INTRODUCTION 3 
This is not the place to go further into what may be 
called the folk-lore of the oak—a subject which would 
supply material for a large volume—but it may be re- 
marked that giant or veteran oaks are still to be found 
(or were until quite recently) in Gloucestershire, York- 
shire, and on Dartmoor and other places, and a very 
fair idea of what an old oak forest must have been like 
may be gathered from a visit to the New Forest in 
Hampshire, or even to some parts of Windsor Forest. 
As so often happens in the study of science, we have 
in the oak a subject for investigation which presents 
features of intense interest at every turn, and however 
much the new mode of looking at the tree may at first 
sight appear to be opposed to the older one, it will be 
found that the story of the oak as an object of biological 
study is at least not less fascinating than its folk-lore. 
With this idea in view, I propose to set before the 
reader in the following chapters a short account of what 
is most worth attention in the anatomy and physiology 
of the oak, as a forest tree which has been so thoroughly 
investigated that we may confidently accept it as a 
type. 
In carrying out this idea there are several possible 
modes of procedure, but perhaps the following will re- 
commend itself as that best adapted to the requirements _ 
of a popular book, and as a natural way of tracing the 
various events in the life-history of a plant so complex 
as is the tree. 
First, the acorn will be described as an object with 
B 2 
