14G ENGLISH BOTANY. 



Common Oak. 



Frencli, Chene a fruits pedoncules. German, Stiel Eiche. 



The oak is perhaps the most important of our British forest trees, and is ahnost 

 characteristic of our island. " British oak " is supposed to represent our navy, and 

 "hearts of oak" are considered typical of our brave saOors. A complete account of 

 the uses and applications of the English oak wotdd fill volumes. In comparison with 

 other trees, the wood of the oak is more valuable, and more appHcable to a variety of 

 purposes, than any gro^vn in the British islands. Whether for house or ship-building, 

 posts, piles, mill-work or other macliinery, for any work liable to exposure, to weather, 

 or to damp, no Avood equals that of the oak. We have oaken beams and doors in our 

 most ancient buildings known to be seven or eight hundred years old, and are as 

 strong and sound now as ever. The stakes driven by the Britons into the bed of the 

 Thames to prevent the passage of Caesar's army, were found, after the lapse of two 

 thousand years, still strong and hard within. The quantity of oak timber annually 

 consumed in this country for ship-building is enormous, although it is now in some 

 measure superseded by iron. McCulloch calculated that the amount of oak wood 

 yearly required for the support of the English navy during the French war, according 

 to a report made to the Government in 1806, was a hundred and ten thousand loads, 

 and that at least a hundred thousand acres of land would be required for its growth. 

 Other nations may possess finer, more showy, and more fragrant trees, but the oak has 

 its own intrinsic value, as well as its beauty, to entitle it to be considered the monarch 

 of trees. Bernard Barton wrote a poem in praise of the oak, and Pope has expressed 

 the national pride in these pithy lines : — 



" Let India boast her plants, nor envy we 

 The weeping amber and the balmy tree. 

 While by our oaks the precious loads are borne, 

 Adn realms commanded which those trees adorn." 



Few writers have described the oak so well as Virgil in his " Georgics." He calls 

 it " Jove's own tree," as it was made sacred to Jupiter by the Romans : — 



" Jove's own tree. 

 That holds the woods in awful sovereignty, 

 Requires a depth of loding in the ground, 

 And next the lower skies a bed profound. 

 High as his topmost boughs to heaven ascend, 

 So low his roots to hell's dominions tend : 

 Therefore nor winds nor winter's rage o'erthrows 

 His bulky body, but unmoved he grows. 

 For length of ages lasts his happy reign, 

 And lives of mortal men contend in vain. 

 Full in the midst of his own strength he stands, 

 Stretching his brawny arms and leafy hands : 

 His shade protects the plains, his head the hills commands." 



In early ages probably by far the greater proportion of this island was covered 

 with forests of oak, and the number of names of places in which the word occurs 

 as a prefix indicates its former abundance. It is never found in perfection 

 excepting in good soil and in a temperate climate. After oaks have stood for five or 



