THE OAK. 



upon peduncles of several inches in length. Individually, the leaves, 

 as expressed in the name, have a strong tendency to be wavy in their 

 surface and outline. The flat-leaved oak differs in its compact form, 

 and strong disposition to roundness ; the branches are more horizontal, 

 the leaves lie in parallel planes, and individually are flat, and with 

 rather long stalks. In spring we may further observe that the leaf- 

 buds are larger; and in autumn that the acorns are shorter and 

 broader than in the other, and that they are almost or totally destitute 

 of peduncles ; if present, the peduncles are stout, not slim and delicate 

 as in the wave-leaved. These are distinctions very easily made out. 



Oak Leaves. 



To trace them is at once an agreeable and instructive occupation for 

 half an hour, when we go into the country for a day's enjoyment. 

 Nor does it end in the simple discrimination of two different things ; 

 for the wave-leaved oak has the reputation of being a more excellent 

 tree than the other, while the flat-leaved is considered better adapted 

 to excite ideas of the picturesque. A glorious spectacle is that of the 

 oak in the month of April, when its amber-tinted buds stud the tree 

 like so many jewels. They do not open hurriedly, like those of the 

 sycamore or the horse-chesnut. From first to last, the life of the oak 

 seems characterised by placidity. It lives so long that it can afford to 

 be leisurely in all its movements, and at every season alike expresses 

 dignity and calmness. In a little while, when the young leaves are 

 half-expanded, come the flowers, though not such flowers as we use for 

 bouquets. Nature has other ways of fashioning flowers than after the 

 model of the rose or lily. To note these diverse ways is one of the great 



