."IG 



JOUBNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDBNEB. 



[ February 18, 187S 



branches. One of the great ornaments of a tree is its rami- 

 fications, whieli oiiglit to ap))car lure and there under the 

 foliage even when tlie tree is in full leaf." Strutt adds, 

 " Beauty united with ttrength characterises all its parts. The 

 leaves, elegant in their outline, are strongly ribbed, and firmly 

 attached to the spray, which, although thin and excursive, is 

 yet bold and determined in its angles ; whilst the abrupt and 

 tortuous irregularity of its massive branches admirably con- 

 trasts with the general richness and density of its clustered 

 foliage. Even as a sapling, in its slender gracefulness it ex- 

 hibits sufficient firmness and indications of vigour to predicate 

 the future monarch of the wood, a state, indeed, which it is 

 slow to assume, but which it retains through many ages ; and 

 when at length it is brought to acknowledge the influence of 

 time, and becomes ' bald with dry antiiiuity,' no other produc- 

 tion of the forest can be admitted as its riv.il in majestic and 

 venerable decay. The general form of the Oak is expansive, 

 luxuriant, and spreading. Its character, both with respect to 

 its whole and to its larger masses of foliage, is best expressed 

 by the pencil in bold and roundisli lines, whether as single 

 trees, as groups, or as forming the line of a distant forest." 

 " The genuine bark of an Oak," says Gilpin, " is of an ash 

 colour, though it is difficult to distinguish any part of it from 

 the mosses that overspread it, for no Oak, I suppose, was ever 

 without' a greater or less proportion of these picturesque 

 appendages. The lower parts, about the roots, are often 

 possessed by that green velvet moss, which, in a still greater 

 degree, commonly occupies the bole of the Beech, though the 

 beauty and brilliancy of it lose much when in decay. As the 

 trunk rises you see the brimstone colour taking possession in 

 patches. Of this there are two principal kinds — a smooth 

 sort, which spreads like a som-f over the bark ; and a rough 

 sort, which hangs in little rich knots and fringes. I call it a 

 brimstone hue by way of general distinction, but it sometimes 

 inclines to an olive, and sometimes to a light green. Inter- 

 mixed with these mosses you often find a species almost per- 

 fectly white. Before I was acquainted with it, I have some- 

 times thought the tree whitewashed. Here and there a touch 

 of it gives a lustre to the trunk, and has its effect ; yet, on 

 the whole, it is a nuisance ; for, as it generally begins to thrive 

 when the other mosses begin to wither (as if the decaying 

 bark were its proper nutriment), it is rarely accompanied with 

 any of the more beautiful species of its kind, and, when thus 

 unsupported, it always disgusts. This white moss, by the way, 

 is esteemed a certain mark of age, and, wiien it prevails in 

 any degree, is a clear indication that the vigour of the tree 

 is declining. We find, also, another species of moss of a dark 

 brown colour, ineUning nearly to black, another of an ashy 

 colour, and another of a dingy yellow. We may observe, also, 

 touches of red, and sometimes, but rarely, a bright yellow, 

 which is like a gleam of sunshine ; and in many trees you will 

 see one species growing upon another, the knotted brimstone- 

 coloured fringe clinging to a lighter species, or the black soften- 

 ing into red. All these excrescences, under whatever name 

 distinguished, add a great richness to trees; and when tliey 

 are blended harmoniously, as is generally the case, the rough 

 and furrowed trunk of an old Oak adorned with those pleasing 

 appendages is an object which will long detain the picturesque 

 eye." 



" The Great Oak of Panshanger " is characterised by all the 

 attractions thus described, and therefore, as well as for its 

 grandeur of form, size, and age, we have selected it as a model 

 specimen of our national tree. Oaks must have been abun- 

 dant in this manor, even in the days of William the Conqueror, 

 for Domesday Book records that its woods afforded " pannage 

 for forty hogs," and various records notice the production of 

 oaken timber on other parts of the valley, through which flows 

 the river Mimeram. On the nortli-ca'st bank stands "The 

 Great Panshanger Oak." In 171'J this tree was measured, and 

 found to contain 315 cubic feet of timber. In 1801 it was 

 again measured, and then contained 796 cubic feet, including 

 those branches which were sufficiently large to be considered 

 timber. It was called " the Great Oak " in 170!l, and when 

 Arthur Young measured it in 1801 it was 17 feet in circum- 

 ference at 5 feet from the ground ; he adds, " It is one of the 

 finest Oaks which I have seen, though only 12 feet to the first 

 bough." Our portrait is of the tree when it was in the meri- 

 dian of its vigour, but Mr. Huffett, the gardener at Panshanger, 

 informs us that " tho top branches are now decaying, although 

 the lower part appears as sound as any young growing tree." 

 Mr. Ruffett adds that tho extreme height is between G5 and 

 70 feet ; extent of branches from stom^ of tree, 48 feet ; cir- 



oumfereueo of tho tree's stem 2 feet from the ground, 22 feet 

 II inches; 12 feet from the ground, 20 feet (i inches ; 22 feet 

 from the ground, Ki feet inches ; :^2 feet from the ground, 

 15 feet ; 48 feet from the ground, 'J feet. 



Next, regarding the usefulness of the Oak as an ornamental 

 tree, we must always have regard to the soil we have to plant, 

 and the rate at which a tree grows. On these circumstances 

 our latest and practically good authority is Mr. Brown, who, 

 in his volume, " The Forester," says : — " The rate of growth 

 and quality of Oak timber, like those of all other trees, depend 

 very much upon the nature of the soil and situation upon 

 which it is grown ; and the result of my observations is that 

 the best-grown Oak trees are to be found on a heavy deep clay 

 soil, or heavy loam of a deep description, into which the roots 

 can get well down without any check from a change in the 

 character of the subsoil. On a light loam I have seen good 

 timber of Q. pedunculata produced. On this description of 

 land I have seen trees from 12 to 18 feet in circumference of 

 stem ; hut under these circumstances as to soil, tho trees are 

 generally found short of stem and large-headed in proportion ; 

 while trees of the same chcumference of stem, and grown on 

 deep heavy land, carry their stems vei"y much higher, and 

 therefore form more proportionate and ornamental trees. On 

 high-lying and exposed situations the Oak will grow, and even 

 become timber of useful size, although the soil be but poor ; 

 but to produce Oak of the best description, whether as to the 

 dimensions of the tree or quality of its timber, it must be 

 planted on rather a low-lying part, and on a heavy or loamy 

 soil." The rate of increase in the diameter of the stem is 

 recorded by Mr. Brown as follows : — 



For ornamental planting it is of more importance to know 

 the rate of growth in height, and on this point Mr. Brown has 

 obligingly written to us as follows : — " On the average, and on 

 a favourable soil and site. Oaks at ten years of age will stand 

 15 feet high ; at twenty years of age, 28 feet high ; at thirty 

 years of age, 40 feet high ; at forty years of age, 48 feet high ; 

 at fifty years of age, 55 feet high ; at sixty years of age, 62 feet 

 high ; at seventy yeai'S of age, 66 feet high ; at eighty years of 

 ago, 70 feet high ; at ninety years of age, 73 feet high ; at 

 a hundred years of age, 75 feet high. You may safely publish 

 these heights as the average of the Oak at the ages stated, for 

 they are from actual measurements taken by myself at various 

 times, and intended to bo used in the next edition of my 

 hook." 



The other uses of the Oak are thus epitomised by Dr. Hogg 

 in his "Vegetable Kingdom:" — "The wood of the Oak is 

 harder and more solid than that of any other European 

 timber tree, and, as is well known, is largely employed in ship- 

 building, carpentry, waggon work, cabinet-making, mill work, 

 and coopering. The bark is of great utility, as furnishing in 

 greatest abundance the article known as tan JEor tanning hides 

 and skins, and this property is owing to the presence of a 

 great quantity of tannic acid ; it also contains a peculiar bitter 

 principle, known by the name of quercin ; after the bark has 

 been used in the tanj-ard it is employed for making hotbeds in 

 forcing houses. Acorns, or the fruit of the Oak, are highly 

 nutritious to various animals, but particularly to hogs, which 

 rapidly fatten on them ; and it has been observed that those 

 are best for the purpose that have been washed and dried by 

 exposure to the air. In Turkey the acorns of several sorts of 

 Oak are buried in tho ground, in the same waj' as cacao beans 

 are, to deprive them of their bitterness ; they are then dried, 

 washed, and reduced to powder with sugar and aromatios; the 

 substance thus formed is called palamonte, and the food that 

 is prepared from it is called racahout, and is used in the 



