THE OAK. 



17 



the poet or the historian^ the names Quercus 

 rohur and Oak, when met with in English books 

 not of a scientific character, must be understood 

 to include both species. The word Oak is identi- 

 cal with the Saxon aach or ak ; from which, also, 

 acorn is derived. Hence Turner, the earliest 

 English author on this subject, says ; Oke, whose 

 finite we call an acorn or an eykorn (that is, 

 corne or fruite of an Eike), are harde of digestion 

 and norishe very much, but they make raw hu- 

 mores. Wherefore we forbid the use of them for 

 meates." 



But finally, not to weary you with etymologies, 

 when you expected to read about trees and 

 woods ; — from the Celtic derw, an Oak, the Druids 

 took their name ; and hence, also, the Greeks 

 called the tree drys, and gave the appellation of 

 Dryads to the imaginary beings who peopled their 

 w^oods. 



Like most long-lived trees, the Oak is of slow 

 growth, averaging about a foot and a half in cir- 

 cumference in twenty years, and increasing about 

 one inch in a year for the next century of its ex- 

 istence ; after which its rate of growth diminishes. 

 The extreme slowness of this increase may be bet- 

 ter estimated by contrasting it with that of the 

 Larch, which is very rapid in its formation of tim- 

 ber. An Oak at "Wimbush, in Essex, in thirteen 

 years had increased four inches and a half in cir- 

 cumference ; and in the same time a Larch had 

 increased thirty -three inches, or nearly eight times 

 as much. The Oak does not usually attain any 

 great height, being more remarkable for the thick- 

 ness of its bole, and its widely -spreading head. 

 Exceptions, however, are not wanting. Li the 



c 



