1786 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETfJM. 



PART III. 



Tiie lines from Nccdwood Forest allude to the Swilcar Oak. (p. 17G9.) 



" First blush the hills with orient light, 

 Aui\ pitTce the sable veil of night; 

 Green bends the waving shade above, 

 And glittering dew drops gem the grove : 

 Next shine the shelving lawns around, 

 liright threads of silver net the ground ; 

 Ami down, the entangled brakes among. 

 The white rill sparkling winds along: 

 Then as the panting zephyrs breathe 

 The billi.wy mist recedes beneath ; 

 Slow, as it roll.-i 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 j 

 Outsjjreads his bare arms to the skies, 

 The ruins of six centuries." Mundy's Kcedwood 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 undegenerato still; but of ijiis grove. 

 This pygmy grove, not one has climb'd the air 

 .So emulously that its loftiest branch 

 May brush the traveller's brow. The twisted roots 

 Have clasij'd in search of nourishment the rocks. 

 And straggled wide, and i>ierced the stony soil 

 In vain : denied maternal succour, here 

 A dwarfish race has risen. Rt)und the boughs 

 Ilo.iry 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." Carrington's Dartmoor, p. 56, 



Through the kindness of His Grace the Duke of Bedford, we have re- 

 ceived the following additional information respecting tliis remarkable wood, 

 from Archdeacon Froude, vicar of Darlington, near Totness : — " I have 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 purpo.se, 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." 



Properlics 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 diflicidt to bend ; while the latter has the 

 advantage over the other in toughness and weight. The following comparative 

 view is from Ilartig, as quoted in the Dictionnaire des Eaux ct Forcts. 



Q. PEDUNCITLA^TA. 



lb. OZ. 



7t) 13 



65 n 



52 13 



The wood, when green, weighs 



— half-dry . - 



— perfectly dry - 

 Its heating properties are, to the 



beech, as .... 14-10 is to 1540 



Its heating properties, compared 



with those of the 0. sessilifl6ra, 



arc as 1440 is to 1497 



Its charcoal is, to that of the 



beech, as 1459 is to 1600 



Q. SESSILIPLO^RA. 



The wood, when green, weighs 



— half-dry 



— perfectly dry - 

 It.9 heating properties are, to the 



lb. OZ. 



80 5 

 67 12 

 51 10 



beech, as 



Its heating properties, compared 

 with those of the U. petluncu- 



- 1497 is to 1;H0 



liita, are as 



- 1497 is to 1440 



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 



