6 FAMILIAR TREES 
former are two or three inches long, bearing at 
intervals stalkless clusters of inconspicuous flowers, 
each consisting of a six- or seven-lobed calyx and 
ten stamens. The female flowers, on the other 
hand, are solitary, each being surrounded by the 
numerous overlapping scales, or bracts, which after- 
wards form the cup. The flower itself is but the 
ovary enclosed by the adherent calyx, divided in- 
ternally into three chambers, and surmounted by 
a triple style. In each chamber there are two 
ovules; and it is a noteworthy fact that from these 
six only one is matured into the single seed that 
every acorn contains. A _ similar circumstance 
occurring in the case of other trees suggests the 
explanation that perennial plants, trees more 
especially, require to produce fewer seeds in order 
to ensure the permanence of the species than do 
annuals, whose individual existence is so many 
times shorter. 
What country boy has not -a love of acorns 
equal to that of the squirrel? Possibly he may 
not eat them, preferring chestnuts or beech-masts ; 
but there is a joy in knocking down the glossy 
green fruit, destined perchance to be converted, 
with the addition of some cotton-wool, into 
reverend seigneurs, with flowing beards and locks 
rivalling those of the Druid, who cut in bygone 
ages the sacred mistletoe with golden knife 
from the Oaks of Avalon. Before English com- 
merce had extended the leather trade beyond the 
needs of home consumers, and English naval 
enterprise had caused a drain upon our Oak forests 
