22 



THE OAK. 



abundant foKage might otliermse render it pecu- 

 liarly liable. 



Were it not for this wonderfully massive struc- 

 ture of the main trunk, the Oak would be unable 

 to bear up tlie ponderous weight of its enormous 

 limbs, which, each a mighty tree in itself, would 

 rend in pieces any less substantial support. For 

 it must have been remarked by everyone who has 

 looked thoughtfully on a full-grown Oak, that the 

 trunk does not divide into several smaller ones, 

 all approaching to a perpendicular direction ; but 

 that its unwieldy arms quit the bole ahnost ho- 

 rizontally, so that the centre of gra^^ity of each 

 lies a long way without the base of the tree, and 

 is therefore constantly exerting its utmost power 

 to tear itself away from the central column. This 

 tendency to preserve a horizontal direction is most 

 conspicuous in a fuU-gro^ra tree, owing to the 

 greater size of the object. But this peculiarity has 

 not escaped the curious eye of the artist even in 

 the smallest twigs. In the spray of trees," Gilpin 

 remarks, Xature seems to observe one simple 

 principle ; which is, that the mode of growth in the 

 spray corresponds exactly with that of the larger 

 branches, of which indeed the spray is the origin. 

 Thus the Oak divides his boughs from the stem 

 more horizontally than most other deciduous 

 trees ; the spray makes exactly, in miniature, the 

 same ajDpearance : it breaks out in right-angles, 

 or in angles that are nearly so, forming its shoots 

 commonly in short lines, the second year's shoot 

 usually taking some direction contrary to that of 

 the first. Thus the rudiments are laid of that 

 abrupt mode of ramification for which the Oak is 

 so remarkable. "WTien two shoots spring from the 



