DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 95 



god of fire, whose symbol was an oak. Hence at his festival, 

 which was at Christinas, the ceremony of kindling- the Yule 

 log, was performed among the ancient Druids. This fire 

 was kept perpetual throughout the year, and the hearths of all 

 the people were annually lighted from these sacred fires every 

 Christmas. We believe the curious custom is still extant in 

 some remote parts of England, where the " Yule log " is ush- 

 ered in with much glee and rejoicing once a year. 



As an ornamental object, we consider the oak the most 

 majestic and picturesque of all deciduous trees. The enor- 

 mous size, and extreme old age to which it attains in a fa- 

 vourable situation, the great space of ground that it covers 

 with its branches, and the strength and hardihood of the tree, 

 all contribute to stamp it with the character of dignity and 

 grandeur beyond any other compeer of the forest. When 

 young, its fine foliage, (singularly varied in many of our na- 

 tive species,) and its thrifty form, render it a beautiful tree. 

 But it is not until the oak has attained considerable size, that 

 it displays its true character, and only when at an age that 

 would terminate the existence of most other trees^ that it ex- 

 hibits all its magnificence. Then its deeply furrowed trunk 

 is covered with mosses, its huge branches, each a tree, spread- 

 ing out horizontally from the trunk with great boldness, its 

 trunk of huge dimension, and its " high top, bald with dry 

 antiquity ;" all these, its true characteristics, stamp the oak 

 as Virgil has expressed it in his Georgics, — 



" Jove's own tree, 

 That holds the woods in awful sovereignty : 

 For length of ages lasts his happy reign. 

 And lives of mortal man contend in vain. 

 Full in the midst of his own strength he stands, 

 Stretching his brawny arms and If^afy hands. 

 His shade protects the plains, his liead the hills commands." 



Dryden's Trans. 



