194 CUPULTFER^. [part i. 



Finds thee not less alive to her sweet form, 

 Than yonder upstarts of the neighbouring wood, 

 So much thy juniors, who their birth received 

 Half a millennium since the date of thine. 



The leaves of the common Oak are deeply 

 sinuated, and without footstalks, but those of 

 Qiiercus Rohiir sessiliflora, another British Oak, 

 are upon short footstalks, though the acorns 

 are sessile. This last species predominated in 

 the oak forest which formerly surrounded Lon- 

 don ; and many examples are still to be found at 

 Lord Mansfield's beautiful seat at Hampstead, 

 the name of which. Ken wood, alludes to them, 

 Ken being Saxon for an acorn. The wood of 

 this tree was also used for the roof of West- 

 minster Hall, and many other ancient buildings 

 which till lately were supposed to be of Chestnut. 

 Oak wood may always easily be tested by 

 wetting a knife and then cutting it, when the 

 astringent property in the Oak will turn the 

 knife black, a result that will not take place 

 with Chestnut. 



There are nearly fifty species of Oaks which 

 may be obtained in the British nurseries ; the 

 most remarkable of which are the Cork tree 

 (Qiiercus Suber), the cork being. the bark; the 

 Evergreen Oak (Q. Ilex); the American Oaks, 

 particularly the scarlet Oaks (Q. coccinea and 

 Q. rubra), the Live Oak (Q. virens), and the 

 Willow Oak, with long narrow entire leaves 



