THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 13. 
I 22 
Druids celebrated their religious rites, and though their 
superstitious and cruel orgies have long ceased from the 
earth, yet the Oak still stands a memorial associate with 
the noble stand Englishmen have ever made to secure 
liberty and independence. From this venerable and 
dearly-cherished tree the wooden walls of old England 
j were formed that withstood all the power of the boasted 
Spanish Armada, and still our ships are principally 
j built with the timber of this “ monarch of the forest.” 
HATFIELD OAK. 
I Such reflections as these passed through my mind on 
1 visiting Hatfield Hall, the seat of the Marquis of 
Salisbury. The park there is thickly clustered with 
groves of ancient gnarled Oak. 
In the midst of an avenue of large Limes, the Oak 
was pointed out to me as the one named “Queen 
Elizabeth,” or “The Hatfield Oak.” Under this tree 
the maiden future Queen was sitting, on a mild No¬ 
vember day, when a booted and travel-soiled messenger 
bent the knee, and hailed her England’s Queen. This ; 
tree is yet alive, though sadly broken and be-plastered j 
to retain its life, an interesting memorial of such a 
striking event. 
QUEEN ELIZABETH’S OAK. 
There is, however, a far liner specimen of an ancient 
Oak associated with the same Queen, now standing, 
alive and flourishing, in Huntingford Park, in Suffolk. 
This tree is likely yet to live and smile upon our 
children’s children. Visitors are still entertained with 
traditions of one Oak in particular, as the one named 
“ Queen Elizabeth’s Oak,” under which she stood and 
watched the red deer put into motion by the keepers, i 
some of which, it is said, she shot with her own hand. 
I 
WINFIELD OAK. 
Connected by history with the same age is “ Winfield 
Oak,” near Winfield Castle, the prison, for many years, 
of the unhappy Queen Mary of Scotland. This old j 
Oak stands directly in front of the town, where the 
Queen was confined under the surveillance of her titled 
jailor, the Countess of Shrewsbury. Even then it must 
have been a noble tree, as its remains still show, 
though its branches have suffered greatly from the 
many successive winter blasts that have passed over it, 
yet it still presents “ its oft renewed green ” as it did in I 
Queen Mary’s time. 
THE QUEEN’S OAK. 
A yet more ancient Oak exists in the forest of Whit- j 
tlebury, in Northamptonshire, and it is also dedicated 1 
as a living memorial of one of England’s Queens. , 
History gives us a romantic, true story, that under this 1 
i tree Elizabeth Woodville (the widow of John Grey, of' 
I Groby, who fell in one of the battles of the rival Roses, ] 
! fighting under the White Rose of Lancaster), stood to J 
! watch tor the passing by of the youthful Edward the 
Fourth. Under this noble tree she caught his eye, with 
her tatherless children by her side, and intreated him to 
bestow on them their father’s forfeited lands, and, as is 
well known to the readers of English history, she not 
only recovered the possessions, but so won the favour 
of the amorous King, that at length he raised her to the 
high station of Queen of England. 
LADY MARIAN’S OAK. 
Nottingham is a county famous for its Oaks. There 
are some of these whose age is out of date, but, probably, 
the oldest is the one named “ Lady Marian’s Tree.” It 
still lives near the ruins of Dunmow Priory. In one of 
the aisles of this flue ruin there is a monument of the 
bride of the “famous Robin Hood,” the Lady Marian. 
( Tradition says, under this tree the bold outlaw kept his 
merry court, graced by his lovely bride, the daughter of 
the Earl Fitzwalter, who was slain by Prince John, 
because he was true to his absent king—Richard, llis 
daughter escaped to the forest glades of Sherwood, and 
there married the outlawed Earl of Huntingdon. To 
her memory this Oak was dedicated, and is still pointed 
out as the trysting tree of this romantic pair. 
AMPTHILL OAK. 
At Ampthill, in Bedfordshire, in a park belonging to 
Lord Holland, there stands another ancient historical 
Oak, consecrated to the memory of the ill - used 
“Catherine,” the first Queen of Henry the Eighth. 
This park is remarkable for its beautiful scenery. It is 
undulating, and well wooded. In the centre there 
stands, on an eminence, an ancient Gothic cross, and 
an inscription on it says that there once stood an ancient 
dwelling on this elevated site, and in this mansion the 
good old Queen lived and died. Just below, in the vale, 
stands “The Ampthill Oak,” and under its shade, 
tradition says, the Queen had a seat formed, and here 
contemplated the vanity of human greatness, and its 
too often melancholy end. This tree, though so many 
hundred years old, is still fresh and vigourous, and will, 
most likely, live many years to bear its annual leafy 
honours, and thus carry down to a late posterity the 
memorial of the sufferings of “ Queen Catherine.” 
KING CHARLES’S OAK. 
I shall only at this time notice one more historical 
Oak, and that is, “ King Charles’s,” which concealed 
him in its leafy shade from his pursuers after the battle 
of Worcester. 
My allotted space is full, but I will just state that I 
am promised the history, size, and other particulars of 
some noble Oaks in the very centre of England, which, 
I trust, will be found interesting and useful to the 
readers of The Cottage Gardener. T. Appleby. 
{To be continued.) 
NEW FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
{Continued from page 7.) 
PELARGONIUMS. 
There are not very many superior new varieties 
offered this spring. The following is a small selection 
of such as are really better than any we have had 
before. 
Attraction (Foster); dark top petals edged with 
bright crimson, lower petals rich crimson; a superior 
flower, of first-rate form. 
Cari.os (Hoyle); dark maroon, upper petals bordered 
with bright carmine, lower petals rose mottled with 
white; centre white, a large truss; free bloomer and very 
distinct. 
Cloth of Gold (Foster); dark maroon, top petals 
bordered with scarlet, lower petals bright orange- 
scarlet; a desirable show flower. 
Leah (Beck); deep maroon, blotch on the upper 
petals, broadly bordered with rose, eye clear white, with 
the lower petals of a warm pink; good shape and 
substance; free bloomer and very early. 
Neatness (Beck); deep maroon, blotch on the upper 
petals, with a very narrow margin of bright crimson, 
lower petals rosy crimson; a good shape, free bloomer, 
and flowers through the season; a first-rate show flower. 
Regalia (Hoyle); a brilliant scarlet flower, with a 
dark blotch on the upper petals; a great improvement 
on Magnet ; obtained the medal at the Regent’s Park 
Show as the brightest scarlet. 
Virginia (Hoyle); a great improvement on that good 
old variety, Virgin Queen; the white is pure, and the 
