The Monarch of the Forest. 



By III(;IIARD JANDRELL, Forfstep., &c., Hawkstone, Salop. 



Now tliat the iron age of shipbuilding has about reached its climax, 

 and the wooden walls of Old England are superseded by monsters of 

 the deep in the shape of ironclads, the monarch of the forest, the 

 oak, is apt to be discarded, and, in point of value as a timber tree, 

 has to take a second and even a third rate place in the market of 

 English grown timber. The great railway companies are also throwing 

 it aside, and introducing to a great extent foreign oak for the con- 

 struction of the framing of their carriages and trucks. The praises of 

 the monarch have been sung by many thousands in bygone ages, and 

 the Muses have induced many a bard to compose poems to his glory ; 

 and being a tried and true old friend, I think a few of his numerous ex- 

 cellences would not be out of place, but would add a laurel to his crown, 

 if they appeared in the pages of the Jourmd of Forest rij and Estates 

 Manage me lit. In fact, I think the monarch of the forest almost needs 

 an apology from the Journal for not speaking of some of his various 

 uses before now ; however, as our planet has not yet made quite one 

 annual revolution since the Journal sprung into existence, and as a 

 thousand years are as one day in the eyes of the monarch of the 

 forest, perhaps he will not be offended, but will calmly submit himself 

 to be spoken of by one of his numerous admirers. I ask any lover of 

 the beautiful to produce a nobler sight in nature than the oak in its 

 prime, if standing alone in the ancestral parks of our aristocracy, or in 

 the modern pleasure parks of our numerous enterprising cities (should 

 there be any oaks in such parks that have arrived at maturity), with 

 its wide-spreading branches of perhaps 120 feet, and its height of 

 something like 80 feet ; its massive branches springing from a gigantic 

 trunk at about 8 feet from the ground, and growing in romantic and 

 beautiful form, having perhaps withstood the blast for three or four 

 hundred years. However, with the sage's permission we will pass 

 him by as an ornamental tree, and confine ourselves to speaking of 

 his uses in the mercantile world. 



The outside clothing of the monarch is steadily advancing in value, 

 and the various chemicals which are used in the hasty manufacture 

 of leather are oblised to own submission to the lasting influences of 

 the monarch's tanning properties." ^With the substantial builder the 



