INTRODUCTION. 3 



supply material for a large volume but it may be re- 

 marked that giant or veteran oaks are still to be found 

 (or were until quite recently) in Gloucestershire, York- 

 shire, and on Dartmoor and other places, and a very 

 fair idea of what an old oak forest must have been like 

 may be gathered from a visit to the New Forest in 

 Hampshire, or even to some parts of Windsor Forest. 



As so often happens in the study of science, we have 

 in the oak a subject for investigation which presents 

 features of intense interest at every turn ; and however 

 much the new mode of looking at the tree may at first 

 sight appear to be opposed to the older one, it will be 

 found that the story of the oak as an object of biological 

 study is at least not less fascinating than its folk-lore. 

 With this idea in view, I propose to set before the 

 reader in the following chapters a short account of what 

 is most worth attention in the anatomy and physiology 

 of the oak, as a forest tree which has been so thoroughly 

 investigated that we may confidently accept it as a 

 type. 



In carrying out this idea there are several possible 

 modes of procedure, but perhaps the following will rec- 

 ommend itself as that best adapted to the requirements 

 of a popular book, and as a natural way of tracing the 

 various events in the life-history of a plant so complex 

 as is the tree. 



First, the acorn will be described as an object with 

 a certain structure and composition, and capable of 

 behaving in a definite manner when placed in the 



