THE WAVY-LEAVED OAK. 297 
Trees are qualities which are slowly gathered, for 
its rate of growth is ordinarily not more than 
enough to add one inch each year to its circum- 
ference. Yet its especial characteristic is stout- 
ness, both of trunk and branch. It is not re- 
markable for height, though instances have been 
recorded in England of Oaks attaining a height 
of more than a hundred feet, with nearly seventy 
feet of trunk. The stoutness of its trunk, how- 
ever, is usually its striking feature. It is wider 
at the base, and at the top of the trunk than it is 
midway, and this depression in mid-stem is 
formed by a symmetrical curve. The massive- 
ness, solidity, and strength of the Oak bole are 
qualities which enable the Tree to bear the enor- 
mous superincumbent weight of its branches, and 
‘also to bear the peculiar strain caused by the 
habit of the latter in growing out to a consider- 
able distance, almost horizontally from the top of 
the trunk. The twisting and contortion of its 
branches is another feature of its growth, and 
one which gives to old Oaks their gnarled and 
rugged appearance. Owing to its main or ‘tap- 
root’ descending to a considerable distance in the 
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