282 



CHAPTER OF VARIETIES. 



diameter here stated. Assuming that the Wormegay Oak increased in 

 diameter one foot each century during the lapse of eight centuries, and 

 allowing that the lapse of three centuries be necessary to complete the 

 total destruction of an oak,, provided that decay had commenced 

 under these circumstances, the Wormegay Oak had an existence of 

 eleven hundred years, which, I think, cannot be implicitly credited ; 

 although Gilpin, in his Forest Scenery, notices " a few venerable oaks 

 in the New Forest, that chronicle upon their furrowed trunks ages 

 before the conquest." There remain, however, very imperfect accounts 

 of the progress of growth, and possible duration of the oak ; the axe, 

 with little exception, prevents its dying a natural death. 



It may be imagined, that the soil which fed this '-'woody patriarch" 

 was rich in those substances, affording, in a high degree, food suited to 

 its healthy growth. It was situated on a patch of high land, between 

 two valleys of moor-soil, and, although they have the advantage of irri- 

 gation, their surfaces are swampy and interspersed with hassocks of 

 coarse grass. The surface-soil, on which the tree grew, is a moist dark 

 mould, in which appears to be mixed a quantity of finely-divided vege- 

 table matter. This stratum of earth is about two feet thick, and rests 

 on one of cohesive whitish clay, which, being tested with an acid, afforded 

 copious effervescence. The water of the soil, tested with tincture of 

 galls, afforded a slight purple tinge, but no sensible precipitate was 

 produced, after having stood ten hours. 



The species of oak enumerated by Linnaeus, Hmnboldt, Martyn, and 

 others, are principally natives of America. The Quercus Se&siliflora 

 is supposed to have been introduced into England two centuries ago, 

 therefore the Wormegay Oak cannot be classed with this. The common 

 oak (Quercus robur), being a native of Britain, and, it is assumed, the 

 only kind of oak known in Britain at the time the tree under review 

 was a seedling ; the Wormegay Oak will take rank with that species 

 which furnished the hardy seamen of these islands with materials for the 

 construction of their war-ships before Caesar's invasion. Caesar s account 

 runs thus : " The body of the vessel was entirely of oak, to stand the 

 shocks and assaults of the tempestuous ocean. The benches of the 

 rowers were made of strong beams of wood, of about a foot in breadth, 

 and fastened with iron nails an inch thick. Instead of cables, they 

 secured their anchors with chains of iron, and made use of skins, and a 

 sort of thin pliant leather, by way of sails, either because they wanted 

 canvass, and were ignorant of the art of sail-making, or, which is more 

 probable, because they imagined that canvass sails were not so proper 



