20 
WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND TREES. 
the tree gets a roughness of flavour from this same principle. 
Even that remarkable fungus, the Vegetable Beef-steak, that 
may be found on old Oaks in autumn, is impregnated with it. 
Prior regards the name Oak (Anglo-Saxon ac) as originally 
belonging to the fruit, and only later transferred to the tree 
that produces it. The more obvious explanation (though we 
know that in etymological and other matters the obvious is 
not always the true interpretation) is, that acorn (ac-corn) 
signified the corn or fruit of the ac. Selby tells us that 
“ During the Anglo-Saxon rule, and even for some time after 
the Conquest, Oak-forests were chiefly valued for the fattening 
of swine. Laws relating to pannage, or the fattening of hogs in 
the forest, were enacted during the Heptarchy ; and by Ina’s 
statutes, any person wantonly injuring or destroying an Oak- 
tree was mulcted in a fine varying according to size, or the 
quantity of mast it produced.” 
The Beech {Fagus sylvatica). 
We speak of the Oak as the “ Monarch of the Woods,” and 
to the Beech the title “Mother of Forests” has been given. 
To the timber-merchant the Beech has little importance, but 
the grower of timber freely acknowledges his heavy indebted- 
ness to this nursing mother, for, in the words of Professor 
Gayer, the Bavarian forestry e.xpert, “ without Beech there can 
no more be properly tended forests of broad-leaved genera, as 
along with it would have to be given up many other valuable 
timber-trees, whose production is only possible with the aid of 
Beech.” Quite apart from utilitarian considerations, we should 
be very sorry to lose the Beech, with its tow ering, massive shaft 
clad in smooth grey bark, its spreading roots above the soil, 
and the dense shade of its fine foliage. Fortunately for the lover 
of natural beauty, it is this luxuriant growth of leaves and the 
shade it gives that are the redeeming virtues of the Beech 
