AMONG THE OAKS 89 



spread their arms abroad, and still to stand long 

 after their maturity, when their usefulness and 

 their greatest profit as timber trees are already 

 on the wane. 



The oak has played a far more important part 

 in English history than any other tree. Oaks 

 were objects of worship among the aboriginal 

 Celts and Britons ; they were the sacred trees 

 beneath whose boughs the ancient Druids per- 

 formed their mystic rites. Of such an oak 

 Spenser says in his Shepherd's Calendar 



* For it had been an ancient tree, 

 Sacred with many a mystery.' 



It was beneath the spreading branches of oaks 

 that the Folkmote was at one time held. They 

 were often historical landmarks, known for cen- 

 turies as fixing the boundaries of parishes and 

 shires. At the time of the Conquest they were 

 principally valued, like the beech, for the mast 

 they yielded as pannage for hogs and swine, and 

 as toothsome food for the king's deer. Later on, 

 however, throughout the whole of the early period 

 of the naval development of Britain, the oak was 

 by far the most important among timber trees. 



