FOREST TREES. 15 



nothing is more desirable than shade — nothing more refreshing 

 than the shade of a tree — we may easily suppose the inhabitants 

 would resort for such enjoyment to 



" Where'er the Oak's thick branches spread 

 A deeper, darker shade." 



Oaks, and groves of Oaks, were esteemed proper places for re- 

 ligious services ; so that while the Methodist denomination may 

 not claim originality in holding grove or camp-meetings, they 

 may, at least, plead the usages of antiquity in their defense. 

 Altars were set up under them ; affairs of state were discussed 

 and ratified under their ample shade. 



" Abimelech was made king under an Oak." " Absalom rode 

 upon a mule which went under the thick boughs of a great Oak, 

 and his head caught hold of the Oak, and he was taken up be- 

 tween the heaven and the earth," and, while there suspended, 

 was slain by Joab and his armor-bearers. 



" In England, whose Oak forests are now one of the sources of 

 national wealth and naval supremacy, the tree was once prized 

 only for the acorns, which were the chief support of those large 

 herds of swine whose flesh formed so considerable a part of the 

 food of the Saxons. Woods of old, says Burnett, were valued 

 according to the number of hogs they could fatten ; and so rig- 

 idly were the forest lands surveyed, that, in ancient records, such 

 as the Doomsday-book, woods are mentioned of a single hog. 

 The right of feeding hogs in woods, called pannage, formed, 

 some centuries ago, one of the most valuable kinds of property. 

 With this right monasteries were endowed, and it often consti- 

 tuted the dowry of the daughters of the Saxon kings."* 



Of the Oak some naturalists have enumerated twenty-four spe- 

 cies. The wood of the White Oak is distinguished by tliree prop- 

 erties, which give to it its great value : hardness, toughness, and 

 durability. The great variety of purposes to which it is a^ipro- 

 * Mass. Reports, Trees, &c. 



