1786 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III, 
The lines from Needwood Forest allude to the Swilcar Oak. (p. 1769.) 
*¢ First blush the hills with orient light, 
_. And pierce the sable veil of night ; 
Green bends the waving shade above, 
And glittering dew drops gem the grove : 
Next shine the shelving lawns around, 
Bright threads of silver net the ground ; 
And down, the entangled brakes among, 
The white rill sparkling winds along: 
Then as the panting zephyrs breathe 
The billowy mist recedes beneath ; 
Slow, as it rolls away, unfold 
The vale’s fresh glories, green and gold ; 
Dove laughs, and shakes his tresses bright, 
And trails afar a line of light : 
High midst the trees, with many a frown, 
Huge Swilcar shakes his tresses brown ; 
Outspreads his bare arms to the skies, : 
The ruins of six centuries.” Munpy’s Needwood Forest. 
The following lines are descriptive of Wistman’s Wood. See p. 1757. 
: ** How heavily 
That old wood sleeps in the sunshine — not a leaf, 
Is twinkling — not a wing is seen to move 
Within it ; but below, a mountain stream, 
Conflicting with the rocks, is ever heard, 
Cheering the drowsy noon. Thy guardian oaks, 
My country, are thy boast — a giant race, 
And undegenerate still; but of this grove, 
This pygmy grove, not one has climb’d the air 
So emulously that its loftiest branch 
May brush the trayeller’s brow. The twisted roots 
Have clasp’d in search of nourishment the rocks, 
And straggled wide, and pierced the stony soil 
In vain : denied maternal succour, here 
A dwarfish race has risen. Round the boughs 
Hoary and feeble, and around the trunks, 
With grasp destructive, feeding on the life 
That lingers yet, the ivy winds, and moss 
Of growth enormous. E’en the dull vile weed 
Has fix’d itself upon the very crown 
Of many an ancient oak ; and thus, refused 
By nature kindly aid — dishonoured — old — 
Dreary in aspect — silently decays : . 
The lonely wood of Wistman.’’ Carrincton’s Dartmoor, p. 56. 
Through the kindness of His Grace the Duke of Bedford, we have re- 
ceived the following additional information respecting this remarkable wood, 
from Archdeacon Froude, vicar of Darlington, near Totness : —“ Ihave been 
told that there is an ancient record in the Duchy Office, which probably 
refers to their existence, not long after the Conquest. On the bottom stock 
of one of them, cut down partly for the purpose, I counted upwards of 250 
concentric rings, when the farther evidence of annual formations in the exterior 
circumference was too indistinct to be noticed. When first felled, the specific 
gravity of the wood was more like that of tropical than English growth. The 
extent of Wistman’s Wood is about two acres.” 
Properties and Uses. In comparing the wood of Q. pedunculata and Q. 
sessiliflora, the former is found the most easy to split, and the stiffest and the 
easiest to break, and yet the most difficult to bend ; while the latter has the 
advantage over the other in toughness and weight. The following comparative 
view is from Hartig, as quoted in the Dictionnaire des Eaux et Foréts. 
Q. PEDUNCULA‘TA, Q. SESSILIFLO‘RA, 
Ib. 072. Ib. oz. 
The wood, when green, weighs - 76 13 The wood, when green, weighs =) (8056 
— half-dry - - - 65 <9 _ half-dry - - 67 12 
—_ perfectly dry - ~~ 52 13 — perfectly dry - - 51 10 
Its heating properties are, to the Its heating properties are, to the 
beech, as - = =  « 1440 is to 1540 beech,as - - - = = 1497isto1540 
Its heating properties, compared Its heating properties, compared 
with those of the Q. sessilifldra, with those of the Q. peduncu- 
are as - = «=. = = £440.is;'to1497 lata, are as - - -  -1497is to1440 
Its charcoal is, to that of the 
beech,as - - - - = 1459isto 1600 
It thus appears that the wood of both species loses above a third of its 
weight in drying; but, as in the case of every other wood, that of the oak is 
