ITSt ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



soil for the oak, by deeply trenching it, by planting acorns, and not plants ; 

 ami by keeping them pruned till they arrive at a proper height, double the 

 quantity oi' timber may be obtained in about 50 years, that is now produced 

 in 100. Mr. Yates's mode of cultivation (for an account of which he received 

 a premium from the Society of Arts) will be found in a succeeding paragraph. 

 (See Gent. Mag., vol. lxxiv., for 1804, p. 626.) 



The following table of the progressive growth of nine oaks in the New 

 Forest, was communicated by T.Davies, Esq., of Portway House, Wiltshire : — 



The circumference taken in 

 inches at 6ft. from the ground. 

 1814. 1816. 1818. 1820. 1822 



(No. 1. 575 58J 5Si 59| 5<)| "l . 

 No. 2. 65* 6<U 6(4 67* 68| Average increase in 8 years, 3f in. per 



NO. 3. 88j 85 &i| 86* 875 i tree m circumference. 



VHjtmn. j No 4. 41 42* 42? 42| 43f Increase of timber in 12ft. in length 



.No. 5. 61 62| 63 63| 67| J of trunk, 1 ft. 9 in. 



Aggregate 307f 326f 



("No. 6. 28* 30* 32 33f 35f ") Average increase in 8 years, 5* in. per 



; Trees planted, ) No. 7. 27| 28J 29| 29* 32 (.tree in circumference. 



60 years. ) No. 8. 28* 29§ 30* 31* 32f C Increase of timber in 12 ft. in length 



CNo. 9. 33J 34| S5| 37J 39 J of trunk, 1 ft. 7 in. 



Aggregate 117f 1S8| 



Relative Growth of Oak Wood, as compared witJi that of other Trees. The result 

 of observations by Vancouver in Hampshire, as to the relative growth of wood 

 in that county, was, taking the trees at 10 years* growth, and fixing the oak 

 as a standard, as follows : — Oak, 10; elm, 16; ash, 18; beech, 20 ; white 

 poplar (P. alba), 30. It will thus appear that the oak, which is the slowest- 

 growing forest tree indigenous to Britain, increases only at the rate of one 

 third part of the white poplar, which is the most rapid-growing indigenous 

 forest tree in Britain. 



The growth of the oak, as compared with that of the larch, is exemplified 

 in a tree of each growing at Wimbush, in Essex. In 1792, the oak, which is 

 called Young's Oak, at 5ft. from the ground, was 8 ft. 5£ in. in girt; and a 

 larch, at the same place, only 12 years old, at the same height from the ground, 

 girted 2 ft. 4 in. In 1805, 13 years afterwards, the oak had increased only 

 4 1 , in. in girt, while the larch had increased 2 ft. 9 in. (Young's Essex, ii. 

 p. 151.) 



Poetical Allusions. The most celebrated poetical description of the oak, 



as well as, perhaps, one of the oldest, is that of Virgil in the second Georgic, 



which has been thus rendered by Dryden : — 



" Jove's own tree, 



That holds the woods in awful sovereignty, 



Requires a depth of lodging in the ground, 



And, next the lower skies, a bed profound. 



High as his topmost boughs to heaven ascend, 



So low his roots to hell's dominion tend ; 



Therefore nor winds, nor winter's rage, o'crthrows 



His bulky body, but unmoved he grows. 



lor length of ages lasts his happy reign, 



And lives of mortal men contend in vain. 



Full in the midst of his own strength he stands, 



BtlCtchtng his brawny arms, and leafy hands: 



His shade protects the plains, his head the hills commands." 



i lie following lines arc from the Mneid: — 



"As when the winds their airy quarrel try, 

 Jostling from every quarter of the sky, 



Thil way and that, the mountain oak they bend, 

 II; boughs they shatter, and his branches rend ; 

 With leaves and falling mast they spread the ground ; 

 '1 In holkm valley.s echo to the sound : 

 Unmoved the royal plant their fury mockfl, 

 Or, ihftken. clings more closely to the rocks \ 

 I or U DC boots bis towering bead on high, 

 So deep in earth his fixed foundations lie." 



VlRGIL. Mn. t Dryden 'a trans. 



