THE YOUNG NATIJEALIST. 



29 



fattening the herds of swine which 

 then roamed the woods, and the Nor- 

 man fore:?t laws teem with allusions to 

 the oakcorn, its proper preservation 

 and disposal. 



The sacred and legendary lore of 

 the oak is illimitable. Our Druidic 

 forefathers held it in holy reverence, 

 worshipping in its groves, offering up 

 their fearful sacrifices under its shade, 

 and holding their courts of justice 

 within its charmed circle. Its leaves 

 were used to crown their priests and 

 chieftains, and its wood fed their 

 sacred fire, whose ilames were only 

 quenched by their blood when their 

 order was extinguished. It was also 

 by their superstitious faith endowed 

 with augury. Por their mysterious 

 rites associated with the mistletoe, see 

 Y.N., vol. II. These hoary myths 

 but serve to show how venerated were 

 •' The sacred oaks, 



Among whose awful shades the Druids 

 strayed 



To cut the hallowed mistletoe, and hold 

 High converse with their gods." 

 We are told that Deborah, the nurse 

 of Eebekah, was buried under an oak 

 which was then called the "Oak of 

 Weeping-" This would seem to show 

 that the tree was held in esteem in 

 ancient times in oriental countries : 

 the cave of Macpelah being reserved 

 for the patriarchs and their immediate 

 relatives, the next highest honour was 

 bestowed by Jacob upon his faithful 

 retainer. 



Besides the native oak several species 

 are common in ornamental woods and 

 parks, such as the evergreen oak fQ, 

 ilex)i a beautiful tree somewhat resem- 

 bling the holly, which it rivals in the 

 depth of its foliage. It takes two years 

 to mature its acorns. The Turkey oak 

 [Q. cerris) is a handsome, stately tree, 

 easily recognised by its finer-toothed 

 leaves, densely hairy on the under 

 surface, especially when young. The 

 scarlet oak (§. coccinea) is not so 

 common. It has large, sharply and 

 deeply-lobed leaves, green on both 

 sides, but turning a rich, gorgeous 

 scarlet in autumn, when — 



"The moss-grown oak, 

 Tenacious of its leaves of russet brown," 

 foretells the approach of winter. 



The English name Oak, Anglo- 

 Saxon Ac, Scotch Aik, enters into 

 such a variety and. number of combina- 

 tions in our language as to show the 

 importance of the oak in our national 

 life : — Acorn is oakcorn ; Acton, oak- 

 town j Auckland, Oakland ; and so on 

 with all the different spellings of wock, 

 oke, &c. The generic name Quercus 

 has been referred to the Celtic quer, 

 beautiful; and cuer, a tree. This 

 apellative was possibly limited to those 

 rare oaks on which the mistletoe grew, 

 the Celtic name for the oak being derw ; 

 whence we have Druid, the wood- 

 woi shippers ; and Dryad, the spiritual 

 inhabitants of the forest. The specific 

 name is the Latin rokir, Celtic rove, 



