OCTANDRIA. TETRAGYNIA. Rhodiola. 505 
F. Cal., Pet., Nect., the same : Pist. four: Caps. 
four, many-seeded. 
R. ro'sea. 
of this tree becomes thick, close, and interwoven ; so that, at a little distance, it has a full, 
rich appearance, and more of the pictureque roughness, than we observe in the spray of 
any other tree. The spray of the Oak generally springs from the upper, or the lateral 
parts of the bough: and it is this which gives its branches that horizontal appearance, 
which they generally assume.” Vol. 1. p. 107. E.) The wood is hard and tough, 
(-“the unwedgeable, and gnarled Oak .” Shaks. E.) 
tolerably flexible; not easily splintering; and therefore is preferred to all other timber 
for building ships of war. It is well adapted to almost every purpose of the carpenter; 
(the best wainscotting, and furniture in general, neither less fashionable nor less expensive 
than foreign wood ; nor is the meed of high desert ever deemed more honourable than 
when presented in heart of Oak ; E.) but an attempt to enumerate all the economical uses of 
this well known tree would be superfluous as difficultOak saw dust (possesses the tanning 
principle in a serviceable degree. E.) It is the principal indigenous vegetable used in 
dyeing fustian. All the varieties of drabs, and different shades of brown, are made with 
Oak saw-dust, variously managed and compounded. (Copse Oak, after being barked, is 
much employed to produce the pyro-lignic acid, or oak-vinegar: for culinary purposes 
inferior, but for the chemical arts superior, and readily obtained six times as strong as 
distilled vinegar. E.) The balls or Oak apples are likewise used in dying, as a substitute 
for galls, and for making the best ink. The black obtained from them, by the addition of 
copperas, is more beautiful than that from galls, but not so durable. The bark is univer¬ 
sally used to tan leather, (and maintains a secondary value for forming beds to produce 
artificial heat in pineries. For this purpose Oak-leaves are asserted by Speechly to answer 
equally well as the tan, heating more moderately, and afterwards yielding a better ma¬ 
nure. E.) Its astringent properties may be turned to good account in various medical 
indications. An infusion of it with a small quantity of copperas is sometimes used to dye 
woollen of a purplish blue; the colour, though not very bright, is durable. The balls or 
galls upon the leaves are occasioned by a small insect with four wings, called Cynips 
Querci-folii, which deposits an egg in the substance of the leaf by making a small perforation 
on the under surface. The ball presently begins to grow ; and the egg in the centre of it 
changes to a worm ; this worm is transformed to a nymph, and the nymph to the flying 
insect with four wings. Horses, cows, sheep, and goats eat the leaves; swine, turkeys, 
and deer fatten on the acorns, (and, by compulsion of hunger, human life has been so 
sustained. Roucel states that they may be used as coffee, and have the property of 
strengthening the nerves. The fresh fruit he recommends to be eaten like chesnuts; 
but as a substitute for the staff of life they are usually ground. Indeed the Romans 
considered the less austere fruit of their Italian species as affording a regular supply of food, 
not merely advantageous to their oxen, but suitable to man, prepared as chesnuts, 
-“ et querna, glande repasta 
Equasse annosas vivendo corpora Quercus. 
Such was generally the custom in the earlier ages of the world, (said to have been derived 
from Jupiter himself, before Ceres had instructed mankind to till the earth for the raising 
of corn, 
“ Prima Ceres ferro mortalis vertere terram 
Instituit.” Georg, i. 
Whence the tree became dedicated to that deity; and the North American Indians of the 
present day continue to eat the acorns of Q. Virginiana , storing them up in winter ; and 
are said also to extract a valuable oil from them. Mr. Gilpin, who possessed the art of 
rendering even tHe most ordinary and familiar subjects interesting, has given, in his Re¬ 
marks on Forest Scenery, a detailed account of the management of the numerous herds of 
hogs which during the autumnal season are fed with mast: or in the more measured num¬ 
bers of a rustic bard. 
