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(DUEICUS alba. Natural Ordek: Cupttlifcnc—Oak Family. 



\ KRY one is familiar with the appearance of this noble genus 

 c.t trees, or has read more or less in its praise. The wood 

 oi timber of many of the varieties is exceedingly useful to 

 in, in many of the mechanical arts, but more especially in 

 ^^ttv^'^'^liip-building, on account of its great strength and durability. 

 "** It IS also of historic interest to all Americans, as it was in 

 ,^the hollow of an oak at Hartford, that the Charter obtained by Gov. 

 I'^J^ Winthiop, the younger, for the colonists of Connecticut, from Charles I. 

 ''[SiPol England, was secreted from October 31, 1687, to May, 1689. ^''' 

 \<^ Edmund Andros made an unsuccessful attempt to rob them of it, but 

 ^was thwarted by William Wadsworth, who spirited it oft' and hid it 

 in the Oak, which from this circumstance was called the Charter Oak. 

 It IS supposed to have been upward of three hundred years old when 

 blown down by a storm, Aug. 20, 1856. The Oak has been considered by the 

 heathen as honored above all other trees, because the sacred mistletoe grows 

 upon its branches. 



!|cnijr. 



'HESE be the sheaves that honor's harvest bears; 

 The seed thy valiant acts; the world the field. 



