II. 1. THE WHITE OAK. 131 



and magnificence, for a time equal to at least five of the genera- 

 tions of men : — 



"Multosque nepotes, 

 Multa virum volvens durando sascula vincet." 



When standing together, the mixture of all the various species 

 of the oak, will make a much more beautiful forest than any- 

 one alone. 



"The great value of this tree has caused the destruction of 

 almost all trunks suitable for timber, so that it is rarely found 

 of a large size. One which I measured in Greenfield, in 1838, 

 was seventeen feet five inches just above the root, and fifteen 

 feet three inches at three feet. A white oak standing nearly 

 opposite Deacon Nurse's, in Bolton, measured, in 1840, nine- 

 teen feet, just above the roots, and fourteen feet, at three feet 

 from the ground. It had a fine, fresh, broad head. 



The picturesque ruin of a white oak is standing in Brighton, 

 where the road called N on an turn Street crosses that from Boston 

 to Newton Corner. At the surface of the ground, it measures, 

 this first of October, 1845, twenty-five feet and nine inches in 

 circumference ; at three feet, it is twenty -two feet four inches ; 

 at six feet, fifteen feet two inches. It tapers gradually to the 

 height of about twenty -five feet, where the stump of its ancient 

 top is visible, below which point four or five pretty large 

 branches are thrown out, which rise twenty or thirty feet 

 higher. Below, the places of many former limbs are covered 

 over by immense, gnarled and bossed protuberances. The trunk 

 is hollow at the base, with a large opening on the southwest, 

 through which boys and men may easily enter. It had, pro- 

 bably, passed its prime, centuries before the first English voice 

 was heard on the shores of Massachusetts Bay. It is still clad 

 with abundant foliage, and, if respected as its venerable age 

 deserves, it may stand, an object of admiration, for centuries to 

 come. 



