96 



EVERGREEN OAK. 



honourable mention. Even with us, it attains a 

 considerable size ; but in the milder climates of 

 Italy, Spain, &c., it becomes a large tree, and 

 reaches an age equal to that of some of our most 

 venerable Oaks. Hence it not unfrequently ac- 

 quired an historical interest ; and for this reason 

 perhaps, more than for its picturesque beauty, it 

 was made the theme of poetic song. The Roman 

 naturalist, Pliny, who flourished in the first cen- 

 tury of the Christian Era, mentions a tree growing 

 in the Vatican, which claimed a higher antiquity 

 than Rome itself. It had brazen letters in the 

 ancient Etruscan characters aflixed to its trunk, 

 from which it would appear, that before the Ro- 

 man name was known it was a sacred tree. Its 

 age must therefore have been 800 years at least. 

 Three others are mentioned by the same author, 

 growing at Tibur, which tradition made to be 

 older than Tiburtus, who founded that city 1200 

 years B.C. Lowth considers the TeiUtree of Scrip- 

 ture to be identical with the Ilex, which abounds 

 in many parts of Palestine ; and it is more than 

 probable that the Oak of the Holy Scriptures is 

 either this, or some allied species of Quercus. 



The Ilex was introduced into England pre- 

 viously to 1580 ; but it was then a great rarity, 

 and little thought of. In Italy it is the prevailing 

 evergreen, and in Sicily it abounds on the hills 

 and all along the coast, ascending Mount Etna to 

 an elevation of 3200 feet. It is easily propagated 

 from the acorn, but is very impatient of being 

 transplanted, owing to its sending its long roots 

 perpendicularly downwards, which are furnished 

 with but few rootlets, save at the extremities, and 

 if these are injured, the young plant dies. This 



