OAK. 183 



ancient records, such as the Doomsday books, woods are men- 

 tioned ' of a single hog.' The right of feeding swine in the 

 woods, called Panage, formed, some centuries ago, one of the 

 most valuable kinds of property. With this right monasteries 

 were endowed, and it often constituted the dowry of the daughters 

 of the Saxon kings. Indeed the encroachments of the Norman 

 princes on this common right, in their passion for preserving 

 forests for the chace, was one of the most grievous wrongs of 

 which the oppressed people in those times complained, and 

 relief from which was wrung from John, among other privileges, 

 on the plains of Runnymede." 



General Uses. — The Oak is of immense importance as a 

 timber tree, from its furnishing the materials for the " wooden 

 walls of Old England ! " It has been computed that each 74 

 gun ship requires 2000 tons, which are obtained from as 

 many trees, the full produce of fifty acres. The wood being 

 very hard, tough, and not liable to splinter, is also valued 

 for the manufacture of staves, laths, and spokes of wheels, 

 also for mills, presses, wine-casks, and for all purposes where 

 strength, solidity and durability, are required. Oak saw-dust 

 is one of the principal materials used in dyeing fustian ; it 

 affords by proper management all the various shades of brown 

 and drab. The bark is well known for its use in tanning 

 leather, and when it has fulfilled the purposes of the tanner, 

 it is burned as fuel, and is employed by the gardener to 

 produce heat by fermentation. An infusion of the bark with 

 a small quantity of copperas, is used by the common people 

 to dye woollen of a purplish hue, which is sufficiently durable. 

 The leaves are eaten by horses, cows, goats and sheep, and 

 though inferior to the bark, have been used in tanning. It has 

 been asserted that a peck of Oak leaves is equal to a pound of 

 bark. The acorns form a common article of food for swine and 

 deer. We have already adverted to the opinion, that our ances- 

 tors derived their sustenance from the fruit of this tree; it might 

 have been resorted to in times of scarcity, but it is too bitter 

 and austere to be used as food, especially by savage nations who 

 were acquainted with no means for obviating these qualities, and 

 what is said by ancient authors of the edible nature of the acorn 

 must be referred to some other species. The French, during 



