94 Librm-y of Entertaining Knowledge. 



this writer states be true, viz., that, owing to its introduction, there is too 

 much reason to be believe the complaints about the dry rot originated. 

 However, it seems, this impostor ' may thus be discriminated from the true 

 old English oak : the acorn-stalks of the i2dbur are long, and its leaves 

 short ; whereas, the sessiliflora has the acorn-stalks short, and the leaves 

 long : the acorns of the former grow singly, or seldom two on the same foot- 

 stalk ; those of the latter, in clusters of two or three, close to the stem of 

 the branch.' This distinction, as far as language is concerned, appears 

 conclusive as to our misfortune ; but let us hope that we have not been so 

 long in error on this momentous subject, and that the dry rot has originated 

 some other way. For the Quercus i?6bur will, I believe, afford us specimens 

 of both characters, and even sometimes from the same tree ; indeed, it is not 

 common to find two alike ; and the supposed varieties arising, in my opi- 

 nion, from circumstances purely local, are sufficient in number to fill up, in 

 every shade and degree, the distinction made between the .Rdbur and the 

 sessfliflora. Nor is this surprising, when we consider that this tree, on 

 account of its great value, has been cultivated, or attempted to be cultivated, 

 in almost every possible situation, and that it has been propagated by seeds 

 alone, for thousands of years, without degenerating. 



" But there is one species which, I think, retains its character with more 

 constancy, and probably is the impostor complained of; this is the pedun- 

 culata, and a most stately and magnificent tree it is ; perhaps more generally 

 planted than the iiobur ! and for this simple reason, viz. gentlemen, nursery- 

 men, and gardeners, one and all, like to see a fine sample when they either 

 gather or purchase acorns ; and the fruit of the Quercus pedunculata is 

 usually one third larger than that of the i26bur in trees of equal age and 

 vigour ; it is also considered excellent timber. 



" The Quercus ^E'gilops, which furnishes the velani or velonia of com- 

 merce, is not mentioned, although, I think, it deserves some notice in a 

 popular work of this kind. The cup or calyx only is imported from Turkey, 

 for the purpose of tanning leather in this country, in which process a decoc- 

 tion as powerfully astringent is made from 1 lb. of velani as from 3 lbs. of oak 

 bark. 



" We next meet with a most interesting account of the Scotch pine, its 

 various uses, localities, its remains in bogs, peat-mosses, &c. ; but no notice 

 is taken of the manner in which it is generally mutilated in the plantations in 

 this country, by the adoption of that system usually termed, jm7- excellence, 

 the Scotch system of pruning : why it should be so called, I do not know ; 

 but I hope our brethren beyond the Tweed will show us a better example, 

 and discontinue the wretched hack-and-hew method so ruinously adopted by 

 many foresters in England. A plantation is made ; after ten or fifteen years 

 it wants thinning and pruning ; in a few years more it wants a repetition of 

 this thinning and pruning ; the work must be done neatly ; the branches 

 must be cut, secundum artem, close to the stem, and this in midwinter, too ! 

 What is the result ? Every pruning inflicts a corresponding injury on the 

 timber ; for wheresoever a branch is cut close off, there also will be found 

 invariably a corresponding blemish in the timber, when it comes into the 

 hands of the carpenter. 



" But if the plants are left tolerably thick, so that the lower branches, 

 being deprived of light, may dwindle and die, the wood is gradually conso- 

 lidated around the gradually decreasing, or, at least, stationary branches, 

 till, by this slow but all-healing process of nature, the branches ultimately 

 drop off, without leaving those unseemly scars which exhibit and loudly 

 proclaim the handy but unnatural work of man. Of course, I do not mean 

 that thinning and pruning should be wholly omitted, but that both should 

 be done with caution ; and that the latter operation should be confined 

 chiefly to the large branches, which, if left, are likely to disfigure the trees. 

 Perhaps this last observation relates more to the deciduous forest trees than 



