i)0 THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. 



"Domesday Book" for Essex, where we find the number of swine which 

 the woods in each parish would sustain carefully recorded as one 

 of the most valuable belongings of the manors.'- The "Round 

 Table " of King Arthur in our national romance, was made of the 

 trunk of an oak, and our Saxon forefathers held their primitive 

 parliaments under the spreading boughs of the favourite tree. It 

 was on the stout trunk of an oak that the arrow struck which found 

 its way to the heart of the second William, and in popular story it 

 was to the shelter of an oak that King Charles the Second owed 

 his life. 



No tree excels the oak in its picturesque beauty. With its 

 ponderous trunk, its gnarled but spreading branches, its rich coloured 

 luxuriant foliage, it is indeed a monarch of the vegetable 

 kingdom. 



To the modern biological student the oak tree offers the 

 material for much interesting research, as a glance through Marshall 

 Ward's work, " The Oak," will prove. I have, however, said enough 

 to show how wide a subject we have entered upon, and how 

 necessary it will be to confine it within strict limits ; but I must 

 make a few introductory remarks for the benefit of those of our 

 members who may not have previously given attention to the 

 subject. 



The varieties of oak which might be selected from extensive 

 woods are very numerous, but they have been in a great measure 

 neglected by foresters, as they are difficult to propagate except by 

 acorns. I must however describe the two varieties into which oak 

 trees are usually divided by botanists, known as Qiiercus pedunculata, 

 Ehr., having long peduncles (^flower-stalks), and sessile leaves (with- 

 out stalks) ; and Quercus sessilijiora having peduncles short and leaves 

 stalked. It is stated that much, if not all, of the wood found in old 

 houses, frequently called " chestnut " by builders, is in reality the 

 wood of Quercus scssiliflora, which resembles the chestnut-wood, and 

 which is devoid of what is po[)ularly known as the ' silver grain,' 

 generally considered characteristic of the timber of the oak. 



These varieties are usually found growing together in the wild 

 state, and they are used indiscriminately for all purposes for which 

 the oak is applicable. Some writers state that Quercus pedunailata 

 is a low spreading tree or " Broad Oak," whilst Quercus sessiliflora is 



■^ Soc for much information on this subject the late Mr. W. R. Fisher's valuable book, "The 

 Forest of Essex. " 



