TREES IN NATURE 63 



ceeded ; but from the disproportionate spread- 

 ing of tillage " — so runs the lament, to end with 

 the warning that '' this devastation is now 

 become so epidemical, that unless some favour- 

 able expedient offer itself, and a way be 

 seriously and speedily resolved upon, for the 

 future repair of this important defect, one of 

 the most glorious, and considerable bulwarks 

 of this nation, will, within a short time, be 

 totally wanting to it." 



Our wooden bulwarks have proved their 

 value many a time since Evelyn's day ; and 

 we are learning now that it is to our economic 

 loss, if not to the national danger, that we let 

 our land become deforested. But we are 

 generalising, writing of what relates not to the 

 oak alone, but to the whole company of service- 

 able trees. 



Does the oak deserve its great reputation ? 

 This question may come to the reader with a 

 shock, and suggest disloyalty, if not anarchism. 

 Many old reputations have been lost in modern 

 times. Even the claim of the lion to be con- 

 sidered the King of the beasts has been disputed. 

 And the oak's pre-eminence among trees has 

 been questioned. Philip Gilbert Hamerton, for 



