74 The Scottish Naturalist. 



most picturesque and lovable tree. Nor has it been left unsung 

 by the poets. Thus Wordsworth — 



" Huge trunks ! and each particular trunk a growth 

 Of intertwisted fibres, serpentine 

 Upcoiling, and invet'rately involved." 



But especially have the poets referred to the smooth and silvery 

 bark, which almost seems made on purpose to tempt the love- 

 sick swain to inscribe thereon his mistress's name. And this is 

 no recent practice, for the old, poets, even Virgil and Ovid, 

 allude to the practice in their days, 



" Crescent ilhe; crescetis amores." 



"As the letters of our names increase, so may our love;" 



referring to the increase of size in the letters as the bark of the 

 tree grows. The same idea is expressed by Ovid, and in later 

 times by Thomson and others. 



The fruit or beech-mast, when eaten raw, is said to produce 

 giddiness and headache, but dried and ground makes a whole- 

 some bread. Sometimes the nuts have been used as a substitute 

 for coffee, and the oil therein contained has been eaten instead 

 of butter, and also burnt in lamps. Many animals are very 

 fond of the mast. 



The wood is used for various purposes ; though not very 

 lasting when exposed to the air, it is exceedingly durable under 

 water, and is therefore employed for making piles for bridges. 



The Oak (Quercus robur L.); An Darroch in Gaelic. Cele- 

 brated a tree as the Oak is, it is only by courtesy that we can 

 admit it among those bearing edible wild fruit. In cases of 

 famine it is possible that the acorns (as the fruit of this tree 

 are called) may be serviceable, and it has even been recom- 

 mended to use them as coffee, or fresh like chestnuts, or ground 

 and made into bread. The acorns produced by some other 

 species of Oak, are far more palatable, and are actually used 

 as food in Italy, North America, and elsewhere. 



To enter into an account of all the other uses of the Oak 

 would occupy too much time. No tree has been perhaps more 

 celebrated both in verse and prose, but we in Scotland are 

 scarcely qualified, from our local experience, to appreciate 

 fully the tree, regarding which even Cowper the poet wrote — 



It seems idolatry with some excuse, 

 When our forefather Druids in their Oaks 

 Imagined sanctity. 



