io8 THE OAK. 



branches and twigs, and the compactness of the foliage, that give to 

 the top of the tree its husliv look. Its rounded outline, only broken 

 bv projecting star-shaped bunches of foliage, is partly due to the 

 great distance to which the lower limbs spread,* and makes it easy 

 to recognise tiie Oak at a distance. When seen nearer, the gnarled 

 bifurcations, and the rough sections of the bark, covered with grey- 

 green lichen on the massive trunk add further distinguishing points. 



But, in the study of trees, it is necessarv to look at the smaller 

 branches and young shoots to obtain a clear idea of the mode of 

 ramification. As a tree becomes older the growth of its parts is 

 much influenced by its surroundings. A branch may take up an 

 unnatural position in order to obtain light and air, or, for want of 

 these, may become deformed, or die away and leave an unsightly 

 gap. But in the young spray we find the typical method of growth 

 very little impeded, and can thus learn to account for departure 

 from it in the full-grown tree. 



In the Oak the likeness between the ramification of the new 

 shoots and twigs and that of the larger branches is very apparent. 

 We find that the twigs divide at a right angle, or nearly so ; also 

 that the second year's shoot commonly takes an opposite direction to 

 the shoot of the first year, while two shoots springing from the 

 same node are usually of unct]ual length. We find three or four butls 

 clustered on a spray, v\hich accounts hir the subsequent interwoven 

 appearance of the branches, while their horizontal position is partly 

 due tr) the fact that the shoot rarely starts from the under-side of 

 the branch. 



*Th< whole tree often forms a semi-circle owing to the lower boughs spreading to a distance 



from the trunk cfjual to the height of the tree. 



