HISTORY OF THE OAK. 45 



ticularly manifested by the faculty which they possess 

 at one period of producing fruit, and their impotency 

 at another. This imbecility from one cause or another 

 probably influences at periods every tree or herb that 

 springs from the earth ; but in regard to the oak, the 

 most general and probable cause of its sterility is sus- 

 pended circulation. This is more immediately brought 

 to notice from our custom of barking the timber of this 

 tree in the spring. At times our barkers go on rapidly 

 with their work ; yet in a few hours a frost, or a sharp 

 wind, will put an entire stop to their operations, in con- 

 sequence of the cessation of the flow of sap, which is 

 followed by the adhesion of the bark to the wood. 

 Whenever this nutriment ceases to be supplied, the 

 immature and tender germen must languish ; and if the 

 supply be long suspended, it must perish from deficiency 

 of food. That such is the natural effect of spring frosts 

 and sudden chills, more injurious probably to the fruit 

 in this immature state, from its greater delicacy, than 

 when it is more developed, is reasonable to suppose : how 

 Tar a change of seasons may have taken place to accom- 

 plish the injury alluded to, more commonly now than in 

 former periods, we have no criterion for proving ; but 

 if failures of the acorn crop took place as frequently in 

 times when swine's flesh was mostly the diet of the 

 middle and lower classes of people as they do now, the 

 privations of our forefathers were severe indeed. 



An interesting volume might be formed, entitled the 

 " History of the Oak." The first mention that we know 

 of this tree is that ancient of days, the " oak of Mamre," 

 under which Abraham sat in the heat of the day ; and 

 that it was an oak, one of the fathers, Eusebius, tells 

 us, as it remained an object of veneration even in the 

 time of Constantine. We would note all the celebrated 

 querci of antiquity ; the use, value, strength, duration, 

 &c., of its timber; the infinite variety of purposes to 

 which its various parts are applied by the mechanic, the 

 dyer, the artisan ; the insects, which amount to hundreds 

 of species, that live and have their being on the oak; 

 the vegetables it nourishes, ferns, lichens, mosses, 

 agarics, boleti, &c. ; the sawdust, apples, gallnuts 



