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LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
god of fire, whose symbol was an oak. Hence at his festival, 
which was at Christmas, the ceremony of kindling the Yule 
log was performed among the ancient Druids. This fire 
was kept perpetual throughout the year and the hearths of all 
the people were annually lighted from these sacred fires every 
Christmas. We believe the curious custom is still extant in 
some remote parts of England, where the “Yule log” is ush- 
ered in with much glee and rejoicing once a year. 
As an ornamental object, we consider the oak the most 
majestic and picturesque of all deciduous trees. The enor- 
mous size, and extreme old age to which it attains in a fa- 
vourable situation, the great space of ground that it covers 
with its branches, and the strength and hardihood of the tree, 
all contribute to stamp it with the character of dignity and 
grandeur beyond any other compeer of the forest. When 
young, its fine foliage, (singularly varied in many of our na- 
tive species,) and its thrifty form, render it a beautiful tree. 
But it is not until the oak has attained considerable size, that 
it displays its true character, and only when at an age that 
would terminate the existence of most other trees, that it ex- 
hibits all its magnificence. Then its deeply furrowed trunk 
is covered with mosses, its huge branches, each a tree, spread- 
ing out horizontally from the trunk with great boldness, its 
trunk of huge dimension, and its “ high top, bald with dry 
antiquity all these, its true characteristics, stamp the oak, 
as Virgil has expressed it in his Georgies — 
“Jove’s own tree, 
That holds the Woods in awful sovereignty; 
For length of ages lasts his happy reign, 
And lives of mortal man contend in vain. 
Full in the midst of his own strength he stands, 
Stretching his brawny arms and leafy hands, 
His shade protects the plains, his head the hills commands.” 
Dryden’s Trans. 
