60 Woodside. 



trees, our thoughts go back to a time far exceeding the nine 

 hundred years allotted by the poet, and we wonder whether 

 the white-robed Druid priests and the spotless oxen stood, 

 and whether all the attendant ceremonies ever took place 

 upon this very ground where now we stand ; whether here, 

 indeed, were 



" The sacred oaks, 



Among whose awful shade the Druids strayed 

 To cut the hallowed mistletoe, and hold 

 High converse with their gods." 



It may have been so ; at any rate, we feel more serious 

 for the thought. 



Other thoughts which follow, are, however, based on 

 surer ground. The value of the oak as a timber tree is 

 exceedingly great. To this day the oaken stakes driven into 

 the bed of the Thames and other rivers for the purpose of 

 stemming the ever-advancing wave of Roman invasion, are 

 occasionally dug out almost as sound as when driven into 

 their watery resting-places ; whilst the masses of oak dug 

 out of our bogs, and which must have been buried, not only 

 for centuries, but for thousands of years, appear to be 

 almost imperishable. 



Observe closely these trees. They have the ends of their 

 twigs covered with a profusion of long, pendulous, tail-like 

 catkins, whilst if you look carefully at one of the branches 

 you will soon find that at the tips of the twigs are numerous 

 scaly leaves or " bracts," in the centre of which a rounded 

 cell is placed. Sometimes two or three of these are united 

 to form a bunch. These are the female flowers, whilst the 

 long catkins contain only the stamens or male part of 

 the flower. The central cell of the female flower has a 



