DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES, 141 



It should not be forgotten that the oak was worshipped 

 oy the ancient Britons. Baal or Yiaoul (whence Yule) 

 was the god of fire, whose symbol was an oak. Hence at 

 his festival, which was at Christmas, the ceremony of kin- 

 dling the Yule log was performed among the ancient Druids. 

 This fire was kept perpetual throughout the year, and the 

 hearths of all the people were annually lighted from these 

 sacred fires every Christmas. We believe the curious 

 custom is still extant in some remote parts of England, 

 where the " Yule log" is ushered in with much glee and 

 rejoicing once a year. 



As an ornamental object we consider the oak the most 

 varied in expression, the most beautiful, grand, majestic, 

 and picturesque of all deciduous trees. The enormous 

 size and extreme old age to which it attains in a favorable 

 situation, the great space of ground that it covers with its 

 branches, and the strength and hardihood of the tree, all 

 contribute to stamp it with the character of dignity and 

 grandeur beyond any other compeer of the forest. When 

 young its fine foliage (singularly varied in many of our 

 native species) and its thrifty form render it a beautiful 

 tree. But it is not until the oak has attained considerable 

 size that it displays its true character, and only when at an 

 age that would terminate the existence of most other trees 

 that it exhibits all its magnificence. Then its deeply fur- 

 rowed trunk is covered with mosses ; its huge branches, 

 each a tree, spreading out horizontally from the trunk with 

 great boldness, its trunk of huge dimension, and its " high 

 top, bald with dry antiquity ;" all these, its true character- 

 istics, stamp the oak, as Virgil has expressed it in his 

 Georgics — 



