but also to themselves. The right of feed- 

 ing swine in the oak-woods was among 

 our Saxon forefathers a highly-valued pri- 

 vilege, the infringement of which by the 

 Normans constituted one of the most se- 

 verely-felt hardships that were inflicted on 

 the conquered race. To this day the acorns 

 of some of the species are eaten as food. 

 There is a variety of the common oak 

 which produces sweet edible acorns ; this 

 variety is supposed to he the JEsculus of 

 Virgil. The acorns of Q. Ballota, and of its 

 variety Q. Gramuntia, are eaten in Bar- 

 bary, Spain, and Portugal, under the name 

 of Belotes : in Arabia also they are eaten 

 cooked, and an oil is extracted from them. 

 The acorns of Q. JEsculus are eaten in Syria; 

 these retain their green colour even when 

 ripe, and are boiled by the Arabs. The 

 leaves of Q.mannifera yield a manna-like 

 exudation in Kurdistan. 



The vast size and great age of some Oaks 

 add to the interest that is attached to this 

 family of trees. There still exist some fine 

 specimens in this country. Humboldt re- 

 fers to an oak in the Departemeut de la 

 Charente Inferieure, measuring nearly 

 ninety feet in circumference near the base. 

 >'ear Breslau an oak fell, in a storm in July 

 1857, measuring sixty-six feet in circum- 

 ference at the base. These large trees are 

 for the most part decayed and hollow in 

 the interior, their ' tops bald with dry an- 

 tiquity : ' their age has been estimated at 

 from one to as many as two thousand years. 

 The famous Oak of Mamre, Abram's Oak, 

 has been recently figured in the Transac- 

 tions of the Linncean Society by Dr. Hooker. 



Abram's Oak. 



It is a fine tree of the species Q. pseudo- 

 coccifera, and is popularly supposed- to in- 

 dicate the spot where grew the oak or 

 lentisc under which the patriarch pitched 

 his tent. There is a superstition that any 

 person who cuts or maims the oak will 

 lose his firstborn son. 



The Romans employed branches of the 

 Oak to form the chaplets wherewith the 

 heads of citizens eminent for their civic 

 virtues, especially for having saved the 

 life of a fellow-citizen, were crowned. The 

 Druids venerated the Oak, as being the 

 tree on which the sacred mistleto grew ; or, 

 possibly, the latter plant was regarded as 

 the more sacred from growing on the Oak. 

 At present the mistleto is rarely found on 



the Oak, but that it does grow on this 

 tree is sufficiently attested. To this day 

 the custom is kept up, in many places in 

 the country, of gathering and displaying 

 branches of Oak on May 29, in commemo- 

 ration of the concealment of Charles II. in 

 the oak at Boscobel. Much difference of 

 opinion prevails as to our British Oaks ; 

 some considering that there are three 

 species, some two, and others (as M. Decan- 

 dolle in his recent revision of the genus) 

 one only. The generally accepted opinion 

 is that there are two, Q. pedmiculata and 

 Q. sessihflora, distinguished one from the 

 other by the following characters. Q. ses- 

 siliftora, or Durmast, has long yellowish 

 leafstalks, and sessile or shortly stalked 

 acorns ; it grows more quickly than the 

 other species, is more ornamental, and will 

 thrive on poorer soil. Q. pedmiculata has 

 eitherstalkless leaves, or the leafstalks are 

 short and of a greenish or reddish hue, 

 while the acorns are on long stalks. This 

 last is the bad.ee of the Camerons. The 

 difference in the timber of these two species 

 has been before mentioned. 



A large number of the species mentioned 

 are in cultivation in this country. Q.Ilex, 

 the Holm or Evergreen Oak, is more like a 

 huge shrub than a tree. The Lucombe 

 and Fulham Oaks are also nearly evergreen. 

 Q. Cerris forms a very handsome tree. Q. 

 coccinea is valuable for its foliage, which 

 assumes a crimson tint in autumn, and 

 remains on the tree during the greater 

 part of the winter. A valuable frost-proof 

 species, Q. sinensis, has been recently in- 

 troduced from China by Mr. Fortune. It 

 has evergreen leaves, resembling those of 

 the sweet chestnut. [M. T. M.] 



The Oak appears in all ages to have been 

 an object of veneration, from the time of 

 the 'Oak of Mamre,' under which Abraham 

 sat in the heat of the day, down to that of 

 the Greeks, by whom it was held sacred, and 

 the Romans, who dedicated it to Jupiter. 

 To come nearer home, the Druids wor- 

 shipped beneath its shade; and even we 

 ourselves view the mighty King of the 

 Forest with mingled feelings of veneration 

 and gratitude, which this age of ironclad 

 snips will not wholly eradicate. Still do we 

 retain the name of Gospel Oak in many of 

 our English counties, pointing to the time 

 when penitential psalms and Gospel truths 

 were breathed beneath their shade ; and 

 they became notable objects as resting- 

 places in the beating of the parisb-bounds, 

 a practice supposed to have been derived 

 from the feast to the eod Terminus. Our 

 English custom was thus described more 

 than two centuries since by Withers : 

 That every man might keep his own possessions, 

 Our fathers used, in reverent processions, 

 With zealous prayers, and with praiseful cheere, 

 To walk their parish limits once a year; 

 And well-known marks (which sacrilegious hands 

 Now cut or breake) so bordered out their lands, 

 That every one distinctly knew his owne, 

 And brawles now rife were then unknowne. 



This ceremony was performed by the 

 minister and parochial authorities, accom- 

 panied by the people, going the boundaries 



