Common Oak 333 



Several interesting particulars of the effect of lightning on oaks are given by 

 Loudon, who also states that the oak, owing to its roots not being so liable to 

 rot in the ground as those of most trees, is not often blown down. He describes 

 the effect of a hurricane in October 1831, on the splendid oaks growing in Lord 

 Petre's park at Thorndon Hall in Essex, which reminds me of a similar case in 

 April 1890, when I saw, at Narford, in Norfolk, oaks of 2 to 3 feet in diameter 

 broken off at 4 to 10 feet from the ground by the force of the wind, which tore 

 up many plantations of spruce and other shallow-rooting trees by the roots. 



Sir Charles Strickland tells me that a very tall young oak tree 54 feet to 

 the first branch, and quite straight, growing at Housham in Yorkshire, nearly on 

 a level with the river Derwent, was, in the severe winter of 1860-61, completely 

 killed by a frost which was the severest in his recollection. Though he has 

 no record of the temperature at Housham, yet he believes that at Appleby, in 

 Lincolnshire, it was as low as 15^ below zero,* and generally in the northern 

 counties the thermometer went below zero. Many other oaks were killed in the 

 woods and in the hedgerows between Malton and Pickering by the same frost. 



The various insects which attack the oak are too numerous to be mentioned in 

 detail, but are described at length by Loudon and by many other authors. 



The galls, which are so common on the leaves, are produced by several species 

 of Cynips, and the so-called oak-apples are the result of an injury by an insect of the 

 same family.* 



Mistletoe on the Oak 



Since the time of Pliny, who describes the worship of the oak, and especially 

 of the mistletoe-bearing oak by the Druids, the occurrence of this parasite on the 

 oak has always been looked on as a rarity. Loudon only mentions two trees known 

 to him, of which one near Ledbury was cut down in 1831, and another at Eastnor 

 Castle is still living ; but we have now been able to collect many more authentic 

 records. A paper on the subject by the late Dr. Bull of Hereford' gives 

 particulars of several, and states that it is considered a dangerous practice to 

 interfere with a mistletoe-bearing oak. One at St. Diels, near Monmouth, was cut 

 down by the bailiff about 1853, and the owner of the estate immediately dismissed 

 him. A woodman who climbed the Eastnor tree to get some mistletoe, fell down 

 and broke his leg, and other similar stories are quoted. The finest mistletoe oak 

 I have seen was shown me by Sir George Cornewall, at Bredwardine, in 1902. 

 When described by Dr. Bull, mistletoe was growing on it in no less than fifteen 

 different places, and it measured 78 feet by 1 1 feet 6 inches in girth. Sir George has 

 lately found another in his park, and has a third on his estate in Woodbury Wood. 



This part of England seems to be, for some reason, the most prolific in England 



' This is a little lower than any temperature recorded by the Meteorological Office, but the subject of meteorology as 

 affecting trees will Ije discussed fully later. 



2 An article in the Aew Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, Additional Series, v. 1906, on Oak Galls, by R. A. Rolfe, 

 gives much information on the subject, but is too long to quote. Nearly one hundred different kinds have been described 

 which occur on the roots, buds, leaves, stamens, ovaries, and fruit. 



"- Trans. iVoolhope Nat. Field Club, 1870, p. 68. 



