24 



THE OAK. 



especially Oak and Ash, into various flexures, 

 curbs, and postures, wliich may be done by hum- 

 bling and binding them down with tough bands 

 and withs, or hooks rather, cut skrew-^^dse, or 

 slightly haggled and indented ^^•ith a knife, and 

 so skrewed into the ground, or by hanging of 

 weighty stones to the tops or branches, till the 

 tenor of the sap, and custom of being so con- 

 strained, do render them apt to grow so of them- 

 seh'es, without power of redressing. This coiu^se 

 would wonderfully accommodate the ship-builder 

 with materials for knee-timber, and prove use- 

 ful to the wheel-^raght, as it would conform the 

 wood to their moulds, save infinite labour, and 

 abbreviate the work of hewing and waste." 



According to the same author (who is evidently 

 a truthful writer, although many of his opinions 

 appear to us very absui'd, owing to the imperfect 

 state of science in his time), the Oak owed much 

 of its popularity to the belief that its shade was 

 remarkably salubrious. He says, It is reported 

 that the very shade of this tree is so wholesome, 

 that the sleeping or lying under it becomes a 

 present remedy to paralytics, and recovers those 

 v\'hom the mistaken malign influence of the Wal- 

 nut-tree has smitten. The antients, who were 

 fond of refreshing themselves under the shade 

 of trees, caution us ao'ainst the influence of the 

 Walnut." 



The foliage of the Oak is as characteristic as 

 any other feature of the tree, whether we regard 

 the sinuated form of each individual leaf, or the 

 aggregate tufts. The principal difference between 

 the leaves of Quercus pedunculata (or Quercus 

 rohiir) and Quercus sessilifiora is, that in the 



