HISTORY OF THE OAK. 
45 
ticularly manifested by the faculty which they possess 
at one period of producing fruit, and their impotency 
at another. This imbecility from one cause or another 
probably influences at periods every tree or herb that 
springs from the earth ; but in regard to the oak, the 
most general and probable cause of its sterility is sus- 
pended circulation. This is more immediately brought 
to notice from our custom of barking the timber of this 
tree in the spring. At times our barkers go on rapidly 
with their work ; yet in a few hours a frost, or a sharp 
wind, will put an entire stop to their operations, in con- 
sequence of the cessation of the flow of sap, which is 
followed by the adhesion of the bark to the wood. 
Whenever this nutriment ceases to be supplied, the 
immature and tender germen must languish ; and if the 
supply be long suspended, it must perish from deficiency 
of food. That such is the natural effect of spring frosts 
and sudden chills, more injurious probably to the fruit 
in this immature state, from its greater delicacy, than 
when it is more developed, is reasonable to suppose : how 
far a change of seasons may have taken place to accom- 
plish the injury alluded to, more commonly now than in 
former periods, we have no criterion for proving; but 
if failures of the acorn crop took place as frequently in 
times when swine’s flesh was mostly the diet of the 
middle and lower classes of people as they do now, the 
privations of our forefathers were severe indeed. 
An interesting volume might be formed, entitled the 
“ History of the Oak.” The first mention that we know 
of this tree is that ancient of days, the “ oak of Mamre,” 
under which Abraham sat in the heat of the day ; anA 
that it was an oak, one of the fathers, Eusebius, tells 
us, as it remained an object of veneration even in the 
time of Constantine. We would note all the celebrated 
querci of antiquity ; the use, value, strength, duration, 
&c., of its timber ; the infinite variety of purposes to 
which its various parts are applied by the mechanic, the 
dyer, the artisan ; the insects, which amount to hundreds 
of species, that live and have their being on the oak ; 
the vegetables it nourishes, ferns, lichens, mosses, 
agarics, boleti, &c. ; the sawdust, apples, gallnuts, 
