CHAP. CV. CORYLa'cE^. ^UE'RCUS. 1815 



and interlaced in a variety of fantastic shapes. More than 300 trees were 

 torn up, or shattered so much as to render it necessary that their remains 

 should be felled. This park, during the war, furnished some of the finest 

 naval timber that could be procured in the kingdom." {Mag. Nat. Hut., 

 vol. vi. p. 107.) We have also received from Henry Lee Warner, Esq., of 

 Tibberton Court, Herefordshire, an account of a hurricane which occurred there 

 in December, 1833, which destroyed a magnificent oak standing on his lawn. 

 This noble tree had a trunk 31 ft. high to the fork, where it divided into 12 

 large limbs, and 14 somewhat smaller branches; altogether forming an enormous 

 head. The circumference of the trunk was 19 ft. 8 in. at 4 ft. from the ground, 

 and 15 ft. 4 in. at the height of 26 ft. The tree was stag-headed, and appeared 

 to have been for some time in a state of decay. After the tree had fallen, the 

 roots, on examination, were found in a decayed state. " The trunk, or body, 

 which, 20 years before, was perfectly upright, had been gradually losing its 

 perpendicularity, inclining more and more to the south-east, till it got without 

 the line of direction; and then with its immense head it fell by its own weight. 

 It is a curious fact, that, although the greater part of the roots had perished, 

 and the tree was stag-headed and the boughs without leaves, yet the body was 

 perfectly sound. The boards and quarters which the sawyers cut from it are 

 of the firmest and most beautiful texture. — H. L. W." 



Diseases. There are few or no diseases peculiar to the British oak. The 

 honey dew, though very frequent on young oaks, is not peculiar to that 

 tree. The punctures of certain insects, which produce galls and other ex- 

 crescences, and which may be considered as diseases, will be hereafter 

 mentioned. 



Vermin and Insects of different Kinds which feed upon the Oak. The wild 

 animals which live upon acorns, we have already observed (p. 1789.), are 

 numerous ; but those which are chiefly injurious to man are such as eat the 

 acorns after they have been planted, or the young trees. The insects which 

 live upon the oak are all more or less injurious to it ; and these are very 

 numerous. 



Vermin. The most general enemy to planted acorns, and also to young oak 

 trees, is the field mouse, an account of the ravages of which in the Forest of 

 Dean has already been given (p. 1806.). The water rat is also believed to 

 feed on the acorn, and the squirrel is known to depend principally on it for 

 its winter provision. Neither of these two animals, however, are generally 

 in sufficient numbers near nursery gardens, or extensive grounds about to be 

 planted, to be productive of any serious injury; for the squirrel is never 

 found at a distance from full-grown trees, nor the rat from the banks of rivers 

 or streams. The mode of entrapping mice in the Forest of Dean has already 

 been given, and other modes of catching these, and other animals considered 

 as vermin relatively to trees, will be found in the Encyclopaedia of 'Arboriculture. 



Insects. The British oak, probably both on account of its large size, and 

 the peculiar nature of its juices, is attacked by a far greater number of insect 

 enemies than any of the other trees of this country. Many of these insects 

 are, of course, confined to this tree, but many feed indiscriminately upon the 

 beech, birch, and hazel, as well as upon the oak : thus, as it would seem, says 

 Mr. Westwood, to whom we are indebted for this article, clearly proving, not 

 only the very natural character of the order Amentaceae, but also the equally 

 natural distribution of the insects themselves into genera, consisting of spe- 

 cies, all of which are either generally amentaceous in their food, or are con- 

 fined to the oak or the birch alone. With respect to the number of species 

 which are found upon the oak, we have the authority of Mr. Stephens (who 

 must be considered as the most general practical collector of English insects) 

 for stating that nearly half the phytophagous insects of England are either 

 exclusively, or partially, inhabitants of the oak. Messrs. Kirby and Spence 

 have given a calculation, from which they adduce the opinion, that the 

 phytophagous and carnivorous insects are nearly equal in point of number of 

 species ; which would give about 2500 as half of the Phytophaga : but to this 



