recommend also its employment in ship- building. THE SYCAMORE. ACEK PSEUDO-PLATANUS. Natural Order AcBKACEJE. Class OCTANDBIA. Order MONOGYNIA. IF in my history of forest trees I were to confine myself to those which are universally acknowledged to be in- digenous to Britain, I should soon bring my labours to a close. England, though once a well-wooded country, never probably could boast of containing within it any great variety of species. The Oak, fortunately, no one thinks of denying to be our fellow-countryman : if any one were bold enough to do so, we could easily refute him by pointing to living trees older than any of our national records ; or, if that did not suffice, to trunks of trees pre- served in peat-bogs, which were prostrated on their native soil centuries, probably, before the acorns were planted from which any trees now living sprung. But this is not the case with the Sycamore. No writer on the subject, THE SYCAMORE. 4!-} so far as I can learn, looks on this tree in any other light than as a foreigner, but as a foreigner naturalized so com- pletely that it will continue to sow its own seeds, and nurse its own offspring, as long as England exists. The Oak, indeed, has greater right to claim an indigenous origin than we ourselves. There can he little doubt that the Oaks which now stock our forests, or convey our sailors to every region of the world, are lineal descendants of the first trees which ever grew in our island. The Oak, on account of the age and size which it attains, the share which it had in the religious worship of our forefathers, its picturesque beauty, and its intimate con- nexion with naval architecture, is confessedly the most in- teresting of all the trees which grow in Britain. But the Sycamore is sadly deficient in these respects. It has neither extraordinary magnitude nor longevity to recom- mend it. It was not contemporary in this country with the worshippers of trees ; and I know not that it ever laid '14 THE SYCAMOBK. claim to be mentioned in connexion with any national boast. It has even been denied the possession of any picturesque beauty. Evelyn sa}*s of it, " The Sycamore is much more in reputation for its shade than it deserves ; for the honey-dew leaves, which fall early, like those of the Ash, turn to mucilage and noxious insects, and putrefy with the first moisture of the season ; and are therefore, by my consent, to be banished from all curious gardens and avenues." If the trees, however, " be very tall and hand- some, they are the more tolerable for distant walks, especially where other better trees prosper not so well, or where a sudden shade is expected. Some commend them to thicken copses, especially in parks, and that it is good fire- wood." The name Acer, given to it by the Komans, is derived from Acer, Acris, sharp or hard, on account of the hard- ness of the wood, which was used for making spears and other sharp-pointed instruments; or, as some are pleased to say, from acre inyeniiim, a sharp irit, from its being so much in use by most ingenious artificers in fine works. Its specific name, Pseudo-PUitaniis, means Mock-Plane, being given to it in consequence of the resemblance borne by its leaves to those of the Plane-tree. The name Sycamore was given to it by the older botanists, who erroneously believed it to be identical with the Sycamore, 1 or Mulberry-fig, of Palestine, which it some- what resembles in the size and form of its leaves. No tree propagates itself more readily in this country, as may be easily inferred from the great number of seed- lings which are to be found springing spontaneously from the ground in the vicinity of Sycamores which have begun to bear seeds. In its earliest stage it is a puny herbaceous plant, furnished with two, or sometimes more, narrow smooth leaves, entire at the edges : these are the cotyle- donous leaves. Shortly afterwards (for during the whole 1 From syJcp., a fir, and moros, a mulberry, bein? said to resemble the mulberry-tree in the leaf, and the fig in its fruit. THE SYCAMORE. 45 of its existence it is a rapid grower), a few pointed and notched leaves, tinged with pink, are produced in the centre of these ; and as the nursling increases in size, others appear, having the five-pointed, unequally notched lobes which characterise the matured foliage of the tree. At the end of a year it will have attained, under favourable circumstances, the height of eighteen inches. As a sapling it is remarkable for its straight growth, smooth purplish- brown bark, and large leaf-buds. In this stage of its growth it is a great favourite with schoolboys, who, in the sp"Hng, when the sap begins to rise, slip off a cylinder of bark, and by removing a portion of the pith and wood, manufacture the shrill and unmusical instrument, a whistle. It produces flowers before it is twenty years old, but does not generally perfect its seeds until it has attained at least that age. In fifty or sixty years it reaches its full growth, and in the course of thirty or forty years more thoroughly ripens its wood. The leaves of the Sycamore in autumn are frequently observed to be covered with dark-coloured spots. This appearance is produced by numerous blackish fungi (Xijluma acertnum), which, as soon as the first sharp frost has scattered the leaves on the ground, commence their office of converting the now useless vegetable substance into rich mould. At all periods of its growth its leaves are liable to be covered with a viscid substance, termed honey -dew, the origin of which has by eome been attiibuted to insects, by others to the plant itself. 1 In May, before the leaves are thoroughly expanded, the Sycamore puts forth its elegant drooping clusters of green flowers, when the bee may be observed climbing about, and closely peering into every opening bud. This insect is much' indebted to the Sycamore, since its flowers, which 1 TThpn this honey-dew is very ahundant, it is liable to drop on nny shrub heneath (such as box, holly, &c.), and to turn their leaves black. The branches of such shrubs have been observed to be much infested with lichens. 46 THE SYCAMORE. abound in honey, not only are very numerous, but appear at a season when the supply of honey-bearing flowers is limited. FLOWERS OF SYCAMORF.. WIKOED SF.ED-VESSET. OF SYCAMORE. As soon as the flower is withered and has fallen off, the seed-vessels enlarge and acquire a reddish hue, which indeed in the autumn characterises the whole tree. " Nor unnoticed pass The Sycamore, capricious in attire ; Now green, now tawny, and ere autumn yet Has changed the woods, in scarlet honours bright." COWPEB. THE SYCAMORE. 47 Each of the two or three seed-vessels, which succeed evciy flower, is furnished with a membranous diverging wing, and it is owing to the presence of this that so many young plants may be discovered in the spring at a considerable distance from the parent tree. When they have acquired their full size, which is early in autumn, they form clusters sufficiently large and conspicuous to alter the pictorial character of the tree. They do not fall off when ripe, like acorns, chestnuts, and other heavy seeds, but remain attached to the branches till the equinoctial gales set in, which serve the double purpose of separating them from the stalks and carrying them to some convenient place of growth. If, however, from growing in a sheltered spot; or from any other cause, they still retain their position, an event which frequently occurs, the seed-stalk rots from the effects of the winter's rain ; and the violent winds which accompany the succeeding vernal equinox do not fail to deposit the majority of the seeds in places well adapted for their growth, in full time to receive all the advantages of the genial season which follows. The seed itself is well protected against the severest vicissitudes of weather, first by the horny, or almost woody, case in which it is inclosed ; and secondly, by the copious, soft, and glossy down which lines the seed-vessels, a covering alike impervious to cold and wet. It may be that many trees which have been introduced into a strange country fail to propagate themselves exten- sively because the attendant circumstances are not the same in the new country that they were in the old. Were the Sycamore, for instance, to be introduced into a country where no such periodical recurrence of rain and storms took place, and where also there was no inter- ference of human agency, it might soon become extinct, inasmuch as its seeds, if kept dry for a year, generally lose their vegetative power. The Oak, if planted in a country uninhabited by man, and where no such friendly depredator as the rook or the squirrel acted the part of a skilful 48 THE SYCAJIORE. forester, would soon disappear. Its acorns would indeed fall to the ground, and perhaps germinate, but would rarely become trees ; for the Oak, like many other trees, will not flourish under the shade of its own species. I may here observe that the mast-bearing trees generally, such as the Oak, the Chestnut, and the Beech, are indebted for their propagation to animals whose instinct leads them to bury their food : those provided with winged seeds, such as the Sycamore, the Ash, and the Elm, to storms and tempests ; and the drupe-bearing trees (those, namely, which are furnished with stone-fruit), to frugivorous birds, which fly away with the fruit, and drop the seed. Thus, by the wise arrangement of the Almighty, do these several classes of trees derive the greatest benefit from what we, at first sight, might imagine to be most productive of injury. From the extreme fecundity of this tree, Martyn argues that if it were truly indigenous, it would ere this have filled the whole country, instead of being a simple occupant of plantations and hedges. In Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Italy, it is found abundantly in the moun- tainous forests, and may therefore with propriety be considered a native of those countries, whence it was probably introduced into Britain in the end of the fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenth century. There are several varieties 'of Sycamore, which are propagated by grafting. The most remarkable among these are, the Yellow-leaved, or Corstorphine Plane, 1 which is not com- mon, except in the neighbourhood of the place from which it takes its name ; and the Purple-leaved, so called from having the under-surface of its leaves, especially in spring, tinged with dark purple. The value of all these as ornamental trees, is much enhanced by the earliness of the season when they come into leaf. Chaucer speaks of it as a rare exotic, in the fourteenth 1 In Scotland the S3 r caraore is frequently called " The Plane." THE SYCAMOBE. 49 century. Gerard, in 1597, says: " The Great Maple is a stranger in England, only it groweth in the walkes and places of pleasure of noblemen, where it especially is planted for the shadowe-sake, and under the name of Sycamore -tree." Parkinson, speaking of the same in 1640, says : " It is nowhere found, wild or natural, in our land, that I can learn ; but only planted in orchards or walkes for the shadowes sake." It abounds in sweet juice, of which, says Evelyn, " the tree being wounded, in a short time yields sufficient quantity to brew with, so as with one bushel of malt is made as good ale as with four bushels with ordinary water." According to Sir T. Dick Lauder, "The Sycamore has been proved to be capable of yielding sugar.- Incisions were made, at five feet from the ground, in the bark of a tree of this species, about forty- five years old. A colourless and transparent sap flowed freely, so as in two or three hours to fill a bottle capable of containing a pound of water. Three bottles and a half were collected, weighing in all three pounds four ounces. The sap was evaporated by the heat of a fire, and gave two hundred and fourteen grains of a product, in colour re- sembling raw sugar, and sweet in taste, with a peculiar flavour. After being kept fifteen months, this sugar was slightly moist on the surface. The quantity of sap em- ployed in the evaporation was 24,960 grains, from which 214 grains of sugar were obtained ; therefore, 116 parts of sap yielded one part of sugar." An allied species, Acer saccharinum , or Sugar Maple, which is found in great quantities in Canada, New Bruns- wick, Nova Scotia, and other parts of North America, yields a similar saccharine juice, in such quantities that maple-sugar is an important article of manufacture. It has been computed, that in the northern parts of the two states of New York and Pennsylvania there are ten millions of acres which produce these trees in the propor- tion of thirty to an acre. The season for tapping is in February and March, while the cold continues intense, 60 TUK SYCAMORE. and the snow is still on the ground. A tree of ordi- nary size yields from fifteen to thirty gallons of sap, from which are made from two to four pounds of sugar. The tree is not at all injured by the operation, but con- tinues to flourish, after having been annually tapped for forty years without intermission. The produce ib consumed principally in the neighbourhood cf the place where it is manufactured, the sugar from the cane being preferred \\henever it can be readily procured. Our Sycamore is not sufficiently productive of sugar to be ever employed in this way, even if the manufacture were legalized ; but it is by no means a worthless tree. Its wood was much used for making platters before earthenware plates were generally introduced, and in rural districts is still applied to the same purpose. When the tree is young the wood is white, but acquires a yellow or brown hue as it increases in age. It is close-grained, but not hard, and does not readily warp, and, being easily worked either by the hand or lathe, was formerly held in high estimation for the purpose above mentioned. It is sought by the joiner and cabinet-maker, and it is also used for making musical instruments and cider-screws. It forms also a very valuable fuel, burning slowly and giving out a great deal of heat. Not only on account of its uses in the arts and manufactures, and its dense foliage in summer, was its growth encouraged, but it was planted in the vicinity of houses, from the supposition that it was the Sycamore of Scripture ; this however is not the case, the tree into which Zacchaeus climbed to see our Saviour pass on His way to Jerusalem being the Ficus Sycouionts. However, as the error once generally prevailed, both that tree and our tree bearing the same name have been selected by the inventors of the language of flowers to indicate curiosity. Dr. Shaw, speaking of the Sycamore of the East, says, "The mummy-chests, and whatever figures and instruments of wood are found in the catacombs, are all of them of Sycamore, which, though spongy and porous to appearance, THE SYCAMORE. 51 has, notwithstanding, continued entire and uncorrupted for at least three thousand years." " From its value in furnishing wood for various uses, from the grateful shade which its wide-spreading branches afforded, and on account of the fruit, w r hich, Mallet says, the Egyptians live upon and hold in the highest estimation, we perceive the loss which the ancient inhabitants must have felt ' when their vines were destroyed with hail, and their Sycamore trees with frost.'" 1 "The Great Maple, or European Sycamore, will grow in any soil not saturated with moisture ; but it seems to prefer one that is dry and free, rather than one that is stiff and moist. It will grow in exposed situations, and espe- cially on the sea-coast, and maintain its erect position against the sea-breeze better than most other trees. It is in use for this purpose in Scotland, and also for planting round farm-houses and cottages on the bleak hills. In such situations, an instance can hardly be found of the head of the tree leaning more to one side than another. Even when the wind blows strongly in one direction for nine months in the year, this tree maintains its perpen- dicularity and symmetrical form." 2 Though a fast grower, the Sycamore does not attain a remarkably large size, and it is as little noted for its longevity. It does not materially increase in size after having reached the age of sixty years, but requires from thirty to forty years more to bring its timber to perfection. At the age of from one hundred and fifty to two hun- dred years, it usually closes its term of life, though much older trees are on record. 1 Ps. Ixxviii. 47. 2 London. THE COMMON, OR FIELD MAPLE, ACER CAMPESTEE. Natural Order ACERINEJE. Class OCTANDBIA. Order MoNOGYNlA. THOUGH the tree last described is much larger and more generally known than the present species, it has so long universally borne the name of Sycamore, that the generic name of " Maple " is now almost exclusively applied to the smaller tree, the only species, in fact, which is in- digenous to this country. Many persons probably are not aware that the two trees belong to the same family ; for if we except the keys or clusters of winged seeds, they have to the casual observer few points of resemblance. The Sycamore justly claims the right of being considered a large tree : the circumference of its trunk is considerable ; it frequently covers a wide space of ground with its spread- ing limbs ; it casts a dense shade, and its leaves exceed in size those of most of our common trees. But the Maple rarely attains a size which entitles it to be considered a tree at all ; its foliage is meagre and unpretending, while its value in hedge-making induces its owners to preserve as much as possible its character of an overgrown shrub. Such, accordingly, we generally find it when it grows in hedges, and when met with among other trees it is mostly as underwood. Its leaves, like those of the Sycamore, are five-lobed, but obtuse and much smaller. Its flowers appear in April, about a fortnight before the leaves, and abound in saccharine juice. They are similarly constructed to those of the Sycamore, but grow in erect, instead of drooping, clusters ; and the keys, which differ principally in size from those of the other species, are tinged with red. Besides being indigenous to Britain, the Maple grows THE COMMON, OB FIELD MAPLE. 68 naturally in the middle and south of the European Con- tinent and in the north of Asia. In France it appears to serve the purposes of man more than in this country. According to Loudon, " The young shoots, being tough and flexible, are employed by the coach- men in some parts of France instead of whips. The tree is much used in the same country for forming hedges, and for filling up gaps in old fences. It is also employed in LEAVES AND FLOWERS OF THE FIELD MAPLE. topiary works, in geometrical gardens, its branches being found to bear the shears better than those of most other trees. The leaves and young shoots are gathered green, and dried for winter provender for cattle. The sap yields more sugar, in proportion to the quantity taken, than that of the Sycamore ; but the tree does not bleed freely. In Britain the tree is seldom planted for any other purpose than that of ornament, in which it is effective, by adding to the variety of a collection, rather than by its positive beauty." THE COMMON, OR FIELD MAPLE. 55 The wood makes excellent fuel, and the very best charcoal. The timber is far superior to Beech for all purposes of the turner, who seeks it for dishes, cups, trays, trenchers, &c., as the joiner for tables, inlaying*, and for the delicateness of the grain, when the knurs and nodosities are rarely diapered, which does but advance its price : our turners will work it so thin, that it is almost transparent." As an ornament to the landscape, the Maple has not much to recommend it. Gilpin says of it, " The Maple is an uncommon tree, though a common bush. Its wood is of little value, and it is therefore rarely suffered to increase. We seldom see it employed in any nobler service than in filling up its part in a hedge, in company with thorns, and briars, and other ditch trumpery." And although he after- wards says, " In the few instances I have met with of this tree in a state of maturity, its form has appeared pic- turesque ;" yet his praise of it is so exceedingly slight, that I have very little doubt that his eye, acute as it was to discern what is beautiful in the general features of Nature, could have alighted with greater pleasure on- almost any other kind of tree that can be named. Nevertheless, he has given to the Maple a deeper interest than it ever possessed before ; for " under the large Maple in Boldre churchyard, the Rev. W. Gilpin, after fulfilling his duties in the. most exemplary manner for twenty years, as rector of this parish of Boldre, chose for his last resting place this sweet seques- tered spot, amidst the scenes he so much loved, and has so well described." 1 By the ancients hardly any wood was more valued than that of the Maple, insomuch that Virgil represents one of his kings as seated on a Maple throne. The great naturalist, Pliny, says that its trunk, for beauty and firmness of grain, is inferior only to the Citron- wood. One kind, from the varied character of its veining, was named the Peacock Maple. The knots called Brusca and Mollitsca were most 1 Strutt, 56 THE COMMON, OB FIELD MAPLE. valued, and manufactured into such ornaments as the limited size of the material would allow. In the Molluscum the veins were wide apart from each other. The Bruscum was deemed most valuable when the arrangement of the veins resembled some animal (as was occasionally the case), and gave the wood a dark hue. The latter was preferred for making tables., " And such spotted tables," says Evelyn, " were the famous Tigrin and Pan- therine curiosities ; not so called from being supported with figures carved like those beasts, as some conceive, and was in use even in our grandfathers' days, but from the natural spots and maculations. Such a table was that of Cicero, which cost him ten thousand sesterces (about 62L sterling) ; such another had Asinius Gallus. That of King Juba was sold for fifteen thousand ; and another which I read of, valued at a hundred and forty thousand sesterces, which, at about three halfpence sterling, arrives to a pretty sum (875/. sterling) ; and yet that of Mauritanian Ptolemie was far richer, containing four feet and a half diameter, three inches thick, which is reported to have sold for its weight in gold. Of that value they were, and so madly luxurious the age, that when they at any time reproached their wives for their wanton expensiveness in pearl and other rich trifles, they were wont to retort, and turn the tables upon their husbands." 1 Spenser appears to have considered the timber of the standing tree peculiarly liable to decay, for he speaks of " The Maple seldom inward sound." 1 The Bird's-eye Maple of modern cabinet-makers is the wood of the Sugar, or Rock Maple. The trunk of this tree is rejected for civil and naval architecture ; but the wood of the old trees is valued for inlaying mahogany. The appearance from which it derives its name proceeds from the twisting of the silver grain, which produces numerous knots like the eye of birds. THE ASH. FKAXINUS EXCELSIOB. Natural Order Class DlAXDBlA. -OLEACE.E. Ord er Mo XOGTN IA. THE Ash is, in utility, inferior only to the Oak, and, like that tree, an undoubted child of British soil. Not remarkable for robustness, grandeur, or longevity, it rests its claims on qualities scarcely less striking. In height, gracefulness of form, and elegance of foliage, it has no superiors, scarcely any competitor. Its favourite haunts, too, give it an additional charm. The Ash was well known to the Greeks, who called it nielea. Homer arms his heroes with an ashen spear, and Cupid's arrows were originally made of the same wood, 58 THE ASH. though lie afterwards stood indebted to a less cheerfu] tree, the Cypress. The Romans called it Fnixiniis, a name which naturalists still retain, but the derivation of which is very uncertain. They employed its wood in the manu- facture of weapons and many kinds of agricultural imple- ments. In the Teutonic Mythology, the Ash holds a conspicuous place. Under 'the shade of an enormous tree of which the branches overspread the earth, the top reached to heaven, and the roots to the infernal regions the gods held their court. On the summit was perched an eagle, who watched the course of all earthly aifairs, assisted by a squirrel, who employed his time in descending and ascending to examine into, and report upon, what was passing beneath. Pliny gravely informs us that the serpent would rather creep into the fire than shelter itself in its branches; 1 and Dioscorides, the physician, states that the juice of the Ash is an antidote against the bite of the same reptile. But we need not go back to ages so remote as these for superstitious opinions respecting this tree. Gilbert White, in his classical History of Selboine, says : " In a farmyard near the middle of this village stands at. this day a row of pollard-ashes, which, by the seams and long cicatrices down their sides, manifestly show that in former times they have been cleft asunder. These trees, when young and flexible, were severed and held open by wedges, while diseased children, stripped naked, were pushed through the apertures, under a persuasion that by such a process the poor babes w r ould be cured of their infirmity. As soon as the operation was over, the tree in the suffering part was plastered with loam, and carefully swathed up. If the parts coalesced and soldered together, as usually fell out, where the feat was performed with any adroitness at all, the party was cured ; but where the cleft continued to gape, the operation, it was supposed, would prove 1 " This," says Evelyn, " is an old imposture of Pliny, who either took it upon trust, or else we mistake the tree.'"' THE ASH. ,59 ineffectual. Heaving occasion to enlarge my garden not long since, I cut down two or three such trees, one of which did not grow together. We have several persons now living in the village, who in their childhood were supposed to be healed hy this superstitious ceremony, derived down, perhaps, from our Saxon ancestors, who practised it before their conversion to Christianity." The same custom was known to Evelyn, who half believes in the efficacy of the ceremony. 1 If we may credit Phillips, the present en- lightened age is not exempt from the same silly belief. He says : " In the south.- east part of the kingdom the country people split young Ash-trees, and make their distempered children pass through the chasm in hopes of a cure. 2 They have also a superstitious custom of boring a hole in an Ash, and fastening in a shrew-mouse ; a few strokes with a branch of this tree is then accounted a sovereign remedy against cramp and lameness in cattlCj which are ignorantly supposed to proceed from this harm- less animal." 3 Such a tree was named from the unfortunate victim " shrew-ash." White thus describes one which about the middle of the last century stood in the village of Selborne : "At the south corner of the Plestor, or area near the church, there stood, about twenty years ago, a very old, grotesque, hollow pollard-ash, which for ages had been looked on with no small veneration as a shrew- ash. Now a shrew-ash is an Ash whose twigs or branches, when gently applied to the limbs of cattle, will immediately relieve the pains which a beast suffers from the running of a shrew-mouse over the part affected ; for it is supposed that a shrew-mouse is of so baleful and deleterious a nature, that wherever it creeps over a beast, be it horse, cow, or sheep, the suffering animal is afflicted with cruel anguish, and threatened with the loss of the use of the limb. 1 Hunter's Evelyn's Sylva, vol. i. p. 151. 2 A writer in the Gardener's Chronicle for April, 1846, slates that there was then living in Sussex a man who, when an infant, about fifty years ago, wa* passed through aa Ash-tiee, at Todhurst, as a remedy for hernia. 3 Sylva Florifera, vol. i. p. 8. 60 THE ASH, Against this accident, to which they were continually liable, our provident forefathers always kept a shrew-ash at hand, which, when once medicated, would maintain its virtues for ever. A shrew-ash was made thus : Into the body of the tree a deep hole was bored with an auger, and a poor devoted shrew-mouse was thrust in alive, and plugged in, no doubt with several incantations long since forgotten. As the ceremonies necessary for such a con- secration are no longer understood, all succession is at an end, and no such tree is known to exist in the manor or hundred." Lightfoot says that, in many parts of the Highlands of Scotland, at the birth of a child the nurse puts one end of a great stick of this tree into the fire, and while it is burning receives into a spoon the sap or juice which oozes out at the other end, and administers this as the first spoonful of food to the new-born infant. The English name of this tree is derived from the Saxon MM. The common opinion, that it is so called from the colour of its bark closely resembling that of wood- ashes is incorrect. The Ash is indigenous throughout the greater part of Europe, 1 the north of Africa, and some parts of Asia. It rises freely from seed, and in favourable situations it grows rapidly. Its roots are remarkable for their tendency to take a horizontal direction, and, being abundantly fur- nished with fibres which approach closely to the surface, effectually check the growth of almost all other vegeta- tion. Hence has originated the erroneous notion that the 1 Professor Jameson is disposed to think that in Scotland the Ash is not indigenous : " Tho Ash and the Beech have a place in the Flora Scotica of Lightfoot and Hooker, and they have long ornamented our woods and plantations. But there is great reason to doubt their being truly indigenous to Ibis country, or having formed any part of the ancient forests. No traces of them occur in our peat-mosses ; yet Ash-seeds and Beech-mast would in all probability bave proved as indestructible as Hazel-nuts or Fir- cones, which are abundant in many peat-mosses." Note in Jame- son's Journal. THE ASH. 61 drippings of its leaves are peculiarly noxious. The roots dislike the presence of stagnant water, but delight to approach as closely as possible to the gravelly bed of a running stream. Owing to these instincts, if they may be so called, the Ash outstrips any other tree when it grows on the shallow rich soil which lines the course of our mountain streams. " It is by no means convenient to plant Ash in plow-lands, for the roots will be obnoxious to the coulter ; and the shade of the tree is malignant both to corn and grass, when the head and branches over- drip and emaciate them. The Ash delights in the best land, which it will soon impoverish, yet grows in any, so it be not over stiff, wet, and approaching to the marshy, unless it be first well drained. By the banks of sweet and crystal rivers and streams I have observed them to thrive infinitely." 1 The young plants are readily distinguished from other saplings in winter and early spring by their ash-coloured tint, their remarkable black buds, and the flattened or compressed shape of the twigs, a peculiarity which is most perceptible near the terminal pair of buds. In summer the leaves are a no less certain distinguishing character. They are technically termed pinnate, and are composed of about five pairs of acute, notched leaflets, with a ter- minal odd one, which last is occasionally not developed. The foliage of the Ash is very late in making its appearance : consequently in early spring it cannot com- pete in beauty with other forest trees which are less sluggish in donning their green attire. It is equally remarkable, too, for the earliness of the season at which it sheds its foliage. " Its leaf is much tenderer than that of the Oak, and sooner receives impressions from the winds and frost. Instead of contributing its tint, therefore, in the wane of the year, among the many-coloured offspring of the woods, it shrinks from the blast, drops its leaf, and in each scene 1 Evelyn's Sylva. 62 THE ASH. where it predominates leaves wide blanks of desolated boughs, amidst foliage yet fresh and verdant. Before its decay, we sometimes see its leaf tinged with a fine yellow, well contrasted with the neighbouring greens. But this is one of Nature's casual beauties. Much oftener its leaf decays in a dark, muddy, unpleasing tiut. And yet some- times, notwithstanding this early loss of its foliage, we see the Ash, in a sheltered situation, when the rains have been abundant and the season mild, retain its green (a light pleasing green) when the Oak and the Elm in its neigh- bourhood have put on their autumnal attire." 1 The precise time at which it sheds its leaves varies much in different individuals, and this difference arises not only from situation, but from other causes, for sometimes in the hedgerow many trees will have cast their foliage while others show no symptom of decay. Gilpin's remarks on the spray of the Ash are well worth the attention of the artist. After pointing out the peculiar character of the Oak, he proceeds to say : " The spray of the Ash is very different. As the boughs of the Ash are less complex, so is its spray. Instead of the thick inter- mingled bushiuess which the spray of the Oak exhibits, that of the Ash is much more simple, running in a kind of irregular parallels. The main stem holds its course, form- ing at the same time a beautiful sweep ; but the spray does not divide, like that of the Oak, from the extremity of the last year's shoot, but springs from the side of it. Two shoots spring out opposite to each other, and each pair in a contrary direction. Rarely, however, both the shoots of either side come to maturity ; one of them is commonly lost as the tree increases, or at least makes no appearance in comparison with the other, which takes the lead. So that notwithstanding this natural regularity of growth, so injurious to the beauty of the Spruce-fir acd some other trees, the Ash never contracts Ihe least disgusting for- mality from it. It may even socu,re great picturcsque- 1 Gilpin. beauty, for sometimes the whole branch is lost as far as one of the lateral shoots, and this occasions a kind of rectangular junction, which forms a beautiful contrast with the other spray, and gives an elegant mode of hanging to the tree. " This points out another difference between the spray of the Oak and that of the Ash. The spray of the Oak seldom shoots out from the under sides of the larger branches ; and it is this, together with the strength and firmness of the branches, which keeps them in a horizontal form. But the spray of the Ash as often breaks out on the under side as in the upper ; and being of a texture weaker than that of the Oak, it generally, as the bough increases, depends upon the larger branch, and rising again forms, in full-grown trees especially, very elegant, pendent boughs." This description is so very accurate and truthful, that the reader, if he is at all conversant with woodland scenery, can scarcely fail to recognise the portrait. When the Ash has attained a considerable size, the spray assumes, in early spring, an appearance very different from that which characterised the younger tree. This is occa- sioned by the numerous clusters of flowers which appear at the 4 xtremities of the branches at least a month before the leaves. These flowers are minute and remarkably simple in iheir structure, being destitute both of calyx and corolla ; but Leing exceedingly numerous, and of a dark purple colour, they are very conspicuous, and add materially to the ordinary graceful character of the- tree. They grow in dense clusters on the extremities of those branches which were produced in the former year ; and buried among them lie the rudiments of the future leading shoot. They are difficult to describe except in the technical language of the botanist, but will amply reward any one who will take the pains to examine them closely ; for, minute as they are, they are very elegant, and the rich purple contrasts beau- tifully with the delicate greenish-yellow tint of the flower stalks, though when the tree is observed from a distance, the latter are so closely concealed by the- flowers as to bo scarcely apparent. In its earlier stage of growth, the mass of unexpanded flowers is not unlike an irregularly granu- lated fruit ; it eventually becomes diffuse, and is finally succeeded by bunches of pendent seeds, not inappropriately called keys. 1 They differ from the keys of the Sycamore AND SEED-YKSSELS OF THE ASH. in growing singly, instead of in pairs, but, like them, are winged, and remain firmly attached to the tree, until the season when winds prevail sufficiently powerful to strip them from the branches and carry them a considerable 1 The Latins termed the seed of the Ash lingua avis (bird's tongue), from some fancied resemblance in shape. 1HE ASH. 65 distance from the parent tree. How wise a provision this is, is very conspicuous in the case of the Ash ; for, as we have seen above, the roots of this tree naturally extend horizon- tally so near the surface as to exhaust the soil, and conse- quently to render it unfit for the nourishment of seedlings of the same species. So firmly indeed are the keys attached to the twig, that not only may the tree be discriminated in winter by its bunches of brown seeds, but it is far from unusual to see the ragged remnants of the previous year mixed up with the fresh flowers and foliage. It has been observed already, that the season at which the Ash sheds its leaves varies considerably in different individuals. It is worthy of remark, that individual trees also vary greatly in the quantity of seeds produced, and that those which bear but few seeds compensate for their sterility by a greater profusion of foliage, which they also retain until a much later period in the year. This phe- nomenon may be explained on the ground, that when there is an abundant produce of seed, the tree reserves its ener- gies in order to mature them, consequently the foliage is thrown off early in the autumn : but when there is no such demand for the nourishment of seed, the tree ex- pends all its vigour on the leaves, which are consequently numerous, and so healthy as to be little affected by the early frosts of autumn. 1 By the facility of transit which its winged appendage affords to the seed of the Ash, we are to account for the appearance of trees in the very strange situations in which they are sometimes found, springing, for instance, from church towers, ruins, and crags inaccessible to man. Dr. Plott, in his " Natural History of Oxfordshire," mentions a singular instance of this vegetable waywardness: "An 1 My readers, if they have had any experience in gardening, must be well aware that this law applies to most, if not all, plants that come under their care. A healthy state of foliage is indispensable to the production of perfect flowers and fruit ; anything more than this has a contrary effect ; a superabundance of leaves being usually attended by a defective produce of both flowers and fruit. 66 THE ASH. Ash-key rooted itself on a decayed willow, and finding, as it increased, a deficiency of nourishment in the mother plant, began to insinuate its fibres, by degrees, through the trunk of the willow, into the earth. There, receiving an additional recruit, it began to thrive and expand itself to such a size that it burst the willow in pieces, which fell away from it ; and what was before the Ash, being now ex- posed to the air, became the solid trunk of a vigorous tree." Ash-keys were held in high repute by the ancient phy- sicians for their medicinal properties. They were also preserved with salt and vinegar, and sent to table as a sauce, when, says Evelyn, " being pickled tender they afford a delicate salading." From a foreign species of Ash, Frdxinus Ornus of Lin- naeus, Omits Europeca of modern authors, is procured a substance which, from its appearance somewhat according with the description of the miraculous food of the Israel- ites in the wilderness, is called Manna. This substance is chiefly collected in Calabria and Sicily ; where, accord- ing to the Materia Medico, of Geoffroy, the manna runs of itself from the trunks of some trees, while it does not flow from others unless wounds are made in the bark. Those trees which yield the manna spontaneously grow in the most favourable situations, and the sap runs from them only during the greatest heats of summer. It begins to ooze out about mid-day, in the form of a clear liquid, which soon thickens, and continues to appear until the cool of the evening, when it begins to harden into granules, which are scraped off the following morning. When the night has been damp or rainy, the manna does not harden, but runs to the ground and is lost. This kind is called manna in tears, or manna latjrimi, and is as white and pure as the finest sugar. About the end of July, when the liquid ceases to flow of itself, incisions are made through the bark and soft wood ; and into these incisions slender pieces of straw or twig are inserted, in which the manna runs, and coating them over, hardens on THE ASH. 67 them. This is the common manna of the shops, which is thus collected in the foim of tubes, and is called manna in cannoli. Another, and inferior sort, is procured by making an oblong incision in the trees in July or August, and taking off a piece of the bark, about three inches in length and two inches in breadth. This kind, which is called manna-yrass, is the coarsest ; but as it is produced with less trouble, it is the cheapest. Sometimes, instead of cutting out a piece of bark, and leaving the wound open, two horizontal gashes are made, one a little above the other, in the upper of which is inserted the stalk of a maple leaf, the point of the leaf being inserted in the lower gash, so as to form a sort of cup to receive the manna, and to preserve it from dust and other impurities. The greater part of the manna of commerce is procured in the latter manner, and is imported in chests, in long pieces, or granulated fragments of a \\hitish or pale yellow colour, and in some degree transparent. The inferior kind is of a dark brown colour, in adhesive masses, and is moist and unctuous \\hen felt. Manna from the Ash has a peculiar odour, ami a sweetish taste, accompanied with a slight degree of bitterness. " It was formerly used in medicine, but is now chiefly used to disguise other drugs in adminis- tering them to children." (Loudon.) As a timber-tree the Ash is exceedingly valuable, not only on account of the quickness of its growth, but for the toughness and elasticity of its wood, in which latter quality it sui passes every European tree. In its younger stages (when it is called ground Ash) it is much used for walking-sticks, hoops, and hop-poles ; and it matures its wood at so early an age, that an Ash-pole, three inches in diameter, is as valuable and durable for any purpose to which it can be applied, as the timber of the largest tree. " The use of Ash is (next to that of the Oak itself) one of the most universal. It serves the soldier 1 and heretofore 1 Spears were anciently made of Myrtle, Cornel, and Hazel, but Pliuy prefers the Ash for that purpose. THE ASH. the scholar, who made use of the inner bark to write on, before the invention of paper. The carpenter, wheel- wright, and cartwright find it excellent for plows, axle- trees, wheel-rings, and harrows ; it makes good oars, llocks for pulleys, and sheffs, as seamen name them : for drying herrings no wood is like it, and the bark is good for the tanning of nets ; and, like the Elm (for the same property of not being apt to split or scale), is excellent for tenons and mortises ; also for the cooper, turner, and thatcher ; nothing is like it for our gardsn palisade hedges, hop- yards, poles and spars, handles and stocks for tools, spade- trees, &c. In summer, the husbandman cannot be with- out the Ash for his carts, ladders, and other tackling, from the pike, spear, and bow, to the plow ; for of Ash were they formerly made, and therefore reckoned amongst those woods which, after long tension, have a natural spring, and recover their position, so as in peace and war it is a wood in highest request. In short, so useful and profitable is this tree, next to the Oak, that every prudent lord of a manor should employ one acre of ground with Ash to every twenty acres of other land, since in as many years it would be more worth than the land itself." But, we may add, it should be planted in sheltered situations, where the soil is moderately dry. " Some Ash is curiously cambleted and veined, so differently from other timber, that our skilful cabinet-makers prize it equal with Ebony, and give it the name of green Ebony, which their cus- tomers pay well for ; and when our woodmen light upon it, they may make what money they will of it." " Lastly, the white and rotten dotard part composes the ground for our gallants' sweet powder ; and the truncheons make the third sort of most durable coal, and is, of all others, the sweetest of our forest fuelling, and the fittest for ladies' chambers ; it will burn even whilst it is green, and may be reckoned amongst the kinds of wood which burn with- out smoke." J 1 Evelyn's Sylva. THE ASH. 69 Phillips, specking of the value of Ash -timber, says: " In remote times, when this island was overrun with woods, timber-trees were principally valued for the food which they yielded to herds of swine ; and thus, by the laws of Howel Dda, the price of an Ash was rated at 4f/., while an Oak or a Beech was put at 120r." In the north of Devon newly-made graves may frequently be seen decked with sprigs of Box and other village ever- greens : and it takes its place among Holly and Laurel as an ornament of our churches generally, at Christmas. By the ancients Box-wood was highly valued as a material for inu-ical instruments, Buxus, 1 the name hy which it was known, often standing for a "flute;" and in our own country it is said by Evelyn to have been " of spe- cial use for the turner, engraver, mathematical instrument- maker, comb and pipe maker, who give great prices for it by weight, as well as measure ; and by the seasoning, and divers manners of cutting, vigorous insolations, poli- ture and grinding the roots of this tree (as of even our common and neglected Thorn), do furnish the inlayer and cabinet-maker with pieces rarely undulated, and full of variety. Also of Box are made wheels or shivers (as our ship-carpenters call them), and pins for blocks and pulleys ; pegs for musical instruments ; nut-crackers, weavers' shut- tles, hollar-sticks, bump-sticks, and dressers for the shoe- maker, rulers, rolling-pins, pestles, mall-balls, beetles, tops, chess-ruen, screws, bobbins for bone-lace, spoons, nay the stoutest axle-.trees." " The Box- wood used by the cabinet-makers and turners , in France is chiefly that of the root. The town of St. Claude, near which is one of the largest natural Box woods in Europe, is almost entirely inhabited by turners, who make snuff-boxes, rosary beads, forks, spoons, buttons, and numerous other articles. The wood of some roots is more beautifully marked, or veined, than that of others, and the articles manufactured vary in price accordingly. The wood of the trunk is rarely found of sufficient size for blocks in France ; and when it is, it is so dear, that the entire trunk of a tree is seldom sold at once, but a few feet are disposed 1 liuxus was also used to signify " a comb " and " a boy's top," which were usually made of the same material. THE BOX. 75 of at a time, which arc cut off the living tree as they are wanted. Boxes, &c., formed of the trunk are easily distinguished from those made of the root, the former always displaying a beautiful and very regular star, which is never the case with the latter." 1 Box is the hardest and heaviest of nil European woods, the only one among them that will sink in water, or that is sold by weight. By far the most important use to which Box-wood is applied is as a material for wood- rngraving, an art which has now attained such perfection, and is in such great request for the illustration of books, that it may not be uninteresting if I here introduce a short sketch of its history. A method of multiplying copies of a pattern by means of a stamp was known to the ancient Babylonians, as may be proved by an examination of some bricks brought from the site of the City of Babylon, and preserved in the British Museum. These bear in them characters evidently produced by pressure from a wooden block while the clay was in a soft state. At a later period, the Chinese and Indians were accustomed to print on paper, cotton, and silk (though it does not appear that they had carried the art to such perfection as to delineate figures), long before the custom was practised in Europe. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when writing was an accomplish- ment confined to the learned, a wooden stamp was used in the place of a sign-manual for attesting written documents ; and in the fifteenth century, or perhaps earlier, the art was applied to stamping figures on playing- cards. If the earliest cards bore de- signs at all resembling the grotesque figures on modern specimens, wood-engraving was as yet sery far from having any pretension to be considered one of the fine arts, or in the least degree connected with them. Most probably the latter are exact copies, for so utterly 1 Loudon. SWl 76 THE BOX. unnatural are the kings and queens depicted on them, that it is scarcely possible they can be anything else than tra- ditional absurdities. 1 A modern playing-card may there- fatiem ftte (I'laruninie turn's /Hillwi'mo CffC fills nempe titc morte mala 11011 monci ts. 2 XX temo. fore be considered as affording a fair specimen of the perfection of wood-engraving in the fifteenth century. The next step in advance was the delineation of figures of 1 A similar instance of obstinate adherence to an old and there- fore familiar pattern, a long way behind the existing state of the arts, may be observed in the never-ending "willow pattern" on earthenware. 2 Translation : Gaze on the face of Christopher every day, . . So on that day thuu bhalt not die au evil death. .THE BOX. 77 the Saints, on which account the art received the patronage of the Church. The oldest woodcut of which there is any authentic record, is one of St. Christopher carrying an infunt Saviour through the water, and bearing the date of 1423. It is of folio size, and coloured in the manner of our playing cards. Such engravings appear to have been distributed as devotional pictures among the laity, and to have been occasionally preserved by the monks, who pasted them into the earliest printed books with which they were furnished. That of St. Christopher, above alluded to, was discovered in the monastery at Buxheim, near Meiningen, and is now in the possession of Earl Spencer. Collections of them appear also to have been published before the invention of printing from moveable types, for the use of those who either were unable to read, or could not afford to purchase 78 THE BOX. a manuscript copy of the Scriptures. The most important of these is the Biblia Puuperum, or " Poor Preachers' Bible," a collection of historical subjects from the Old and New Testa- ments, accompanied by explanatory inscriptions in Latin. This appears to have been a most popular book, for not only are there many copies of it struck from different blocks, but it was repeatedly printed, long after the introduction of printing with moveable types. Another work of the same kind, " The Apocalypse, or History of St. John," was pub- lished about 1434. Of this there are six different editions, and the execution of some of the wood-engravings evinces considerable ability. The history of the art here divides into two branches, with one of which, the art of printing, properly so called I muci leave my readers to acquaint themselves from other sources. In the fifteenth century we find tho two combined in one in the Psalter published by Faust and Schoeffer at JMentz. The initial letters, engraved in wood, are executed in the most beautiful style of the art. This custom soon became general, and was introduced into England by Caxton, in 147G. Not long after this Mair, in Germany, published prints, the dark parts of which were produced by an impression from a copper-plate en- graving, the lighter from a wooden block, but of course by two distinct operations. About the same time, Carpi, in Italy, produced woodcuts by the tedious process of printing on the same paper from three several blocks, the first containing the outline, the second the dark shadows, the third the light tints. But a much greater improvement was effected by Albert Durer, who, by a simpler process, produced woodcuts in which the figures were more skil- fully designed and grouped, the laws of perspective more carefully attended to, and a variety of minor details intro- duced, which gave to the subject more of the stamp of truth and nature. The names of various other artists might be mentioned, who from time to time distinguished themselves by the .eminence which they attained, until THE BOX. 79 She close of the seventeenth century, when the custom of illustrating books with copper-plate engravings camo into vogue, and wood-engraving was entirely neglected, so far as it regarded the delineation of subjects of interest, being employed solely for common decoration. That this should have happened is remarkable, inasmuch as the superiority of wooden blocks over copper plates in illustrat- ing printed books is very great. In copper-plate engraving, the lines from which the design is transferred are sunk into the metal, either by the corroding effects of a mineral acid, or by a sharp-pointed steel instrument. Conse- quently the sunken lines must be filled with ink before an impression can be struck off ; but in ordinary letter- press printing, a raised surface alone receives the ink and transfers the copy. Hence arises an impossibility of print- ing both by the same process. But in wood-engraving, the thickness of the wood being carefully regulated by the height of the type with which it is to be used, the block is set up in the same page with the types ; and only .one impression is required to print the letter-press and the cut which is to illustrate it. Added to this, the friction (though produced simply by the soft fleshy ball of the thumb) which is required to charge the lines of a copper- plate engraving with ink, soon wears away the sharpness of the lines, and renders every new impression less perfect than its predecessor. But in printing woodcuts, the whole of the pressure being vertical, there is no perceptible wearing away of the block, so that the goodness of the impression depends only on the materials employed, and the care of the printer. 1 But even on the supposition that the mechanical advantages of each were equal, the prefer- ence must be awarded to woodcuts for the illustration of 1 In an interesting Memoir of Bewick, prefixed to the sixth volume of Jardine's "Naturalist's Library," it i-< stated that "many of Bewick's blocks have printed upwards of 300,000 ; the head-piece of the Newcastle Courant above 1,000,000 ; and a small vignette for a capital letter in the Newcastle Chronicle, during a period of twenty years, at least 2,000,000." 80 THE BOX. printed books, inasmuch as there is a harmony produced in the page by the engraving and letter-press being of the same colour, which is very seldom the case when copper- plate vignettes are introduced with letter-press. In spite however of all these advantages, the art of en- graving on wood declined, and was all but lost, when it was revived in England by the celebrated John Bewick, an artist who not only restored the taste for the art, but exe- cuted, in the course of a long and industriously-spent life, numerous works, which his most zealous followers can scarcely do more than hope to equal. His excellence did not consist in the mere mechanical skill which he dis- played ; that, great as it was, resulted from his intense de- sire to embody his exquisitely acute perceptions of Nature. His woodcuts, therefore, are not simply representations of birds, and beasts, just so far like the originals as to enable another person to discover what it meant ; but indices of his mind, like the solemn sounds of Handel's music, the majestic flow of Milton's poetry, the comprehensive exact- ness of Linnnaus's descriptions. No one can have failed to notice this, who has turned over the pages of " The General Natural History of Quadrupeds," or of " British Birds." Nature seems to be alive in all of them ; the very tail-pieces, trifling though the subjects of many of them may be, are replete with interest, owing to the remarkable power which the author possessed of catching and por- traying the peculiar characteristics of Nature, whether animate or inanimate. Much of this taste and skill Bewick imparted to his pupils, and to the same qualities the modern school of wood-engraving is indebted for its principal excellence. Several mechanical improvements have of late years been made in wood-engraving and printing ; but, however the father of the modern art may be surpassed in skill, it is next to impossible for any one to excel him in excellence of design. Owing to the numerous illustrated works now almost THE BOX. 81 daily issuing from the press, the number of artists in this line has greatly augmented, and Box-wood has proportion- ately increased in price. In 1815, the trees which were cut down on Box-hill produced upwards of 10,000. A great deal of that imported from Turkey, Odessa, and other places, is inappli- cable to the purposes of the wood-engraver; nevertheless, in London alone, as much is annually consumed in works of art as amounts to many thousands of pounds. There are, besides the Tree-Box, two varieties of Dwarf- Box, which were formerly much employed in forming patterns in flower-gardens imitating the designs of embroi- dery. This fashion is now quite gone out, having, like topiary-work, given place to the much more rational taste of cultivating various exotic plants ; but representations of quaintly-figured gardens may yet be seen in old engravings. Dwarf-Box is now only planted as an edging to garden-beds, for which its low wiry habit well adapts it, preventing the loose earth from falling into the path, without rising high enough to shade the plants in its neighbourhood, or afford- ing a secure refuge for vermin. It may be propagated by dividing the roots, or by planting cuttings in autumn. The best time for clipping Box is in June, when the new shoots obliterate all traces of the shears. The flower of the Box is inconspicuous, being of a greenish yellow colour, and growing in clusters in the axils l of the leaves ; it ripens its seed at Box-hill. Flowers have never been observed on the dwarf variety. 1 Axil, Latin, axilla, the arm-pit ; in botanical phraseology, " the angle between the leaf-stalk and stem." THE HAWTHORN. CRAT^EGUS OXYACANTHA. Natural Order ROSACES. Class IGOSANDBIA. Order PENTAGYNIA. THERE is, I think, no tree the simple mention of which excites such pleasurable emotions as the Hawthorn. Never attaining a remarkable size, neither stately in growth, nor graceful in form, it yet possesses an interest to which many a loftier and more elegant child of the forest cannot aspire. We may see it applied to the most homely and unromantic purposes, clipped by the hedger's shears of every particle of natural spray, and reduced, as it were by line and plummet, to the uniform proportions of a mere verdant wall; yet the tree to which the mind reverts when the Hawthorn is mentioned is independent of any such associations. It does not, it is true, carry us away to forests or woodland mountains, to the wild fastnesses of Nature, where men and the things of men have no place. Were we acquainted with it only in such situations, it would want half its interest ; but it recurs to the memory as the necessaiy appendage of the village, to which, in our earlier years, it was our highest privilege to make our holiday excursions the veteran record of our infantile sports, remaining un- changed while the stern realities of life have been working in ourselves a change too perceptible a common shelter from sun or shower to the rude patriarchs of the hamlet, the same group (nearly, for some are not) that half a century ago tottered as feebly to their childish amusements as now ihey do to their shady seat beneath its branches, and from the self-same cabins too and the contemporary of all the bygone sports that old and young loved to look back upon, or forward to, with equal interest. The Hawthorn, too, is a tree which, from its association THE HAWTHORN. 83 with the village festivities of the first of May, possesses a kind of antiquarian interest, which is deepened by the recollection that it illustrates " the simple annals of the poor." The first day of the month, from which it derived its name, "May-bush," was formerly a general rustic holi- day, looked forward to, and prepared for, with as much zest as accompanies many a nobler entertainment ; and it was a matter of no little solicitude whether the Hawthorn would be fully blown in good time ; for a " bunch of May " was the crowning ornament of the May-pole, and encircled the head of the May-queen, her consort for the day being crowned with the more manly Oak. Before the alteration of the style 1 in 1752, the Hawthorn rarely failed to be in flower in good time ; but since that period, May-day falling eleven or twelve days earlier, its blossoms are rarely fully expanded even in the south of England, until the second week in the month. 2 In 1 The ancient Church calendar was constructed on the erroneous supposition that 1he year contained 365| days exactly, being nearly twelve minutes too much. The error, therefore, in 129years amounts to a whole day. Jn consequence of the inconvenience which was found to result from this error during a long course of years, Pope Gregory XIII. in the month of March, 1582, issued a brief, in which he abolished the old calendar, and substituted that which has since been received in all Christian countries, except Kussia, under the name of the Gregorian Calendar or Neio Style (N.S.). Gregory, in order to restore the commencement of the year to the same place in the seasons that it had occupied at the time of the Council of Nice (A.D. 325), directed the day following the feast of St. Francis, that is to say the 5th of October, 1582, to be reckoned as the 15th of that month. The New Style was adopted in Britain in 1752 ; from that year till 1800, May-day fell eleven days earlier; and during the present century it falls twelve days earlier than when calculated by the Old Style (6. IS.) ; May-day of the Keason being now the 13th day of the month. 2 I have, however, seen it in Devonshire so early as the 29th of April ; and in the year 1846 it was gathered in Cornwall on the 18th of April. So unusually mild was the season of that year, that the Oaks at Clowance, Cornwall, had made shoots between two and three inches long on the llth of April ; though it not unfrequently happens that the Oak is not sufficiently in leaf "to hide King Charles " on the 29th of May. The blossom of the Hawthorn, though early, was so exceedingly scarce that many trees might be searched in vain for a single sprig, and scarcely one tree in a hundred bore an average crop of flowers. THE HAWTHOKN. 85 mountainous districts, the Highlands, for instance, it is frequently in full perfection so late as the middle of June. By the ancient Greeks its flowers were made the emblem of Hope, and it was prTJbably regarded in the same light by the Romans, as we read that its wood was chosen to make the torch carried before the bride at nuptial processions. In some countries it is regarded with a kind of veneration, from being believed to be the tree used to form the crown placed on our Blessed Saviour's head before His Crucifixion. Whether or not this opinion be a correct one is scarcely a fit subject for discussion in this or any other work. But if it really be the case, it is not improbable that it was selected by the Roman soldiers with the object of making the emblem of hope and happiness the instrument of in- flicting pain. Such a motive would accord well with the spirit which demanded the Cross and the purple robe. In some parts of France, the country people affirm that the Hawthorn utters groans and sighs on the evening of Good Friday ; and when a thunderstorm is impending, they gravely adorn their hats with a bunch of its -leaves, in the belief that, thus protected, the lightning cannot touch them. It is also related, that on the morning which followed the horrible massacre of the French Protestants by the Roman Catholics on St. Bartholomew's day, a Hawthorn in the churchyard of St. Innocent's, in Paris, suddenly put forth its blossoms for the second time. It is far from improbable that the legend of " The Glastonbury Thorn " was originally connected with some superstitious veneration of the Hawthorn, yet more ancient than itself. According to this legend, Joseph of Arimathsea, attended by twelve companions, came to preach the Gospel in Britain, and landed on the Isle of Avelon. 1 Here he fixed his staff in the ground (a dry Thorn sapling, which had been his companion through all the countries he had 1 The high ground on which the Abbey of Glastonbury stands is tbus named, and tradition asserts that it was in remote times really an island, the meadows around it having been since formed by the retiring of the ?ea. 86 THE HAWTHORN. traversed) and fell asleep. When he awoke he found, to his great surprise, that his staff had taken root, and was covered with white blossoms. From this miracle he drew a very natural conclusion, that as the use of his staff was taken from him, it was ordained that he should fix his abode in this place. Here, therefore, he built a chapel, which, by the piety of succeeding times, increased to its subsequent magnificence. Gilpin, in his " Observations on the Western Parts of England," gives the following amusing account of the veneration with which it was regarded at a no more distant period than the close of the last century : " I should ill deserve the favours I met with from the learned anti- quarian who has the care of these ruins, though he occupies only the humble craft of a shoemaker, if I did not attempt to do soma justice to his zeal and piety. No picturesque eye could more admire these venerable remains for their beauty than he did for their sanctity. Every stone was the object of his devotion. But above all the appendages ot' Glastonbury, he reverenced most the famous Thorn which sprang from St. Joseph's staff, and blossoms at Christmas. " It was at that time, he said, when the King resolved to alter the common course of the year, 1 that he first felt distress for the honour of the house of Glastonbury. If the time of Christmas were changed, who could tell how the credit of this miraculous plant might be affected ? In short, with the fortitude of a Jewish seer, he ventured to expos- tulate with the King upon the subject ; and informed his Majesty, in a letter, of the disgrace that might possibly ensue if he persisted in his design of altering the natural course of the year. But though his conscience urged him upon this bold action, he could not but own that the flesh trembled. He had not the least doubt, he said, but the King would immediately send down and have him hanged. He pointed to the spot where the last Abbot of Glastonbury was executed for not surrendering his Abbey ; and he gave us to understand there were men now alive who could suffer 1 The alteration of the Calendar alluded to at p. 83. THE HAWTHORN. 87 death, in a good cause, with equal fortitude. His zeal, however, was not put to this severe trial. The King was more merciful than he expected, for though his Majesty did not follow his advice, it never appeared that he took the least offence at the freedom of his letter." Both Gilpin and his simple-minded informant were in error in supposing the tree then standing to have been the identical one with which the legend is connected. The original " Holly-Thorn," which stood on Weary- all-hill (the spot where Joseph and his companions are said to have sat down all weary with their journey), originally had two distinct trunks, one of which was destroyed by a Puritan in Queen Elizabeth's reign, and the other, together with many yet more interesting relics of antiquity, shared the same fate during the Great Rebellion. If we may credit James Howell, the author of "Dodona's Grove " (printed in 1644), the mistaken fanatic who completed the work of destruction did not go unpunished : " and he was well serv'd for his blind Zeale, who going to cut doune an ancient white Hauthorne-tree, which, because she budded before others, might be an occasion of Siqurstition, had some of the prickles flew into his eye, and made him Monocular." l 1 In Ireland, to the present day, it is the popular belief that ^'no one will thrive after rooting up an old Thorn." Seme years since a gentleman residing in Carrickfergus, co. Antrim, employed as nis gardener an old artilleryman, named Peter S- , who had been invalided in consequence cf wounds received m tattle, and passed among his comrades as a brave soldier. One day Peter recerved directions to uproot a "reverend Hawthorn," which, together with the hedge in which it stood, was to make way for seme improvements in the garden. He immediately set to work, and soon cleared the hedge of all that grew in it except the Thorn, the roots of which had penetrated deeply into the ground, and which remained untouched. Next day, the gentleman asked him why the tree had not been removed as he desired. Peter answered, "that it was hardly possible that it would be dangerous to attempt it.' His master remonstrated with him, explaining why it was necesfary that me Thorn should be included in the order for removal, and left him with a strict injunction to set about the task immediately, wm< he, very reluctantly, then prepared to do. Next day, however, to his surprise, the master found the devoted tree still maintaining its ground, erect and uninjured. On sharply questioning the offender 88 THE HAWTHORN. There are, however, still in existence two trees of the same description, evidently much above a hundred years old, which no doubt were either grafts, or sprung from seeds of the original tree. From one of these, which stands within the precincts of the Abbey, in a garden adjoining St. Joseph's Chapel, I received, on the llth of February, 1846, a sprig, in full leaf, and furnished with perfectly formed flower-buds. The tree from which it was gathered measures two and a half feet in circumference, and I was assured by the vicar of Glastonbury, Dr. Parfitt, that it had been budding and blossoming since Christmas. It blossoms a second time in May, and from these latter flowers only is fruit produced. Formerly, the blossoms were so highly valued that they were sold at Bristol, and even exported to various parts of Europe, and the variety is still propagated by grafts in the gardens of the curious, but only on account of the strange efforts which it annually makes to commence spring in mid-winter. Miss Strickland, in her "Lives of the Queens of England," mentions that its branches were deemed worthy of being presented to royalty. " Christmas," says Pere Cyprian, " was always observed in this country, especially at the King's palaces, with greater pomp than in any other realm in Europe." Among other ancient ceremonies now forgotten, why he had not followed his directions, poor Peter, with the utmost solemnity, assured him that " he had commenced the work, but at the moment his pick-axe struck the root of the tree he received a violent blow from some invisible hand, that made him stagger and almost fall to the ground moreover, that on going home, he found that just at the same hour, and he had no doubt, at the very same instant, his wife had experienced a similar blow." After this his master did not urge him further in the matter, but got some other person to extirpate the mysterious tree, and the task was accom- plished without any further evil result. Crofton Croker, who is most learned in the superstitions of Ireland, remarks that, according to the popular belief, " On May-eve the evil Elves seem to be par- ticularly active and powerful : to those to whom they are inimical they give a blow unperceived, the consequence of which is lameness." There can be little doubt that these two superstitions are connected in their origin with that recorded in the text respecting the Glaston- bury Thorn. THE HAWTHORN. 89 he mentions a pretty one, in which a branch of the Glastonbury Thorn, which usually flowers on Christmas Eve, used to be brought up in procession, and presented in great pomp to the King and Queen of England on Christ- mas morning. Pere Garnache, in mentioning this cere- mony, says, this blossoming Thorn was much venerated by the English, because in their traditions they say that St. Joseph of Arimathsea brought to Glastonbury a thorn out of our Lord's crown, and planting it in the earth, it burgeoned and blossomed, and yearly produced blossoms to decorate the altar on Christmas Eve mass " That only night in all the year Saw the stoled priest the chalice rear.' ' WOEDS WORTH. The Pere seems to enjoy very much the following anec- dote of Charles I., though it was against the Catholics: " Well ! " said the King, extending his hand, one Christ- mas Day, to take the flowering branch of Glastonbury Thorn, " this is a miracle, is it ? " " Yes, your Majesty," replied the officer who presented it, "a miracle peculiar to England, and regarded with great veneration by the Catholics here." " How so," said the King, " when this miracle opposes itself to the Pope ? " (Every one looked astonished hi the royal circle, Papist and Protestant.) " You bring me this miraculous branch on Christmas Day, old style. Does it always observe the old style, by which we English celebrate the nativity, in its time of flowering?" asked the King. " Always," replied the venerators of the miracle. " Then," said King Charles, " the Pope and your miracle differ not a little, for he always celebrates Christmas Day ten days earlier by the calendar of new style, which has been ordained at Rome by papal orders for nearly a century." This dialogue probably put an end to this old custom, which, setting all idea of miracle aside, was a picturesque one ; for a flowering branch on Christmas Day is a pleasing gift, whether in a court or a cottage. The same authoress thus accounts for the fact that the 90 THE HAWTHORN. Hawthorn was selected to be the distinguishing badge of the House of Tudor. After the battle of Bosworth, in which Richard III. was slain on Redmore Heath, and his body ignominiously stripped, " the crown was hidden by a soldier in a Hawthorn bush, but was soon found, and carried back to Lord Stanley, who placed it on the head of his son- in-law, saluting him by the title of Henry VII., while the victorious army sang Te Deum on the blood-stained heath. It was in memory of the fact that the red-berried Hawthorn once sheltered the crown of England, that the House of T idor assumed the device of a crown in a bush of Fruited Hawthorn. The proverb of ' Cleave to the crown though it hang on a bush/ alludes to the same circumstance." The sight of the Hawthorn always recalls images of rural life ; but we must go back to a somewhat remote period to find it invested with its full honours. During the reign of Henry VIII., May sports were the favourite diversion of all classes, not only in the country, but even in London. On the eve of May-day, the citizens used to go in companies to the neighbouring woods and groves, some to Highgate or Hampstead, some to Greenwich, some to Shooter's Hill ; there the night was spent in cutting down green branches, in preparing the May-pole, and in a variety of sports and pastimes. On their return early in the morning, the revellers adorned the May-pole with flowers and foliage from one end to the other, the pole itself being previously painted with the most brilliantly variegated colours. The pole was dragged to its destina- tion by a large number of oxen, each ox having a nosegay of flowers tied to the tips of his horns : men, women, and children, all dressed in then 1 gayest habiliments and laden with green boughs, completed the procession. As they passed through the streets of London, they found " Each street a park, Made green, and trimm'd with trees ;" the church porches decorated " With Hawthorn buds and sweet eglantine, And garlands of roses ; " THE HAWTHORN. 91 they heard music sounding from every quarter, and here and there they beheld in their way some May-pole, pre- served from the last year, already elevated, and a wide circle of beaming faces dancing round it. The church of St. Andrew the Apostle was called St. Andrew Undershaft, from the circumstance that from time immemorial a May- pole or shaft had been set up there, which towered con- siderably above the church tower. Long streamers or flags were now attached to the pole, which was then finally reared to its proper position, amidst the loud cheers of the multitudes gathered round. Summer-halls, bowers, and arbours were now formed near it ; the Lord and Lady of the May were chosen, and decorated with scarves, ribbons, and other braveries ; and then the dances, feastings, and merriment of the day fairly began. The King himself frequently took part in these festivities, for, as we learn from " Hall's Chronicle," " his Grace being young, and not willing to be idle, rose in the morning very early to fetch May or green boughs, himself fresh and richly apparelled, and clothed all his knights, squires, and gentlemen in white satin, and all his guard and yeomen of the crown in white sarcenet. And so went every man with his bow and arrows shooting to the wood, and so repaired again to the court, every man with a green bough in his cap ; and at his returning, many hearing of his going a-Maying were desirous to see him shoot ; for at that time his Grace shot as strong and as great a length as any of his guard." During the Great Rebellion the Parliament ordered that " all and singular May-poles be taken down." When Charles II. ascended the throne, the famous May-pole of the Strand 1 was restored with great pomp and rejoicing, amidst multitudes of people, whose shouts and acclamations were heard from time to time throughout the whole day. "When this pole had ceased to be the centre of the merry 1 " Amidst the area wide they took their stand, Where the tall May-pole once o'erlook'd the Strand." POPE. THE HAWTHORN. May-day circles, and the interest with which it was origin- ally regarded had faded away, it was given to Sir Isaac Newton, and by his directions removed to Wanstead, to support the then largest telescope in the world. 1 MAY-POLE. Of late years the celebrity of the Hawthorn as the symbol of May-day festivities has greatly declined. In London the number of those " That do the fair and living trees neglect, Yet the dead timber prize," is so vastly increased, that the May-bush " swells its gems " and " salutes the welcome sun " without exciting a passing thought. The only class who, nowadays, " With due honour usher in the May," are the poor chimney-sweeps, who, on this their single 1 Knight's London, vol. i. p. 174. THE HAWTHORN. 93 holiday, put off their gable suit for one day in the year, to deck themselves with flowers and green branches, and after all gain but little sympathy for their "maimed rights." In the rural districts we may see, here and there, the tall May-pole, standing all the year round, but never decked with flowers, never made the centre of festivity. In a few remote parishes, the poor farmer's boy yet rises earlier on May morning than on other days, and hastens to attach a branch of Hawthorn to the cottage-doors, claiming as a reward, when the inmates are astir, a slice of bread and cream ; and in some few towns and villages, principally in the West of England, children on May-day carry round from door to door, garlands of flowers decorated with birds' eggs, and beg contributions of halfpence. But, as far as regards legends, or the merry days of old, the Hawthorn has fallen into the " sere and yellow leaf." It is never- theless still a favourite with all. Not, as I have before said, that it has great pretensions to elegance of form or picturesque beauty ; but it possesses qualities which, I may almost say, engage our affections. It is the tutelary guardian of our fields, our orchards, and our gardens ; and loves to grow and seems to thrive best near the rural habitations of men. When the cottager sets about inclosing his bit of garden-ground, the Hawthorn is ready to crown his lowly fence with its protecting and closely-woven boughs, which, with their thickest prickles, form an almost impenetrable barrier round the little domain. When arrived at maturity, its stoutest branches are 'often hacked unmercifully, nearly through their whole dimensions, and forcibly fixed in a direction contrary to their natural growth ; yet the lacerated limbs, regardless of this rude treatment, send forth their shoots as vigorously as ever, and accommodate themselves to the humour or convenience of the planter, with all the fidelity of a spaniel. The Hawthorn may be considered, indeed, a domesticated tree, that readily adapts itself to the wishes and wants of man, requiring little care or attention during 94 THE HAWTHORN. any period of its growth. Nor are these all its services ; every plant that grows near it seems to acquire increased vigour from its friendly shelter and vicinity. The snow- drop, fearless of the tempest, displays its earliest flowers amid the thick covert of the Hawthorn ; while the prim- rose, the violet, and the speedwell are generally its beau- tiful associates. Deprived of its Hawthorn . hedges, our rural scenery would lose one of its most interesting features, and present to the eye of the painter and the poet little more than a tame and monotonous expanse of country. Not only do they agreeably diversify our immediate vicinities, but when blended by distance give a rich and unrivalled charm to English landscape. The Hawthorn is also one of the earliest harbingers of summer. What can surpass the beautiful and delicate THE HAWTHORN. 95 green of its first unfolding leaves ? After surveying from our windows the monotonous and dingy prospect of a long succession of house-tops and chimneys, how refreshing is it to turn our eyes to the green symbol of spring, which tells us that Nature, in her own lovely domain, is quietly preparing her robe of summer beauty ! In the balmy month of May, the Hawthorn has no rival. It may then be said to live in an atmosphere of its own fragrance, the whole country being filled with its delicious odour. It has never been my lot to scent the aromatic breezes which are said to float through the air for a distance of many miles from the shores of Ceylon ; but I can scarcely think that they are more grateful in themselves, or connected with more delightful associations, than the Hawthorn perfume of an English spring. And as to its wreaths of snowy blossoms, I know nothing more beautiful some with their blossoms fully expanded, dotted with their delicate pink stamens others, as yet unfolded, resembling little globes of silver set in pedestals of emerald. India may boast of more gorgeous flowers, but surely of nothing more elegant and graceful. " "When first the tender blades of grass appear, And buds, that yet the blast of Eurus fear, Stand at the door of life, and doubt to clothe the year Till gentle heat, and soft repeated rains, Make the green blood to dance within their veins : Then, at their call embolden'd out they come, And swell the gems, and burst their narrow room; Broader and broader yet, their leaves display, Salute the welcome sun, and entertain the day. Then from their breathing souls the sweets repair To scent the skies, and purge th' unwholesome air : Joy spreads the heart, and with a general song Spring issues out, and leads the jolly months along." DBYDEN. In spring and summer the Hawthorn breathes the very soul of rustic poetry; its rich profusion of crimson berries contributes largely to the glorious colouring of THE HAWTHORN. autumn, and scarcely less to relieve the dreary sameness of winter. The Hawthorn, according to some etymologists, is so called from its fruit, or haw : or, if Booth be correct, the tree gives the name to the fruit ; the first syllable of the word being a corruption of hage, or hay, and the word itself signifies a hedge -thorn. 1 Cratceyus and Oxyacantha, to which may be added Pyracantha, are the names by which the Greeks are supposed to have de- signated the tree. By the Romans it appears to have been called Spina. Its French name, Aube-epine, re- fers to its flowering early in the spring, or morning of the year ; aube signifying " the dawn of day." With us it is known in- differently by the names May-tree, May- bush, from its season of flowering, and from the important place which it held in the old May games ; Quickthorn, Quickset, and simply Quick, from its application to the construction of quick, or live hedges, instead of dead branches of trees ; and White- thorn, from the profusion of its white flowers. .By some botanists it is placed in the same genus with Mespilus the Medlar, with which it has many botanical characters in common. It is found in most parts of Europe, from the Mediter- ranean to as far north as 60^, in Sweden, in the north of Africa, and in Western Asia. It was introduced many years since into Australia, where it grows as luxuriantly 1 Scott, in his c: Discovery of Witchcraft," calls it " Hay-thorn." rrnoisx BLOSSOM. THE HAWTHOBN. 97 as in its native country, and where it must have no little efficacy in keeping alive the memory of the shady lanes and village greens of Old England. It would be superfluous for me to give a detailed description of a tree with which every one is so familiar as the Hawthorn. I will therefore simply make a few remarks on its mode of growth and other peculiarities, which I will leave to my readers to verify at their leisure. FRUIT OF HAWTHORN. NATURAL SIZE. In size, mode of growth, foliage, colour, and even odour of its flowers, the Hawthorn is perhaps more liable to variation than any other tree. Some exhibit a strong, free, and upright growth, being furnished with large and luxurious foliage, and but few spines ; others, on the con- trary, assume the character of stunted, prickly bushes, with numerous small and deeply-cut leaves. Not unfrequently, from having been cut down to the ground in an early stage of their growth, numerous suckers rise from the same root, which, in after years, as they increase in bulk, become partially united at their bases, and have the appearance of a trunk dividing itself into many branches. 98 THE HAWTHORN. Occasionally, but rarely, the Hawthorn assumes a pendent or "weeping." character. There is a tine tree of this kind in the garden which belonged to the Regent Murray in Scotland, and it is said to be very beautiful. Like many. other trees, the Hawthorn is occasionally liable to an unhealthy mode of growth, when tufts or clusters of twigs are produced, resembling, if observed at a little distance, a large bird's nest. Mr. Anderson, the late curator of the Chelsea Botanic Garden, had the curiosity to graft young Thorns with some of these twigs, and found, in the course of two or three years, that they produced beautiful weeping branches. 1 It has already been said that the varieties of the Haw- thorn are very numerous, and no less strongly marked. Difference of soil and situation produces yet more remark- able contrasts. A bushy tree in the rich lowlands, it bc- c )mes, as it creeps up the mountains, gnarled, ragged, and fantastic in form, and finally dwindles into a mere stunted and knotted shrub. The spines, or thorns, which form a characteristic feature of this tree, are to be distinguished from prickles, such as those which invest the stems of the rose or bramble. The latter are attached only to the surface of the stem, and even to that sometimes not very firmly. Thorns, however, are to be considered as imperfect branches, being furnished with pi'oper bark, wood, and pith of their qwn. They enlarge in the second year of their growth, and for the most part produce buds and leaves, and eventually flowers and fruit ; whereas prickles never in- crease in size after the first year, and are not converted into branches. Not even is the colour of the blossom which gives the name "White-thorn " free from variations. Indeed, most commonly it assumes a pink hue in fading ; but in gardens 1 Similar results followed from budding, or grafting, from the tufts produced by the Elm (Ulmus campest). THE HAWTHORN. 99 and shrubberies varieties are frequent in which the flower is of a permanent and decided pink or crimson. The per- fume of the blossom is generally exceedingly fragrant ; but occasionally this fragrance is almost overpowered by a strong fishy smell, which is most perceptible when the branch is held close to the nose, or carried into a close room. The haw, too, varies greatly in size, shape, and colour, being sometimes oblong, sometimes nearly globular, sometimes downy, at other times smooth and polished. Varieties have been observed in which it exchanges its usual crimson hue for black, orange, golden yellow or white. In the West of England, and probably most other parts of the country, each haw contains a single nut : but in the neighbourhood of Barnet and Hadley, in Hertford- shire, I have observed that they more frequently contain two. The pink and double varieties of Hawthorn are multi- plied by grafting and budding, but the common sort is generally raised from seed. The haws are gathered in winter and laid in a heap, mixed with a sufficient quantity of soil to cover them and separate them from each other, and exposed to the influence of the weather, until the spring of the second, or even the third, ensuing year. Unless this plan is adopted, the young plants do not appear till the year after they are sown, and consequently occasion the loss of the ground for that time. Various experiments have been tried with the seed, in the hope of finding some method of securing their growth in the year following that of their being gathered, .but none have succeeded. The extreme hardness and durability of the shell is the pro- bable cause of this sluggishness of growth. Could any plan be devised for breaking the shell without injuring the kernel, it is not unlikely that the desired object would be effected. I have already spoken of the claims of the Hawthorn to picturesque beauty. Whether they are allowed or not, there can be no doubt that not only the several varieties 100 THE HAWTHORN. of the British tree, but many foreign species, are eminently 'ornamental to the lawn and shrubbery. In husbandry, the principal use of the Quickthorn is for making hedges, for which purpose very many thousands are annually raised in Britain, an employment which forms an important branch of the business of nurserymen. This raising of Thorns for profit is a comparatively modern occupation, Evelyn being the first to tell us of a gentle- man who had "considerably improved his revenue by sowing Haws only, and raising nurseries of Quicksets, which he sells by the hundred far and near." In the first year of their growth, the seedlings attain the height of from six to twelve inches, and during the two or three following years increase at the annual rate of from one foot to three feet ; afterwards they grow more slowly till they have attained the height of from twelve to fifteen feet, when the shoots are produced principally in a lateral direction. This peculiarity, added to the rigidity of its thorns, makes it so valuable for the purpose above men- tioned, the denseness of its side-branches being greatly promoted by frequent prunings of the upward shoots. In order to insure a uniformly dense hedge, the best plan is to plant three- or four-years-old trees in two rows, about a foot or a foot and a half apart, and in the following season to cut them down within an inch or two of the ground. If kept clear of weeds, they will make numerous strong shoots during the succeeding year, and soon form an impenetrable barrier. Hedges of this tree will stand the sea-breeze better than most others ; but still are far from being uninjured by their rude visitor, for "Where from sea-blasts the Hawthorns lean, And hoary dews are slow to melt," the side most exposed to the weather may frequently be observed rounded off as neatly as if by the gardener's . shears. This effect is produced by the particles of salt with which the sea-breeze is charged being arrested by the THE HAWTHORN. 101 twigs and killing the young buds ; but the opposite side flourishes with tolerable luxuriance. 1 The stock of the Thorn is employed not only for grafting varieties of its own species, but also, and with great advan- tage, for several of the garden fruits. "Man does the savage Hawthorn teach To bear the Medlar and the Pear ; He bids the rustic Plum to rear A noble trunk and be a Peach." COWLEY. The leaves, like those of the Beech and some other trees, are invested with a short downy covering while young, which afterwards almost entirely disappears, leaving a bright and glossy surface. They are said to be used not unfrequently for the purpose of adulterating tea ; and indeed, not many years since, a patent was taken out for preparing them as a substitute for the more costly leaf; cattle will browse on them, not forgetting to pay due re- gard to the sharp spines with which the younger branches are plentifully armed. With the exception that a strong fermented liquor may be made from haws, neither the blossom nor the fruit has been applied to any important use by man : but the flowers as well as the leaves afford sustenance to a variety of insects ; and the haws, which are followed, as to the time of ripening, by the berries of the Ivy, and those again by the berries of the Mistletoe, produce an abundant supply 1 Some few years ago, a gardener, accustomed only to the midland counties, was engaged by a gentleman, whose estate lies on the northern sea-coast of Devonshire, to superintend his garden, and plantations. On his arrival he was sent by his employer to walk through his domain, that he might gain some notion of what would be required of him. His inspection being completed, he was asked what he thought of his new employment : " T like the place well," he replied, "and doubt not that I should be able to give satisfaction, except on one point. How my predecessor contrived to keep the Thorn-hedges so neatly clipped with only four hands to help him, I cannot tell, nor can I undertake to do as well : I must therefore decline the situation." He was not a little surprised on being told that the north-west wind was his " predecessor," a coadjutor whose services he probably afterwards found verging on the officious. 102 THE HAWTHORN. of food to the feathered tribe during the severest and most protracted of our winters. It was formerly believed that the Hawfinch, a bird which derives its name from the fruit of this tree, remained with us during those months only when its favourite food is to be procured. It is now, how- ever, known that it resides in England all the year roimd. THE HAWFINCH'. The Hawthorn attains a great age, and, when large enough to rank among timber trees, is of considerable value. According to Evelyn, " The root of an old Thorn is excellent both for boxes and combs, and is curiously and naturally wrought : I have read that they make ribs to some small boats or vessels with the White-thorn ; and it is certain, that if they were planted single, and in stan- dards, where they might be safe, they would rise into large-bodied trees in time, and be of excellent use for the turner, not inferior to box." Loudon says, " Its wood is Very hard and difficult to work : its colour is white, but THE BLACKTHORN. 103 with a yellowish tinge ; its grain is fine, and it takes a beautiful polish ; but it is not much used in the arts, because it is seldom found of sufficient size, and is besides apt to warp. It weighs, when green, sixty- eight pounds twelve ounces per cubic foot ; and when dry, fifty-seven pounds five ounces. It contracts, by drying, one-eighth of its bulk. It is employed for the handles of hammers, the teeth of mill-wheels, for flails and mallets, and, when heated at the fire, for canes and walking-sticks. The branches are used in the country for heating ovens ; a pur- pose for which they are very proper, as they give out much heat, and, like the Ash and Furze, possess the property of burning as readily when green as in their dry state." It has also been stated that it might be substituted for Box-wood as a material for wood-engraving, in case of any deficiency in the supply of the preferable but more costly wood. It is often spoiled through inattention after cutting ; if it be allowed to lie in entire logs or trunks, it soon heats and becomes quite brittle and worthless ; it ought, therefore to be cut up immediately into planks, and laid to dry. THE BLACKTHORN. PBUNUS SPINOSA. Natural Order ROSACES. Class ICOSANDBIA. Order MoNOGYNlA. THE subject of the last chapter has high claims to be ranked among the most interesting of British trees, being not only a beautiful ornament to the landscape at all sea- sons, but possessing a legendary character which secures for it m6re than the passing attention even of the anti- quary. The subject of the present memoir, however, though its name might lead us to hope that it had more 104 THE BLACKTHOEN. points of resemblance to the Hawthorn, possesses but little interest for botanist, forester, painter, or antiquary. In its natural state it is a rigid, wiry bush, remarkable for no beauty of flower or foliage, and not making up for its outward deficiencies by any inherent virtues residing in fruit, stem, or root. Its very flowers, which are numerous and appear early in Spring, can barely be called ornamental. Expanding, as they do, before any other tree has ventured to show 8LOK-FLOVEU. signs of returning life, we are inclined to look on them in the light of daring adventurers, rather than harbingers of the time which " purples all the ground with vernal flowers." Their white ragged petals contrast strangely with the sombre hues of the bare boughs around them they look cold and cheerless, and carry the mind back to the frosts and snow of the winter which has just passed, instead of forward to the bright days of spring which are THE BLACKTHORN. 105 coming. A single primrose, a leaf-bud of Hawthorn or Elm either of these is a prophet in whom we place un- bounded confidence ; they are emblems of soft west winds and sunny showers : but the Blackthorn bespeaks our at- tention to the possible return of Hack east winds, frosty nights, and nipping blights. 1 Nor does the Sloe-tree find a champion in the husband- man. It is by no means particular in its choice of soil and situation, but thrives everywhere. Its long creeping roots extend so rapidly, that in the course of a few years a single plant would, if left unmolested, cover an acre of ground. 2 Thus left to itself, it has no disposition to as- sume the character of a tree, but forms a low thicket, to the exclusion of every more valuable plant, and, if growing in the neighbourhood of sheep-walks, most unceremoniously levies contributions from every woolly visitor who comes within reach of its knotted and thorny branches. If, by being deprived of its suckers, it is compelled to throw all its strength upwards, it will sometimes attain the height of thirty feet ; and even in natural situations, where it cannot extend itself laterally, it rises to fifteen or twenty feet. The name " Blackthorn " appears to have been given to it from the hue of its bark, which being much darker than that of the Hawthorn, probably originated the name of " White-thorn " given to the latter tree. 1 " This tree usually blossoms while cold north-east winds blow ; so that the harsh, rugged weather obtaining at this season is called by country people, ' Blackthorn winler.'" WHITE'S Selborne. s " The name of Mere-du-Bois (Mother of the Wood) is applied to the Sloe-thorn in France, in the neighbourhood of Montargis, because it has been remarked there, that when it was established on the margins of woods, its underground shoots, and the suckers which sprung up from them, had a constant tendency to extend the wood over the adjoining fields ; and that, if the proprietors of lands adjoining forests where the Sloe-thorn formed the boundary did not take the precaution of stopping the progress of its roots, these would, in a short tjme, spread over their property ; and the suckers which arose from them, by affording protection to the seeds of tim- ber trees (which would be deposited among them by the wind, or by birds), would ultimately, and at no great distance of time, cause the whole to be covered with forests." LOUDON. 106 THE BLACKTHORN. The epidermis, or outer coating of the bark, has, in this species, as in most others of the same genus, a tendency to split horizontally, and to curl back while yet partially at- tached to the tree. The leaf is small, of a dark green colour, slightly downy underneath, especially at the junction of the veins, and in its young state. The flowers are white and conspicuous only from their abundance : as they expand before the leaves, and are consequently unrelieved by any verdure, they are not beautiful. The fruit when ripe is black, and being covered with a delicate bloom, presents, late in the autumn, a more pleasing appearance than the tree can display at any other season. It is found throughout Europe, with the exception of the extreme north ; it occurs also in the north of Africa, and many parts of Asia, and has been introduced into America, where it is frequently found in hedges perfectly naturalized TEH BLACKTHORN. 107 The Blackthorn is not nearly so valuable for the con- struction of live hedges as the Hawthorn, owing, in the first place, to its rambling habit ; and, secondly, to its tendency to send up perpendicular branches, which are bare of thorns towards the base. The wood rarely attains a size which will allow it to be applied to any useful pur- poses as timber ; but the straight stems are extensively used as walking-sticks, which are much admired for their bright colour and numerous knots. The thorny dead branches are also recommended as being well adapted for forming a fence round young trees planted in parks, the sharp and rigid thorns effectually preventing the inroads of cattle. The leaves are used to adulterate tea, for which they form a substitute less liable to detection than almost any other British plant, possessing a bitter, aromatic prin- ciple, which, inasmuch as it is to be attributed to the pre- sence ofprussic acid, must render them very unwholesome. The fruit is intensely austere and astringent, so much so that a single drop of the juice placed on the tongue will produce a roughness on the throat and palate which is perceptible for a long time. When mellowed by frost, however, it becomes red and pulpy, but at no period of its existence claims to be considered a grateful fruit. The juice of it, in its unripe state, is said to enter largely into the composition of spurious port wine, and it may, it is said, be fermented into a liquor resembling new port. So impudently and notoriously is this fraud carried on in London, and so boldly is it avowed, that there are books published called " Publicans' Guides," &c., in which receipts are given for the manufacture of port wine from cider, brandy, and sloe-juice, coloured with tincture of red sandars or cudbear. 1 This villanous compound may be 'Red Sandars is a preparation of sandal-wood, used as a dye. Cud- bear, so called after a Mr. Cuthbert, who first brought it into use, is a lichen (Lecandra tartdrea), found growing in several parts of the Continent, and in Great Britain, on granitic and volcanic rock, and is also used as a dye. The chemical test called litmus is a prepara- tion of this vegetable. Catechu is a substance procured by boiling 108 . THE BLACKTHORN. converted into "old port " in a few days by the addition of catechu^ The corks may be stained by being soaked in a strong decoction of brazil-wood and a little alum ; and even bottles are manufactured which contain a sufficient quantity of lime to be sensibly acted on by the acid, and to produce a counterfeit " crust ! " In France the unripe fruit is sometimes pickled and sent to table as a substitute for olives, and in Germany and Kussia it is crushed and fermented with water, and a spirit distilled from it. In Dauphine, the juice of the ripe fruit is used for colouring wine. Letters marked on linen or woollen with this juice will not wash out. The substance sold by druggists under the name of German Acacia is prepared from the juice of the unripe fruit. 1 The bark, according to Dr. Lindley, is one of the sub- stances which has been reported to resemble " Jesuits' bark " in its effects. It may be used for tanning leather ; a decoction of it with alkali dyes yellow, and it may be employed with advantage as a substitute for galls in the manufacture of ink. There are several varieties, differing principally in the size of the leaf and fruit ; but the only one deserving notice is the double flowered, which is cultivated and said to be highly prized in Japan and China for the abundance of its blossom. On the whole, the Blackthorn, in its natural state, possesses few valuable qualities. It certainly does not recommend itself to our favourable consideration on the score of beauty, and being employed to adulterate some substances, and as an indifferent substitute for others, we are inclined to suspect its honesty ; and as it is, moreover, a great enemy to the agriculturist, we do not scruple to include it among the " thorns and thistles " of the primaeval curse. Yet, strange to say, as if to be both a memorial of the curse, and of the implied promise, that the industry of chips of the heart-wood of Acacia catechu ; it is a dark-coloured, powerful astringent. 1 The true or Egyptian Acacia is the production Acacia Nilotica, and is used in medicine as a mild astringent. THE BLACKTHORN. 109 man should not be without effect in mitigating the conse- quences of that curse, the austere sloe has been converted by human skill and labour into the luscious plum, one of our most valued fruits.' It is a well-known fact that the thorns of several fruit-trees, the Wild Pear for instance, disappear under cul- tivation ; the variety of the Blackthorn called the Bullace- tree, 1 is also entirely destitute of thorns, and produces edible fruit ; while most of the kinds of plums cultivated in our gar- dens are referred by some eminent horti- culturists 2 to the same origin. Every cultivator of Dahlias or Verbenas must be aware that it is im- possible to assign limits to the varia- tions which these plants will undergo when subjected to the skilful treatment of the florist ; and there is every reason, deduced both from theory and practice, why the same rule should be extended to fruit-trees. In the Horticultural Society's Transactions, 274 distinct varieties of the plum actually in cultivation are enumerated, a number sufficiently great to admit of every possible gradation from the worthless sloe to the delicious green-gage. All these are referred by some horticulturists to another variety, Prunus domestica, which, as its name would imply, is no longer found in a FRUIT AND FOLIAGE OF BULLACE-TREF.. 1 Prunus insititia. Knight, Loudon, &c. 110 THE BLACKTHORN, really wild state ; and even when it is occasionally met with in hedges, approaches much more closely in character to the undoubtedly wild Bullace-tree, or Blackthorn, than it does to the garden varieties. The inference which wo may safely draw from this fact is, that if the yellow , magnum bonum plum may be referred for its origin to the small black fruit of the " domesti- cated plum," as we find it in our hedges, wo have at least equal reason for referring the latter to the sloe-tree. For many of our best varieties of plum we are indebted to the French. First among these stands the Green-gage. It is known in France by several names : that of "Reine Claude" was given to it from its having been introduced into France by Queen Claude, wife of Francis I. During the Revo- lution, so great was the horror entertained against every- thing bearing the slightest allusion to royalty, that in order to retain its popularity it was obliged to change its name to " Prune citoyenne," Citizen-plum. It received its name Green-gage from the following circumstance. The Gage family, in the last century, procured from the monas- tery of Chartreuse at Paris, a collection of fruit-trees, the names of which were in every instance but one carefully attached to them. That of the Reine Claude, however, had been either omitted by the packer, or been rubbed off MYROBALAN PLUM. THE BLACKTHORN. Ill during the transit to England. The consequence was, that it stood without a name until it bore fruit, when the gardener very appropriately called it " Green-gage," in honour of the family who had introduced it. Since the revival of royalty in France, the Citizen-plum has recovered its ancient name, and " Eeine Claudes " are now exported in large quantities. The best prunes and French-plums come from Provence and the neighbourhood of Tours, the quality depending upon the sort of fruit used, and the care observed in the MAGNUM-BOX UM PLUM. preparation. The commoner kinds are shaken from the tree and baked in an oven ; but the finer sorts are gathered singly by the stems before sunrise, and laid, without touch- ing one another, exposed to the sun and air several days before baking, great care being taken not to remove the delicate bloom with which they are covered. Brignoles l are the dried fruit of a tree which grows prin- cipally near the town of the same name in Provence. They are peeled when fresh, and dried in the sun. When the ' Corrupted into Prunellas. 112 THE CHERRY. moisture which they contain is entirely evaporated, the stones are taken out by hand, and the plums are pressed together in such a manner as to make them quite round. They are afterwards packed into small wooden boxes, orna- mented with cut paper, and form an important article of revenue to the growers. The Damascene, or Damson, takes its name from Da- mascus, where it grows in great quantities, and from whence it was brought into Italy about 114 B.C. It is used prin- cipally for preserves, and for making a kind of jelly called " Damson cheese." Many kinds of plum were known to the Greeks and Romans ; and Gerard had in his garden at Holborn, in 1597, " three-score sorts, all strange and rare." For a fuller description of the garden-plums I must refer my readers to works treating on horticulture. THE CHERRY. CERASUS SYLVESTRIS. CfcRASUS VULGARIS. Natural Order EosACEJE. Class ICOSANDRI V. Order MoNOGYNTA. THE subject of the present memoir affords another emi- nent example, in addition to that recorded in the last chapter, of the beneficence of the Almighty in permitting' man to control the course and operations of Nature, so as to render them, in a measure, subservient to his gratification and advantage. Human industry, we have seen, has con- verted the Thorn into the fruitful plum, and in the Cherry- tree we have another instance scarcely less remarkable ; by dint of careful perseverance, a juiceless unpalatable berry becomes a delicious and nourishing fruit. The success THE CHERRY. 113 which has attended the efforts of earlier cultivators ought, therefore, to supply us with a delightful incentive to in- dustry, and, at the same time, a powerful motive to grati- tude to our great Creator and Preserver. The Cherry-tree, though more familiarly known as a valued tenant of the orchard and garden, possesses unde- niable claims to be considered a naturalized, if not a native, Forest Tree, resting its title both on its size and on Ihe wildness of its haunts. It is not unfrequently met with in woods and hedges, and in the north of England is found 114 THE CHERRY. on the mountains at an elevation of a thousand feet above the level of the sea. In congenial soils and situations it rises to the height of seventy or eighty feet, and in Scotland is planted for its timber. In some of the wilder parts of the same country it is as plentiful as the Birch, and propagates itself as freely. In a picturesque point of view, its trunk and branches are light and graceful, but not sufficiently concealed by its scattered and somewhat scanty foliage. In early spring, however, the very deficiency of foliage renders more con- spicuous its beautiful cluster of large flowers ; while, in autumn, the bright crimson hue of its fading leaves irre- sistibly catches the eye, and imparts to the landscape a brilliancy which amply atones for any other defects. Amid mountainous scenery it is often particularly striking, THE CHEERY. 115 contrasting exquisitely (especially when kindled into a brighter blaze by the straggling rays of the sun) with the dull grey of the rocks among which it has taken its station, and the rich brown of the river which it overhangs. There are several varieties of the tree even in the wild state ; but modern botanists are of opinion that these may all be reduced to two species, the Black and Red-fruited. FRUIT OF THE "WILD CHERRY. It derives its name from Cerasus (now Kerasoun), a city of ancient Pontus, in Asia, whence it was brought by Lucullus, the Roman general (B.C. 67), at the close of the Mithridatic war. Lucullus thought this tree of so much importance, that, when he was granted a triumph, he placed it in the most conspicuous situation among the 116 THE CHERRY. royal treasures which he had captured during the war ; nor can there be any doubt, that, in permanent utility, it was the most valuable of his acquisitions. Some authors, how- ever, are of opinion that the wild Cherry l was the same as the Cornel, which was indigenous in Italy at the time, but not cultivated a^s a fruit-tree, and that Lucullus only intro- duced improved sorts. At all events, it does not appear to have been cultivated previously to the time of Lucullus, though afterwards 'it increased so rapidly that, in tho course of a hundred and twenty years, it had reached even Britain. . According to the foregoing statement, the Cherry-tree was introduced into Britain before A.D. 53. The earliest mention of the fruit being exposed to sale by hawkers in London is in Henry the Fifth's reign, 1415. New sorts were introduced from Flanders, by Richard Haines, Henry the Eighth's fruiterer, and being planted in Kent, were called " Flanders " or " Kentish Cherries," of which Gerard (1597) says, " They have a bitter juice, but watery, cold, and moist." Philips says, " Thero is an account of a Cherry-orchard of thirty-two acres in Kent, which, in the year 1540, produced fruit that sold, in those early days, for 1,000/. ; which seems an enormous sum, as at that period good land is stated to have let at one shilling per acre." Evelyn tells us, that in his time (1662) an acre planted with Cherries, one hundred miles from London, had been let at 10/. During the Commonwealth (164$), the manor and mansion of Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I., at Wimbledon, in Surrey, were surveyed pre- viously to being sold, and it appears that there were upwards of two hundred Cherry-trees in the gardens. Since that time the Cherry-tree has found universal admission into shrubberies, gardens, and orchards. Kent still continues the principal county for cherries ; yet nowhere do they grow in greater luxuriance and beauty 1 The fruit of this tree was subsequently called the Cornel- Cherry by some authors. THIS CHEEKY. 117 than ou the banks of the Tamar, in Devonshire, where they freely " thrive into stately trees, beautiful with blossoms of a surprising whiteness, greatly relieving the sedulous bee, and attracting birds." 1 In popular mythology the Cherry-tree is, for some un- known reason, associated with the cuckoo. In Germany, " the cuckoo never sings until he has thrice eaten his fill of cherries." In Yorkshire, children were formerly, and perhaps still are, accustomed to sing round a Cherry-tree the following invocation : '' Cuckoo, cherry-tree, 2 Come down and tell me How many years I have to live." Each child then shook the tree, and the number of cherries which fell betokened the years of its future life. The naturalized species of Cherry in Great Britain are the Black and .Red-fruited, belonging to the genus Primus of Linna3us, Cerasus of Jussieu. 3 Primus avium, Primus ( erasus or Cerasus sijhestiis, is the Blade -fruited Cherry, which, in favourable situations, attains the dimensions of a tree. Its leaves are large, pointed, somewhat drooping, and slightly downy en the under- side. The fruit is small, round, black when ripe, of an insipid bitterish flavour, and containing a stone which is very large in proportion to the size of the fruit. It is known in various districts by the name of Gean (a corruption of Guiynes), Merries, Corone, or Coroun, Black-heart, &c. Those botanists who are of opinion that Lucullus only introduced new kinds of Cherries into Europe, consider this species a native, and not without reason ; for it grows 1 Evelyn's Sylva. . 2 A popular nursery rhyme begins with the same words. 3 Cerasus may be distinguished from Prunus, by its leaves being conduplicate, or folded together in their young state, instead of being convolute or rolled together ; and by the fruit being always destitute of the bloom which characterises all the varieties cf Plum. 118 THE CHERRY. freely and abundantly in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Greece, Eussia, the Mediterranean islands, Great Britain and Ireland, attaining a larger size in the north than in the south. Nevertheless, its general diffusion and apparent wildness of growth is not conclusive evidence in favour of its being considered a native of these countries. It has been remarked by M. le Conte, that in America, -when Beech woods are cut down, they are speedily replaced by Cherry-trees. He accounts for this on the supposition that birds, who eat the fruit with avidity, may have resorted to the woods for shelter, and there dropped the stones, which either lay dormant, or germinated and re- mained in a diminutive state until the Beeches were cut down, when they advanced rapidly, and finally became the, principal occupants of the soil. Now, if the Cherry-tree has become thus thoroughly naturalized in America, into which there can be no doubt that il was introduced, there is very fair ground for the opinion that its extensive dift'usion through Europe may be attributed to the same cause, and that the assertion of the older authors, that it is of Asiatic origin, is correct. The second species, which, though often found in our woods and hedges, is not really wild in any part of Europe, is the Red-fruited Cherry. It is called by botanists Prunus Cerasus, or by those who assign the Plum and the Cherry to distinct genera, Cerasus rulyaris. To this species many of the best sorts of our garden Cherries are referred, including the Flemish and Kentish Cherries, Maydukes (from Medoc, the province in France where the variety originated), and many others. It is a much smaller tree than the last, from which it may be distinguished by its unpointed leaves, which do not droop and are never downy beneath, and by its red, acid fruit. In England, Cherries are to be considered rather as a luxury than as a staple article of food ; but on the Con- tinent, particularly in France, they are highly prized as supplying food to the poor ; and a law was passed in that THE CHERRY. 119 country in 1GGO, commanding the preservation of all Cherry- trees in the royal forests. The consequence of this was that the forests became so full of fruit-trees, that there was no longer room for the underwood, when they were all cut down, except such young ones as were included among the number of standard saplings required by the law to be left to secure a supply. This measure was a great calamity to the poor, who, during several months of the year, lived either directly or indirectly on the fruit. Soup made of Cherries, with a little bread and a little butter, was the common nourishment of the wood- cutters and charcoal- burners of the forest. Of late years the practice of planting Cherry-trees by the roadside has been extensively adopted in Germany ; and one may cow travel from Strasburg to Munich, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles, through an avenue of Cherries, interspersed with Walnuts, Plums, and Pears. By far the greater part of the first are un- grafted trees, which succeed in the poorest soil, and in the coldest and most elevated situations. A large portion of the tract of country which bears the name of Black Forest is an elevated, irregular surface, with no other wood than the Cherry-trees, which have been planted by the roadside. Cherries ' are preserved in various ways. Sometimes they are simply dried in the sun, in which state they are much used for puddings : they are also preserved in brandy, or converted into marmalade, lozenges, &c. Fer- mented and distilled, they furnish the liqueurs called Ratafia, Kirschwasser, and Maraschino. "Wine and vinegar are also made from them ; and an oil is extracted from the kernels, which is used to give the flavour of bitter almonds to puddings, &c. ; the leaves are also used for the same purpose. From the bark of the Cherry-tree an elastic but not very viscid gum exudes, which is said to have many of the properties of gum-arabic. 1 Hasselquist relates that more 1 Any excessive flow of gum is very injurious to the tree; and, indeed, in time proves fatal. 120 THE CHEERY. than a hundred men, during a siege, were kept alive for nearly two months, without any other sustenance than a little of this gum, taken sometimes into the mouth, and suffered gradually to dissolve. " The timber is very valuable, being of a firm texture, red-coloured, close-grained, easily worked, and susceptible of a high polish. These qualities render it a desirable material to the cabinet-maker, and the furniture made of it is little, if at all inferior, both in respect to beauty and durability, to that of the plainer kinds of mahogany. In this country, where the wood just mentioned has in a great measure superseded all other kinds in our articles of furniture, and where the Cherry-tree has never been culti- vated to any extent as a timber-tree, it is rare to meet with specimens of furniture made of its wood ; but hi France, and other parts of the Continent where it abounds, it is extensively used for this and various other purposes, and is eagerly purchased by the cabinet-maker, the turner, and the musical -instrument maker. Its value, however, is not restricted to the uses made of it by those artisans ; it is equally applicable to out-of-door uses and general car- pentry; and where exposure to the atmosphere, or the alternation of dryness and moisture is required, it is superior to most other timber we possess, and is only in- ferior to the best Oak, or its rival the Larch." 1 When treated as coppice, it is very useful for hop-poles, props for vines, and hoops for casks. The Turks have the tubes of their pipes, which are from four to seven feet long, made of Cherry stems. 2 Like the Ash, it burns very well as fire-wood in its green state ; but if kept two or three years and then used as fuel, it smoulders away like tinder, without producing much heat. The double -flowered Cherry is a favourite ornament of our gardens and lawns in spring, when its numerous snow- white flowers present a beautiful appearance. Like many 1 Selby. * The best are made of the Mahal eb, or perfumed, Cherry. THE BIKD-CHERRY. 121 other double flowers, it produces no fruit ; but the structure of its blossoms is particularly interesting to the physiolo- gical botanist, illustrating, better perhaps than any other plant, the fact that the seed-vessel, among other compound organs, is a metamorphosed or transformed leaf, altered in structure and functions, so as to perform offices in vege- table economy entirely different from those of the true leaf. In the double Cherry it appears to return to its primitive form ; for in the centre of each flower is a minute leaf, exactly similar to those of the branches, notched and veined in the same manner, and even folded together like the young stem-leaves. Other double flowers, beside those of the Cherry, occasionally present the same appearance, especially Roses ; but in all these the phenomenon is an irregular mode of growth, whereas in the Cherry it is constant. The Cherry is a favourite tree of the Woodpecker, who perforates its trunk for the sake of feeding on the larvae of insects, and hollowing out his nest : but the remarks made at page 08 are equally applicable to the case of this tree. THE BIRD-CHEERY. CERASUS PADUS. THE Bird-Cherry in its wild state rarely attains the dimensions of a tree ; but there are in existence cultivated specimens between thirty and forty feet high, and a foot or more in diameter. It is most worthy of attention for its copious long clusters of snow-white flowers, which are much smaller than those of the Cherry, and soon fade. The fruit, called also Fowl-Cherry, Cluster-Cherry, and in Scotland Hay-Cherry, is small and worthless. "Birds of several kinds soon devour this fruit, which is nauseous, and probably dangerous to mankind, though perhaps not 122 THE 131 RD- CHERRY. of so deadly a quality as the essential oil, or distilled water of the leaves." 1 It is most abundant in the north of England and Scotland. In Gerard's time it grew wild in the woods of Kent, where it was used as a stock to graft Cherries on : and in Lancashire it was found in almost every hedge. The wood is much used in France by the cabinet-maker, but little known in this country, owing, among other causes, to the difficulty of obtaining it suffi- ciently large. The leaves are more frequently attacked by caterpillars than those of any other species of Cherry ; hence, a writer in the Agricultural Journal of Bavaria recommends that from one to four young trees (according 1 English Flora. THE BIRD-CHEERY. 123 to their size) should be planted at intervals of one or two hundred yards in orchards, when, he says, almost all the caterpillars and butterflies will resort to them. The ap- pearance of the Bird- Cherry will be hideous, but the fruit- trees will be safe. Several other species of Cerasus are extensively cultivated in England as ornamental trees and shrubs, but none of them have any pretension to be admitted among British Trees. My notice of them, therefore, must be very brief: Cerasus Laurocerasus, the Laurel- Cherry, or, as it is now almost exclusively called, Laurel, was introduced into Europe from Trebizond, in Asia Minor, in 1576; conse- quently, it is a mistaken notion to identify it with the famed Laurel of the ancients. This error is the more frequent, from our having given to the true Laurel, Laurus 124 THE BIRD-CHEERY. nobilis, the name of Bay. Laurel leaves abound in prussic acid, and the water distilled from them is a most virulent poison. The custom of using them to flavour custards, puddings, &c., should therefore be strongly deprecated. Insects, the appearance of which is liable to be injured by immersion in spirits of wine, may readily be killed by being shut into a closed box with bruised leaves, the aroma from which speedily takes effect. Cerasus Lusitanica, or Portugal Laurel, is a native of the country from which it derives its name. It is not of rapid growth, but is a valuable acquisition to the shrub- bery, from its elegance of form and hardy nature, resisting the severest frost, before which the Laurel and Laurustinus shrink and perish. FOBTVGAL LAlJEEL. 125 THE MOUNTAIN ASH. PYKUS AUCUPABIA. Natural Order ROSACES. Class ICOSANDKIA. Order PfNTAGYNIA. THIS universally admired tree chooses its dwelling, as its name would imply, in the wildest and most exposed situa- tions, where, though impatient of being itself sheltered by any other kind of trees, it affords a friendly protection to grass and other plants which choose to grow beneath its shade. As long as it overtops its companions in the wood or mountain-side, it is a vigorous and stately tree: but when it has attained its utmost height, and its more aspiring neighbours begin to screen it from its due share of air and light, it quietly retires from the contest, pines away in confinement, and suffers itself to be destroyed by the drip of the very trees that it formerly nursed and protected. Hence we rarely meet with a full-grown Mountain Ash in a crowded forest of ancient trees. Where it has gained the vantage-ground of a broken rock partially covered with rich, light soil, or taken its stand in an open glade, amid plants of humbler growth, it attains a considerable size. Or again, in an elevated situation, uncongenial to the rapid growth of its companions, .but well suited to its own wild tastes and habits, it will continue to flourish for a century or more. " The Mountain Ash No eye can overlook, when 'mid a grove Of yet unfaded trees she lifts her head, Deck'd with autumnal berries that outshine Spring's richest blossoms ; and ye may have mark'd By a brook -side or solitary tarn, How she her station doth adorn : the pool Glows at her feet, and all the gloomy rocks Are brighten'd round her." WORDSWOKTH. 126 THE MOUNTAIN ASH. The Mountain Ash is placed by most modern botanists in the same genus with the Apple and Pear, the fruit of THE MOVXTAIX ASH. which it resembles in conformation. 1 Others assign it a place with the Medlar (Mdspilns), or make it and the 1 The Siberian Crab' (Pyrmrlaccata) produces fruit which may be considered as a connecting link between the berry of the Mountain Ash and the apple of Pyrus mains, the common Apple-tree. THE MOUNTAIN ASH. 127 group with which it is connected a distinct genus (Sorbus). The name Aucuparia (from auceps, a fowler) indicates the use to which its berries are applied by bird-catchers in France and Germany, who bait their traps with them as a certain lure for thrushes and fieldfares. Its popular names are very numerous : Mountain Ash, the commonest, is fr r from correct, as it belongs to an entirely different tribe from the Ash, which tree it resembles only in its leaves ; Rowan, Roan, its common name in Scotland, and various other forms of the same word, occur in old authors. It is also called Quick-Beam, Wild or Fowler's Service-tree : " Service " appears to be a corruption of-Sorbus, the ancient Latin name of an allied species, Pyrus Sorbus. Witchen, Wicken, Wiggen, c., evidently bear allusion to "the power it was once supposed to possess of counteracting witchcraft. Lightfoot and Gilpin are both of opinion that the Moun- tain Ash was held in high estimation by the Druids. The former says, " It may to this day be observed to grow more frequently than any other tree in the neighbourhood of those druidical circles of stones so often seen in the north of Britain ; and the superstitious still continue to retain a great veneration for it, which was undoubtedly handed down to them from early antiquity. They believe that any small part of this tree, carried about them, will prove a sovereign charm against all the dire effects of enchantment and witchcraft. The cattle also, as well as themselves, are supposed to be preserved by it from evil ; for the dairy-maid will not forget to drive them from the shealings, or summer pastures, with a rod of the Rowan- tree, which she carefully lays up over the door of the sheal-boothy or summer-house, and drives them home again with the same. In Strathspey, they make, on Ihe 1st of May, a hoop with the wood of this tree, and in the evening and morning cause the sheep and lambs to pass through it." The belief in the efficacy of the Mountain Ash as a preservative against witchcraft has led some commentators 128 THE MOUNTAIN ASH. on Shakspeare to substitute, for the puzzling expression in "Macbeth," " Ai-oint thee, witch!" the words "A Roan- tree, witch!" The passage being thus uttered, the men- tion of a tree so fatal to the power of the witch might naturally excite her acrimony against the person who ap- plied the test. The authoress of " Sylvan Sketches" quotes a stanza from a very ancient song, which runs as follows : " Their spells were vain : the boys return'd To the queen in sorrowful mood, Crying, that ' witches have no power Where there is Roan-tree wood.' " In remote districts of England the superstition has not even yet died away. Waterton, in his " Essays on Natural History, "relates an anecdote which fell under his personal observation, of a countryman in Yorkshire, who "cut a bundle of Wiggin, and nailed the branches all up and down the cow-house," in order to counteract the effect produced on his cow by the " overlooking" of a supposed witch. The Mountain Ash is found in a native state through- out the whole of Europe, and in several of the northern countries of Asia and North America. The parts of Great Britain where it attains its largest size are the western highlands and the western coast of Scotland. On the hills of Cheshire and Derbyshire it does not often attain a great size ; in such situations an entire tree, with roots, leaves, and flowers, is sometimes found not more than nine inches high. Ordinarily it grows very rapidly during the first five years of its existence, and at the age of twenty years forms a tree of the same number of feet with a single erect stem and a bushy head. The branches are smooth, and vary in colour from grey to purplish brown. The buds, before their expansion in the beginning of April, are large and downy. The leaves consist of from seven to nine pairs of narrow, acute, notched leaflets, terminated by an odd one. The?e are somewhat downy underneath in their young state, but soon become quite THE MOUNTAIN ASH. 129 smooth. The flowers are numerous, resembling in shape those of the Pear, but much smaller ; in odour, those of the least fragrant varieties of Hawthorn. In early summer they are conspicuous from their number, and arrangement in large white clusters : when these are shed, the tree is still a pleasing object, from the brightness and elegant aS OF THE MOUNTAIN ASH. of its leaves. As autumn advances, it asserts its claims to be considered a fruit-tree, in appearance, if not for utility. Its flowers are then succeeded by numerous bunches of coral-red berries, which, until devoured by the Thrush and Storm-cock, or scattered by the equinoc- tial gales, infallibly distinguish it from every other tenant 180 TBE MOUNTAIN ASH. either of the wood or the park. " In the Scottish high- lands, on some rocky mountain covered with dark Pines and waving Birch, which cast a solemn gloom over the lake below, a few Mountain Ashes joining in a clump, and mixing with them, have a fine effect. In summer the light green tint of their foliage, and in autumn the glow- FRUIT OF Tilt MOUNTAIN ASH. ing berries which hang clustering upon them, contrast beautifully with the deeper green of the Pines ; and if they are happily blended, and not in too large a proportion, they add some of the most picturesque furniture with which the sides of those rugged mountains are invested." 1 1 Gilpin. THE MOUNTAIN ASH. 131 A variety is cultivated which has yellow berries, and another with variegated leaves ; but neither of these, as is the case with many other treasured rarities, has anything beyond its rarity to recommend it. The berries, besides being applied to the use from which the tree derives its name, " Birdcatcher's Service," are eaten in the extreme north of Europe as fruit, though not, one would suppose, until every other kind of attain- able fruit is exhausted, for they are intensely acid, and possess a peculiar flavour, which makes them very un- palatable. In seasons of scarcity, it is said that they are sometimes dried and ground into flour. " Some," says Evelyn, "highly commend the juice of the berries, which, fermenting of itself, if well preserved, makes an excellent drink against the spleen and scurvy. Ale and beer brewed with these berries when ripe, is an incomparable drink, familiar in Wales." A beverage resembling perry is still made from them in that country, and is much used by the poor. In Kamtschatka and in the Scottish highlands an ardent spirit is distilled from them, which is said to have a fine flavour. As a timber-tree, the Mountain Ash does not attain a size which renders it available by the carpenter ; but its wood being fine-grained, hard and susceptible of a high polish, is used for smaller manufactures, principally in turnery. As coppice it may be applied to most of Ihe uses of Ash, Hazel, &c. ; and the bark is employed by the tanner. In the days of archery, it ranked next to the Yew as a material for bows, and was considered sufficiently important to be mentioned in the statute of Henry VIII. 132 THE WHITE -BE AM. PYRUS AEIA. THE "White-Beam 1 (or White-tree), though closely allied to the Mountain Ash, and consequently bearing a strong resemblance to it as to flower and fruit, is nevertheless very unlike it in general character and appearance. It is a native of the same countries, -with the exception of North America, preferring chalky or limestone soils, where it frequently attains the height of thirty or forty feet. The trunk is straight and smooth, and the young shoots are 1 "Beam," Saxon for "tree." So, in German, "Mehl-baum" means literally "Meal-tree," from the remarkably white and mealy appearance of the under-side of its leaves. WILD SERVICE-TREE. 133 covered with a white mealy down, as are also the under- sides of the leaves, to such a degree as to give the tree its name. The flowers are larger than those of the Mountain Ash, and are succeeded by pale red berries, resembling in shape those of the Siberian Crab. Without being by any means common or well known, it occurs occasionally in various parts of England and Scotland. In the north of Devon and- in Surrey I have seen it reaching a large size, and bearing abundance of fruit ; but where the soil is not congenial, or the situation is confined, it scarcely merits the rank of a tree. The finest are said to grow near Blair, in Perthshire. The fruit is used for the same purpose as that of the Roan-tree, and, if kept till it begins to decay, is somewhat more palatable, for in this state, like the Medlar, it loses a great deal of its austerity. It is eagerly devoured by birds, and on this account is in France protected by law, our neighbours having anticipated us in the discovery that the hostility of birds against insects more than compensates in its effects for the occasional depredations which the former commit in our orchards and gardens. The wood of the White-Beam is very heavy and of a close texture, and is much used, especially on the Continent, for the cogs of wheels in machinery. WILD SERVICE-TREE. PYRUS TORMINALIS. THIS species differs from the last in having its dark, glossy leaves lobed very like those of the Maple, whence it is sometimes called " Maple-Service." The fruit, which is brown and dotted when ripe, and not much larger than that of the Hawthorn, begins to decay when the frost has touched it, and is then agreeably acid and wholesome. Its geographical distribution is nearly the same with the White-Beam ; but it is not found in Scotland or Ireland, 134 THE PEAR. It occurs occasionally in Cornwall as a hedge-bush, and in some other of the southern counties is said to attain the height of fifty feet ; hut it is nowhere common. The " True Service-tree " (Pyrns Sorbus) is a doubtful native of Britain; but this is rarely met with even in a cultivated state, and requires no further mention. The name " Service-tree " is often applied indiscrimi- nately to all the above species of Pyrus, but belongs more particularly to the last. THE PEAR. PYRUS COMMUNIS. ,THE Pear-tree, in its wild state, varies considerably in different countries, both in its mode of growth, and in the shape, size, and pubescence of its leaves. Some of these are probably distinct species, and inhabit most parts of Europe and Asia ; but, as we have only to deal with the British form of the tree, it is unnecessary to pursue this subject. It is found in most counties of England, growing in woods and hedges. Its outline, when it stands alone, is pyramidal : the branches are at first erect, then curved downwards and pendulous ; in a truly wild state, thorny. The young leaves are slightly downy beneath, but, when mature, are quite smooth on both sides. When it is culti- vated the thorns on the branches disappear, as in the Plum. The flowers grow in clusters, and are large and of a pure white. The fruit is much smaller than that of any of the cultivated varieties, hard, austere, and unfit to eat ; its only use is to mix with cultivated sorts in making perry. The wood was formerly sought after for wood-engraving, but is only adapted to coarse designs : it is also sometimes dyed black, in imitation of ebony. For usefulness as a fruit-tree the Pear is rivalled only by the Apple, furnishing abundance of fruit, which is THE PEAK. 135 valuable in its fresh state, as well as for baking and pre- serving. Many sorts were well known to the Greeks and Romans ; Pliny enumerates thirty-two. It was cultivated in England at a very early period. Chaucer makes mention of it ; and in an account-book of Henry VIII. there are the following charges, among others : : For medlars and wardens ' Item, to a woman who gaff the Kyng peres s. d. 034 2." FLOVF.A OF PK.VR-TREE. In Gerard's time, " threescore sundrie sorts of pears, and those exceeding good," were growing in one garden; and of late years so much attention has been paid to the *" Wardens" were so called f r. m fheir property of keeping: " peres" were probably some common kind of pear. 136 THE PEAR. multiplying of sorts, that the Horticultural Society's list for 1831 enumerates 677 named varieties. The Pear-tree is long-lived, much more so in its culti- vated than in its wild state ; and its productiveness in- creases with its age. Dr. Neile mentions a number of very ancient Pear-trees standing in the neighbourhood of Jed- burgh Abbey, and in fields which are known to have been formerly the gardens of religious houses in Scotland which were destroyed at the Reformation. Such trees are, for the most part, in good health, and are abundant bearers ; and, as some of them were probably planted when the abbeys were built, they may be from 500 to 600 years old. The most remarkable Pear-tree in England stands on the glebe of the parish of Holme Lacy, in Herefordshire. When the branches of this tree, in its original state, became long and heavy, their extremities drooped till they reached the ground. They then took root; each branch became a new tree, and in its turn produced others in the same way. Eventually it extended itself until it covered more than an acre of ground, and would probably " have reached much farther if it had been suffered to do so. It is stated in the church register, that " the great natural curiosity, the great Pear-tree upon the glebe, adjoining to the vicarage-house, produced this year (1776) fourteen hogsheads of perry, each hogshead containing one hundred gallons." Though now much reduced in size, it is still healthy and vigorous, and generally produces from two to five hogsheads. The liquor is not of a good quality, being very strong and heating. An idea of the superior size of this tree, when in its prime, over others of the same kind, may be formed from the fact that, in the same county, an acre of ground is usually planted with thirty trees, which, in a good soil, produce annually, when full grown, twenty gallons of perry each. So large a quantity as a hogshead from one tree is very unusual. The sorts principally used for making perry are such as have an austere juice. 137 THE APPLE. PYBUS MALUS. THE Apple-tree being an undoubted native of Great Britain, demands to be noticed among our forest trees ; though, from having been so long and so extensively cultivated, it is much better known as a tenant of the BLOSSOM OF THE APPLE-TREE. orchard than of the forest. Nevertheless, it is frequently to be met with in a perfectly wild state, possessing little or no value for its fruit, but forming in spring, with its rosy and fragrant buds, a beautiful ornament either to the woodland or the hedgerow. 138 1HE APPLE. It differs materially from the Pear-tree in shape, and is characterised by its crooked and knotty branches, which, if the tree is growing in an open space, spread equally on all sides, and give to it an irregularly hemispherical form. The leaves are generally wider in proportion to their length than those of the Pear, less pointed, and slightly downy beneath. The fruit may readily be distinguished by having its base, at the insertion of the stem, concave ; that of the Pear being always convex. The branches are, both in the wild and cultivated states, destitute of thorns. It grows wild in most countries of Europe, and in Western Asia, China, and Japan. Improved varieties of the Apple appear to have been in cultivation from a very remote period. To the Greeks and Romans it was well known. Mention of it occurs also in the Septuagint, as well as in the Authorised Version of the Holy Bible ; but the fruit there alluded to is now thought, and with great propriety, to be the Citron, which accords well with the description given in the Sacred Volume, and arrives at great perfection in Syria, whereas the Apple does not. The absurd legend, that the fruit of the forbidden tree was the Apple, has probably given rise to the numerous superstitions respecting this tree, which appear under various disguises in the mythology of the Greeks 1 and Druids. The latter also looked on it with great veneration, from its being frequently clothed with Mistletoe. In certain parts of the country super- stitious observances yet linger, such as drinking health to tli3 trees on Christmas and Epiphany eves, saluting them by throwing roasted crabs or toast from the wassail-bowl to their roots, dancing and singing round them, lighting fires, &e. All these ceremonies are supposed to render the trees productive for the coming season. I once ha I occasion to pass the night preceding Twelfth- day at a lone farmhouse on the borders of Dartmoor, in 1 The fable of the dragon which guarded the golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides is probably derived from this source. THE APPLE. 139 Devonshire, and was somewhat alarmed at hearing, very late at night, the repeated discharge of fire-arms in the immediate vicinity of the house. On my inquiring in the morning as to what was the cause of the unseasonable noise, I was told that the farm-men were firing at the Apple-trees in the orchard, in order that the trees might bear a good crop next season. If these observances tended in the least degree to confer a benefit on the trees, they would not be mis-spent, for of all the fruit-trees cultivated in this country, the Apple is by far the most valuable, producing, with very little pains on the part of the proprietor, abundance of excellent fruit, fit either for the dessert, for dressing, or for making cider. To prove in what estimation it is held among gardeners, who resort to more sensible means for improving their trees than those above mentioned, it is only necessary to state that no less than 1,400 named sorts, all differing from each other in shape, size, colour, flavour, or season of ripening, are enumerated in the Horticultural Society's Catalogue of 1831. All of these were cultivated in the Society's gardens, and new varieties are constant!} 7 being added. The fruit of the wild Apple is called a Crab, the sourness of which has passed into a proverb. The juice of -crabs, called verjuice, is used to cure sprains and scalds, being often kept by good housewives in the country for that pur- pose. Isaac Walton, in his " Complete Angler," mentions it as being an ingredient in the rustic delicacy, syllabub. " "When next you come this way, if you will but speak the word, I will make you a good syllabub of new verjuice, and then you may sit down on a hay-cock and eat it." The old-fashioned ointment called pomatum was made with the pulp of Apples (jwmaj, lard and rose-water. Though the Crab is the only Apple indigenous to Britain, several of the best sorts were first raised in this country. The Cornish Gilliflower is pronounced by Lindley the best eating apple ; the Golden Pippin, so called from the small spots or pips that usually appear on the sides of these 140 THE APPLE. apples, is a native of Sussex ; the Ribston Pippin was raised at Ribston Park, Yorkshire, from a pippin brought from France. The original tree, which produced this last sort, was standing in 1831, and probably still remains. Philips, who published his poem, " Cider," in 1706, enu- merates many sorts, some of which are still in cultivation ; others have been superseded by more valuable kinds, or at least their names are rarely heard. Among these last is " -John-Apple, whose wither'd rind, intrencht "\Vith many a furrow, aptly represents Decrepit age," and is no doubt the " Apple- John " of'Shakspeare. The Apple-tree is not remarkable for size or longevity, but is stated to be larger and more productive in North America than in Europe. Darwin relates that in South America the Apple-tree attains great perfection. " The town of Valdivia," he says, " is situated on the low banks of a river, and is so com- pletely buried in a wood of Apple-trees, that the streets are merely paths in an orchard. I have never seen any country where Apple-trees appeared to thrive so well as in this damp part of South America. On the borders of the roads there were many young trees evidently self-sown. In Chiloe the inhabitants possess a marvellously short method of making an orchard. At the lowest part of almost every branch, small conical, brown, wrinkled points project ; these are always ready to change into roots, as may sometimes be seen where any mud has been acciden- tally splashed against the tree. A branch as thick as a man's thigh is chosen in early spring, and is cut off just beneath the group of these points, all the smaller branches are lopped off, and it is then placed about two feet deep in the ground. During the ensuing summer the stumps throw out long shoots, and sometimes even bear fruit. I was shown one which had produced as many as twenty- three apples, but this was thought very unusual. In the third season the stump is changed (as I have myself seen) THE APPLE. 141 into a well-wooded tree, loaded with fruit. An old man near Valdivia illustrated his motto, ' Necessity is the mother of invention,' by giving an account of the several useful things he manufactured from his apples. After making cider and likewise wine, he extracted from the refuse a white and purely-flavoured spirit ; by another process he procured a sweet treacle, or, as he called it, honey. His children and pigs seemed almost to live, during this season of the year, in his orchard." It is somewhat singular that a very similar method of propagating Apple-trees is practised in so remote a country as China. The thick branch of a tree, when in full flower, is deprived of a ring of bark, and the place covered round with a lump of rich loam. This is kept moist by water, allowed to drip from a horn suspended above ; and when the roots have pushed into the loam, which is. usually the case when the fruit is nearly ripe, the branch is cut off and planted in a pot. Dwarf-trees, laden with fruit, are favourite ornaments among the Chinese. On the occasion of certain festivals they are exposed on stands before the houses, along with grotesque figures of porcelain and paste- board, which are made to perform a variety of absurd movements, by the agency of mice confined within them. Besides the Apple, the Orange and other kinds of fruit- trees are propagated in this way ; and fine (that is, stunted and gnarled) specimens fetch a high price. They are said to live from two to three hundred years, never much exceeding a foot in height, and producing annually from twenty to thirty large apples. Several forest trees are treated in the same manner, particularly the Elm. The destructive insect called American blight (for no other reason, one would suppose, than that it has long been the custom to ascribe the origin of most strange- looking things to the New World) is one of the greatest enemies of the Apple-tree. It is easily distinguished by its white cottony appendage, which is said to serve the double purpose of wafting the young, insect through the 142 THE APPLE. air when about to found a now colony, and of protecting it from the cold when established in its new dwelling. It injures the tree, and, if not checked, finally kills it, by sucking its juices through the bark. Many methods of destroying it have been suggested, among which one of the simplest is to brush over every infected part with size. But even this remedy requires frequent repetition, as the insect infests even those parts of the tree which are beneath the ground. The subject is treated at length in the Gardener's Magazine, vol. ix. p. 834. The Apple-tree, both in its' wild and cultivated state, is liable to be infested with the Mistletoe, which frequently does great injury. In the west of England this parasite is but little known, but the Apple-trees, especially in the vicinity of the sea, are often so thickly infested with lichens, that the bark is scarcely to be distinguished, except on the very young shoots. Most of them are of a pale ashen-grey or whitish tint ; one, however, which occurs but rarely in the eastern counties, Borrcra fluvicans, is very conspicuous for its tangled golden tufts, which in winter, when the tree is divested of foliage, are very ornamental. I must not omit to mention that the Mistletoe Thrush, or Storm-cock, which at most seasons is one of our wildest birds, in spring deserts its favourite tree, the Mountain Ash, and resorts to the neighbourhood of human dwellings. There it selects, as a fit place for rearing its young, an Apple-tree close to the house, choosing the angle between the trunk and one of the principal branches. It builds its nest of materials which closely resemble the bark of the tree, and though exceedingly shy at other seasons, now sits so closely that one may advance to within a few yards of the nest without being noticed. The beautiful copper- coloured Chaffinch also prefers to build her elegant nest among the twigs of the Apple-tree, and decorates it in the neatest manner with the lichens which infest the tree she has selected. 143 THE BEECH. FAGUS SYLVATICA. Natural Order AMENTACE.E. Class MoNCECIA. Order POLYANDBIA. THE Beech, though one of our most abundant forest trees, growing spontaneously in the wildest parts of inai y of the counties of England, perfecting its seed freely, and sustaining a vigorous growth (which proves that the soil and climate of the country are perfectly congenial to it), is nevertheless declared by many writers to be a doubtful native. This opinion they justify on the ground that Julius Cassar, in his account of bis invasion of Britain, states that "timber of every kind which is found in Gaul also grows in Britain, except the Beech and the Silver Fir." 1 The fact is, that by far too much importance is attached to this passage. Csesar penetrated but a very little way into Britain, stayed there but a very short time, and rarely ventured to any great distance from the camp ; consequently he saw very liitle of the country. There can be no doubt, however, that he was anxious to convey to his countrymen as favourable an impression as possible of his achievements ; so that, the success of his military operations being slight, he would very willingly have them infer, from the minuteness with which he particularised the produce of the island, that he had penetrated far into the country but had met with no adventures worth recording. This seems the readiest way of meeting the difficulty. Other writers suggest that some other tree than the Beech may be identical with the Fagus of Cassar, and have endeavoured to show that he meant the Chestnut. 1 "Materia cujusque generis, ut in Gallia est, prater Fa^iim et Abietem." CJESAR, de Sell. Gal. 144 THE BEECH. But that this opinion is erroneous \vill appear from the following consideration. The Roman poets make frequent mention of the tree (Fayus) which Caesar declares to be not a native of Britain. 1 1 The fy-ny&s (phegos) of Theophrastus does not appear to be the same as the Fagus of the Romans. Our Beech is most probably the tree which that author calls (cegilops), and describes THE BEECH. 145 They describe it as being lofty, furnished with wide- spreading branches, casting a dense shade, loving the hill- side, attaining a great age, and furnished with so smooth a bark that rustics selected it to carve their names on, and even for the reception of their poetical effusions. 1 Virgil states that it was grafted on the Chestnut, and that its wood was converted into bowls, a use which is alluded to by other poets. No other tree with which we are acquainted accords with this description. But this is not ah 1 , for Pliny, the Latin naturalist, gives an accurate description of the Fagus, which cannot fail to identify it with our Beech. " Of the various kinds of mast, that of the Fagus is the sweetest, on which Cornelius Alexander says, that some men, who where besieged in the town of Chios, lived for some time. It resembles a nut, and is enclosed in a triangular rind. The leaf is thin and exceed- ingly smooth, shaped like the Poplar, decaying, after it has fallen to the ground, long before any of the other mast-bearing trees. The mast is much eaten by mice, which abound at the season of its ripening ; it also entices dormice, and is much sought after by thrushes. Hogs fattened on it are lively, and their flesh is digestible, light, as " a mast-bearing tree, furnished with a very straight trunk, very lofty, having a smoother bark than any of the other mast-bearing trees, and growing but sparingly in enclosed country. (TiiEO- PHRASTUS, de Plantis, lib. ii.) The