THE OAK. 3 



The Oak is to be found in all soils ; its growth, 

 however, greatly depends on the nature of that 

 wherein it may be planted ; for though the hardi- 

 ness of its infancy is such as to render choice or 

 care apparently unnecessary, yet as it advances 

 towards maturity, the depth and extent to which it 

 strikes its roots, make much of both its magnitude 

 and vigour depend on the congenial and uninter- 

 rupted field it may find for its powers. That it ve- 

 getates very rapidly under favorable circumstances, 

 may be seen in the instance adduced by Gilpin, 

 of an acorn which was sown at Beckett, the seat 

 of Lord Harrington, on the day of his lordship's 

 birth in 1717, and which, in November 1790, 

 contained ninety-five feet of timber, and was more 

 than eight feet in girth, at five feet from the ground. 

 It is stated by Mr. South, in his ingenious essay 

 on the Age and Growth of Trees, that an oak 

 of sixty years standing will, in twenty-four years, 

 double its contents of timber ; a piece of informa- 

 tion which may often check the progress of the 

 axe that would otherwise be prematurely hurled 

 at the fair heads of the infant hamadryads, by the 

 reckless hand of avarice, a passion very apt, like 

 " vaulting ambition," to " o'erleap itself," in its 

 eager anticipation of emolument. An Irish writer 

 on planting, mentions, with much regret, his being 

 an eye-witness to the fall of nearly two hundred 

 acres of beautiful thriving oaks in a romantic val- 



