STORAGE-ITEM riAC?1ILLAN LP1-T21 A U.B.C. LIBRARY !^^:i^^i$§,N;'iSJ^-s^'^-$;>v _1 ^ S ->-. -gf^iv •»>«.— P X- -^ p ITSmn^? si'lS i ll 6 H- — M \ 'dij^f ^2^ 'G THE ;OREST OJrEES OF BRITAIR BT THE LATE EEV. C. A. JOHNS, B.A., F.L.S., AUTDOn OF "FLOWERS OF THE FIELD," " BRUTSII BIUDS IX TlllilU HAUNTS,' ETC., ETC. EIGHTH EDITIO.V. PUBLISHED 0NDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. LONDON: SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, KORTnCMBERHVn AVFVUK. W c. ; f!, QUEEN VICTORIV STIiEET, E.C. HlIGHTON: 12!>, NOIITH STRKET. New Vobk: E. & .1. H. YOUNH & CO. 1899. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from University of British Columbia Library http://www.archive.org/details/foresttreesofbrOOjohn co^'*^ENTS. PAGE The Oak i The Ilex, Evergreen Oak, or Holm-Oak . . 39 The Sycamore 42 The Common, or Field ^Iaple , . . . . 52 The Ash 57 The Box 70 The Hawthorn 82 The Blackthorn . 103 The Cherry 112 The Bird-Cheruy . . . . . . . 121 The Mountain Ash 125 The White-Beam 132 ■\YiLD Service-tree 133 The Pear 131 The Apple 137 The Beech 143 The Poplar 159 The White Poplar, or Abele Tree— the Grey Poplar ICl The Black Poplar 1C4 The Trembling Poplar, or Aspen .... U')7 The Chestnut 170 The Horse Chestnut I'^7 The Holly 104 The Birch 2(4 The Alder 212 The Elm 218 The Wvch Elm ....... 231 The Hornbeam ...,..•■ 231 IHE Hazel ........ 23'J VI CONTENTS. PACK The Walnut . , . 251 The Lime-tree . , 258 The Barberry 265 The Tamarisk 267 The Strawberry-tree . , 27-4 The Spixdle-tree 277 The Dogwood 279 The Oriental Plane 282 The Occidental Plane 287 The Bcckthorn 292 The Privet 295 The Acacia 297 The Willow . , 302 The Elder 320 The Woodbine, or Honeysuckle 326 The Wayfaring-tree— the Guelder Rose . . 328 The Ivy 332 The Yew 341 The Fir Tribe 350 The Scotch Fir, or Pine 365 PiNUs Pinaster 381 The Stone Pine 388 The Spruce Fir ........ 390 The Silver Fir 398 The Larch 403 The Cedar of Lebanon 41il The Juniper = . 418 Index ..,».., c • . 421 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIOXS. The Rufus Stone Oak in Wistman's Wood. . . , riower-galls and Leaf-galls Ariichoke-galls Oak-spangles ...... Oak-galls The Evergreen Oak Sj'camore at Kippencross Sycamore Flo\^■ers and Seed-vessel . Leaves and Flowers of the Field Maple . Maple in Boldre Churchyard ThoAsh Flowers a; d Seed-vessels of the Ash . Wooden Stamp used in Thirteenth Century The cldi st Wocdcut on record , Old Woodcut of St. Christopher . Thorn at Xewham May-pole Common Hawthorn Hawthorn Blossom Fmit of Hawthorn The Hawfinch Sloe-flower Sloe Fruit and Foliage of Bullace-tree Myrobalan Plum ..... Magnum-bonum Plum . . > o Frontispiece 19 20 21 23 39 43 46 53 54 57 G4 84 92 94 96 97 1(12 104 100 :09 no in Vm LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE The Wild Cheny-tvee 113 Flower of the Wild Cheny 114 Fruit of the Wild Cheny 115 Blossoms of the Bird-Cherry ; 122 Fruit of the Bird-CheiTy 123 Portugal Laurel 1 24 The Mountain Ash 12G Flowers of the Mountain Ash 129 Fruit of the Mountain Ash , . 130 The White-Beam 132 Flower of Pear-tree . . . , . . , .135 Blossom of the Apple-tree 137 The Purley Beeches 144 Twig of the Beech in Winter ..,-... 149 Foliage and Flowers of the Beech 152 Morels . , . 156 Truffles 157 Beech-tree in West Hey Wood 158 Lombardy Poplar .100 Leaf of White Poplar 162 Catkins of Grey Poplar IG3 Black Poplar 105 Leaf of Black Poplar IOC Aspen 108 The Chestnut 170 Flower of Chestnut 179 Fruit of Chestnut 180 The Horse Chestnut 188 Horse-shoe ilark on Chestnut 189 Leaf and Flower-buds of Horse Chestnut . . . 190 Flower of Horse Chestnut 191 The Holly 195 Holly Berries— Wintsr of 1845-0 197 Opegrapha Scripta 1 99 Holly in Bud 200 Flowers of tlie Holly 201 Butcher's Broom 203 The Common Birch 205 Leaf and Flower of the Birch 207 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. IX The Wceinng Birch Dwarf Birch TheAklcr .... Flower ;ind Leaf of the Alder Leaves of the Alder The Elm .... Seed-versel .... Flowers of Common Elm . Seed and Leaf of Common Elm Cornish Elm Flowers and Seed-vessels of Wych Elm Branch of Ulmus Suberosa . Work of Elm-destroying Beetle Spotted Elm -leaf . W'ych Elm at Enys, Cornwall . Leaf of Wych Elm The Hornbeani Leaf, Flower, and Seed of the Hornbeam Flowers and Foliage of Hazel Hazel-nut .... The Nuthatch . Nnt in Bark Peziza Coccinea The Filbert .... The Cob-nut . The Walnut Fruit of Walnut Twig of Walnut . The Lime-tree .... Leaf and Flower of the Lime-tree Flowers and Fruit of the Barberi The Tamarisk Flowers of the Tamarisk Dutch MjTtle, or Sweet Gale Flower and Fruit of Arbutus Branch of the Spindle-trce . Leaf and Flower of the Dogwood Twig of the Cornel The riaue PACK 208 in 213 214 217 219 220 221 222 222 223 224 229 230 232 233 235 236 242 244 245 246 248 249 250 252 253 254 259 2f.l 266 268 269 272 275 278 279 280 283 LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS. Leaf of the Oriental Plane and Plan of the Morea Leaf and Flower of Oriental Plane The Occidental Plane Leaf-stalk of Occidental Plane Leaf of Occidental Plane Alder-Buckthorn Common Buckthorn Flower of the Piivet . The Acacia .... The Huntingdon Willow . Blossom of the Crack Willow . Willow Foliage of Hunting Ion Willow Herbaceous Willow Willow Gall .... Weeping Willows at Kew . Leaf and Flower of the Elder , The Woodbine Wayfaring-tree Guelder Rose Ivy-leaves .... Branch of Ivy Iv3'-berries .... Yew-tree at Crowhurst Leaf and Flower of the Yew . Buds of Stone Pine Cone of Stone Pine . Seed of Scotch Pine Seedling The Scotch Fir . Section of a Bog containing Fir-s Scotch Fir . The Pinaster . Cones of Pinaster Pinus Lemoniana Dead Branch of Pinna Lemonian.n Leaves of Stone Pine The Spruce Fir . Cones of Spruce Fir slumps PAGE 285 28G 287 289 290 293 294 296 298 303 305 307 310 315 316 318 322 327 32a 330 334 337 339 343 347 354 3.6 356 356 366 374 376 382 383 38o 387 389 391 393 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XI PAGE Gall of Spruce Fir '^^' The Silver Fir 399 Conos of Silver Fir '''^0 Twig of Larch . 40* The Larch 40.) Chelsea Cedars 411 Cones of Cedar 414 The Juniper . , = o • . ° ■ ' 419 THE FOREST TREES OF GREAT BRITAIN. THE OAK. QuERcus KoBUR — QuERcus Sessiliflora. Xattiral Order — AmentaC'E^. Class — MONCECIA. Order — PoLYANDRIA. As long as '.he Lion holds his fabled place as king of beasts, and the Eagle as king of birds, the sovereignty of British Trees must remain to the Oak. Within the tropics, where Nature performs all her works on a scale of magnificence unrivalled elsewhere, the stately Palm, uplifting its leafy canopy on a shaft two hundred feet in height ; the Banyan, forming with its countless trunks a forest in itself; the Baobab, a tree venerable four thousand years ago : each of these may assert its claim to the kingly title. But in England, the country of green fields, in which men labour among their oxen and their sheep ; of lordly parks, with their broad smooth laM-ns and clustering trees ; of nnrrov/ church-paths winding along by the side of brilliant streamlets, across Howery meadows, and through woods oflfering a shade from the heat, and a shelter from the storm, here the Oak reigns paramount. In truth he is a kingly tree, the emblem of mrjcsty, strength, and duraljility. To what remote ages are wc carried back — to what varying scenes are we introduced, when we search for the first appearance of this patriarch B I ^ THE OAK, in the pages of history ! Under the Oaks of ]Mamre,^ according to Jewish traditions, the father of the faithful reared his tabernacle, and meditated on another, that is a heavenly, country, which God had prepared for him. One of these very trees was long looked upon with veneration by the Israelites, and (according to St. Jerome) was in existence in the reign of the Emperor Constantine, two thousand years afterwards.- Near Shechem there stood also a tree of the same species, -which probably was remarkable for its size, being called in Genesis xxxv. 4, " The Oak which was by Shechem." Thus early, too, does it appear to have been marked with some peculiar sacredness, for it was chosen as a meet shelter for the grave of Deborah, Rebekah's nurse (verse 8th) ; the particular tree being afterwards distinguished by a set name, " Allon-bachuth," or, the Oak of Weeping.^ ' It should be borne in mind that the Oak of the Holy Scriptures is not identical with tbe British Oak, hut is a tree nearl}' resembling the Evergreen Oak {Qiut in Greece and Italy, before agriculture was invented or introduced, acorns held an important place among the more savoury viands of the inhabitants The traditions of the poets tell us that strawberries, blackberries, cornels and acorns were the homely fare of the first inhabitants of these countries ; of which, acorns must have been the most valuable, for being of a less perishable nature than the rest, they would bear being stored away for winter use. For this reason, perhaps, it was that the Greeks believed that of all the trees with which they were acquainted the Oak was the first created. We need not, then, wonder that, holding this belief in its antiquity and extreme use- fulness, they regarded it with veneration, and. in their ignorance of Divine Eevelation, entertained the, to us, extravagant notion that the Deity chose it as a medium for making known His will to man. At the same time it is much to be wondered at that the Isiaelites, who had not ' Tqu Spvf Tr)v v\\/r)\-l]v. '' Judire^: ix C>, marginal reading. the cxc'use of ignorance, should have fallen into nearly the same fatal error, and that, too, with respect to the very same tree. The Oak grove at Dodoua in Epirus was long resorted to hy the inhabitants of the whole of Greece when they wished to inquire the will of their imaginary god, Jupiter ; and we have seen that the Israelites resorted to the Oak-woods of Palestine with a similar object. Baal, the false god of the Cauaanites, is considered by learned men to be identical with the Roman Saturn, the Celtic Yiaoul, and the British Yule, whose festival was kept at the time when we celebrate Christmas. By one of these nations this name was worshipped as significant of the god of fire ; by another it was identified with the sun ; by a third venerated under the form of an Oak. Its priests, who were called " Druids," professed to main- tain perpetual fire, and once every year all the fires belonging to the people were extinguished, and relighted from the sacred fire of the Druids. This was the origin of the Yule-log, with which, even so lately as the com- mencement of the present century, the Christmas fire in some parts of the country was always kindled, and is even now in Devonshire and Yorkshire ; a fresh log being thrown on and lighted, but taken off before it was con- sumed, and reserved to kindle the Christmas fire of the -allowing year. The Yule-log was generally of Oak, though sometimes of Ash ; and as the ancient Britons believed that it was essential for their hearth-fires to be renewed every year from the sacred fire of the Druids, so their descendants thought that some misfortune would befal them if any accident happened to the Ynle-log. The worship of the Druids, we are told, was generally per- formed under an Oak. The Mistletoe was held in great reverence, and as it was not commonly found on the Oak, solemn ceremonies attended the search for it. When all was prepared (the Mistletoe having been, no doubt, previously found by some of the assistants), the Druids went forth, clad in white robes, to search for the sacred plant ; and when it was discovered, one of the Druids ascended the tree and gathered it with great cereasony, separating it from the Oak with a golden knife. The Mistletoe was uhvays cut at a particular ajrc of the moon, at the beginning of the year, and it was only sought for when the Druids pretended to have had visions directing them to seek it. When a great length of time elapsed without this happening, or if the Mistletoe chanced to fall to the ground, it was considered as an omen that some great misfortune would befal the nation. The well-known chorus of " Hey derry down," according to Professor Burnet, was a druidic chant, signifying literally, " In a circle the Oak move around." Criminals were tried under an Oak-tree, the judges being seated iinder the tree, and the culprit placed within a circle made by the chief Druid's wand. The Saxons also held their national meet- ings under an Oak ; and the celebrated conference between the Saxons and the Britons, after the invasion of the former, was held under the Oaks of Dartmoor. The wood of the Oak was appropriated to the most memorable uses. King Arthur's round table was made of it, as was the cradle of Edward II. at Caernarvon Castle, where he was born ; this sacred wood being chosen in the hope of con- ciliating the feelings of the Welsh, who still retained the prejudices of their ancestors, the ancient Britons. It was considered unlucky to cut down any celebrated tree ; and Evelyn gravely relates a story of two men, who cut down the Vicar's Oak, in Surrey : one losing his eye, and the other breaking his leg, soon after. The Oaks of Dartmoor, in Devonshire, have now nearly disai^peared. In one spot only is there any vestige of what was once, perhaps, a favourite gathering- place of the Druids. This spot, called Wistman's Wood, is situated on Dartmoor, about a mile above Two-Bridges, on the left bank of the river. Imagine a mountain-stream creeping slowly among blocks of moss-stained granite ; on either side extends a piece of flat boggy ground to 6 THE OAK. an inconsiderable distance ; and at the extremity of these the bills rise to tbe beigbt of two or tbree bundred feet, capped bere and tbere in tbe distance witb tors, or rugged summits of granite. Tbe biU-side is confusedly beaped witb blocks of tbe same stone, and it is in tbe in- terstices between tbese that tbe trees composing Wistman's Wood bave chosen to fix their habitations — a colony of patriarchs in a wilderness. The wood itself forms a ragged and interrupted belt, of about half a mile in length, in- cluding some straggling trees, separated at long intervals. The best way of approaching it ii from above, for by so doing one may without difficulty obtain a pretty good view of the whole at once, and pUmge in among the trees at pleasure. The trees are all Oaks, from ten to fourteen feet high, gnarled, knotted, and twisted even beyond the usual characteristic of that tree. Tbe trunks vary from two to five feet in circumference. One which was measured con- sisted of three trunks, branched just above tbe base, each bole being about three feet in circumference. But bj' far the strangest peculiarity is, that all the branches, with tbe exception (and this not always) of tbe extreme spires, are matted with deep beds of moss, principally Anomodon curtijwndulum, in fine fructification. Some idea of the denseness of this extraordinary integument may be formed from tbe fact that tbe moss is, in most cases, from tea to twelve inches in thickness, when the diameter of the branch does not exceed an inch and a half. It seems very probable tbat the superincumbent weiglit may operate in producing tbe depressed character of growth : ceitain it is, that a single Holly-tree near the centre uf ibe wood, which is free from parasites, has attained tbe height of twenty feet, and towers above bis pigmy companions, like some tall pine in a wood of ordinary growth. When first we saw this tree, indeed, having nothing 1 1 compare it with of definite size and shape but tbe surroundiu'* Oaks, we fancied tbat it was a Fir-troo, and tbe Oaks l)orrowe:l from it, by com- parison, a dignity not their own. On a rough guess, there THE OAK. • are from 300 to 500 veteran trees in the wood, and, as we were glad to find, a great number of saplings. Two species of Oak are indigenous to Britain, and they have been named by Botanists Querciis Robin; and QanxKs scsdlijhra. Qiiercus sessilijiora is distinguished from the first species by having its fruit almost sessile, or sittiiii/ in groups on the leafy twig, without the intervention -3^' :rX ^-^ OAK IS WISTMAXS WOOD. of anv proper stalk ; whilst (Juerats Uobur, or Quercm peMmcidaU,, as it is sometimes called, bears its fruit two or three together on a long peduncle, or fruit-stalk. But as this distinction is a modern one, and belongs rather to the naturalist than to the poet or the historian, the names Qnereus llohnr and OaU, when met with m English books not of a scientific character, must be understood 8 THE OAK. to include both species. The word Oak is identical with the Saxon anck or ok ; from which, also, acorn is derived. Hence Turner, the earliest English author on this subject, says : " Oke, whose fruite we call au acorn or an eykorn (that is, y*" corne or fruite of an Eike), arc harde of digestion and norisho very much, but they make raw humores. "Wherefore we forbid the use of them for meates." But finally, not to expend on etymologies too much of the space which should be appropriated to trees and woods ; — from the Celtic dcnv, an Oak, the Druids took their name ; the Greeks also called the tree drus, and gave the appellation of Vnjads to the imaginary beings who peopled their woods. Like most long-lived trees, the Oak is of slow growth, averaging about a foot and a half in circumference in twenty years, and increasing about one inch in a year for the next century of its existence ; after which its rate of growth diminishes. The extreme slowness of this increase may be better estimated by contrasting it with that of the Larch, which is very rapid in its formation of timber. An Oak at Wimbush, in Essex, in thirteen years had in- creased four inches and a half in circumference ; and in the same time a Larch had increased thirty-three inches, or nearly eight times as much. The Oak does not usually attain any great height, being more remarkable for the thickness of its bole, and its widely-spread head. Excep- tions, however, are not wanting. In the Dnke of Port- land's park, at Wclbcck, there stood, in 1700, an Oak, called " The Duke's walking-stick," which was a hundred and eleven feet high, the trunk rising to the height cf seventy feet before it formed a head. Other.> nearly equalling this have been noticed. A remarkable characteristic of the Oak is the stoutness of its limbs. " We know no tree, except, perhaps, the Cedar of Lelianon, so remarkable in tins respect The limbs of most trees sprint; from the trunk ; in the Oak THE OAK. 0 tbey may be rather said to divide from it ; for they generally carry with them a great share of the substance of the stem : you often scarcely know which is stem and which is branch ; and towards the top, the stem is entirely lost m the branches. This gives peculiar propriety to the epithet 'fortes,' in characterising the branches of the Oak ; and hence its sinewy elbows are of such peculiar use in ghip-building. Whoever, therefore, does not mark the fortes ramus of the Oak, might as well, in painting a Hercules, omit his muscles. But I speak only of the hardy veterans of the forest. In the efieminate nurslings of the grove we have not this appearance. There the tree is all stem drawn up into height. "When we characterise a tree, we consider it in its natural state, insulated, and without any lateral pressure. In a forest, trees naturalh^ grow in that manner; the seniors depress all the juniors that attempt to rise near them ; but in a planted grove all grow up together, and none can exert any power over another. " The next characteristic of the Oak is the twisting of its branches. Examine the Ash, the Elm, the Beech, or almost any other tree, and you may observe in what direct and straight lines the branches in each shoot from the stem ; whereas the limbs of an Oak are continuallj' twisting here and there in various contortions, and, like the course of a river, sport and play in every possible direction, sometimes in long reaches, and sometimes in shorter elbows." " Another peculiarity of the Oak is its expansive spread. This, indeed, is a just characteristic of the Oak ; for its boughs, however twisteJ, continually take a hori- zontal direction, and overshadow a large space of ground. Indeed, where it is fond of its situation, and has room to spread, it extends itself beyond anj' other tree, and, like a monarch, takes possession of the soil. The last charac- teristic of the Oak is its longevity, which extends beyond that of any other tree ; perhaps the Yew may be an 10 THE OAK. exception. I meutiou the circumstance of its longevity, as it is that which renders it so singularity picturesque. It is through age that the Oak acquires its greatest beauty, which often continues increasing even into decay, if any j)roportion exist between the stem and the branches. When the branches rot away, and the forlorn trunk is left alone, the tree is in its decrepitude in the last stage of life, and all beauty is gone." The diameter of the trunk of the Oak, where it first leaves the ground, is generally much greater than it is a few feet higher. To this circumstance, and to the fact that its roots are not nearly so liable to rot in the ground as those of other trees, it may be attributed that it is very rarely blown up by the roots. The eminent engineer, Mr. Smeaton, is stated to have taken his idea of the form of the Eddystone Lighthouse from observing the proportions of an Oak trunk. Britton, in his "Beauties of Devon," thus writes : " The object from which Mr. Smeaton conceived his idea of rebuilding the Eddystone Lighthouse was the waist or bole of a large spreading Oak, which, though subject to a very great impulse from the agitation of violent winds, resists them all, partly from its elasticity, and partly from its natural strength. Considering the particular figure of the tree, as connected with its roots, which lie hid below ground, Mr. Smeaton observed that it rose from its surface with a large swelling base, which at the height of its own diameter is generall}' reduced by an elegant curve, concave to the eye, to a diameter less by at least one-third, and sometimes to half its original base. From thence its sides, tapering moi-e gra- dually, assume a perpendicular direction, and for some height form a cylinder. After that a greater circumference becomes necessary for the insertion and establishment of the principal boughs, which produce a swelling of its diameter. Hence may be deduced an idea of what the proper shape of a column of the greatest stability ougbu to be to resist the action of external violence, when the THE OAK. •'■•*' quantity of matter is given vvhercof it is to be composed Upon this model, therefore, on the 25th of August, 1/5J Mr Smeatun completed his lighthouse, being the third structure of the kmd ^vhich had been raised on the dangerous rock from ^^hich it derives its name. How wisely he acted in choosing Nature for his instructress mav'be inferred from the fact that it has now stood upwards of a hundred years, ^vithout requiring any essen- tial repairs. . The trunk of tie Oak, thus perfectly adapted as it is by its form to resist the most violent action of the wind derives additional strength from the slow rate of growth of its timber. A very small quantity of woody fibre is deposited every year, but it is proportionately dense and solid, and the concentric annual layers are very farmly united. Hence it is admirably prepared to withstand lateral violence, as well as to support its enormous super- iticumbent weight of branches; while its tap-root de- scending perpendicularly to a great depth, and its tortuous underground arms proceeding horizontally at a greater depth beneath the surface than those of most other trees, are equallv efficacious in resisting any upheaving force to which its ;preading and abundant foliage might otherwise render it peculiarly liable. . , , »f Were it not for this wonderfully massive structuie of the main trunk, the Oak would be unable to bear up the ponderous weight of its enormous limbs, which each a liaUy tree in itself, would rend m pieces any le^ sub- stantial support. For it must have been remarked by eZTone who has looked thoughtfully on a full-grown Oakfthat the trunk does not divide into -vei^l smal ei ones all approaching to a peiTend.cular du^ction , ut that its un'lldy arms quit the bole almost horizontal y, 0 that the centre of gravity of each lies a bng way w^h- out the base of the tree, and is therefore constantlj Lrting its utmost power to tear itself a-y from th central column. This tendency to preserve a horizontal 12 THE OAK. direction is most conspicuous in a full-grown tree, owing to the greater size of the object. But tiie peculiaritj- has not escaped the curious eye of the artist, even in the smallest twigs. " In the spray of trees," Gilpin remarks, " Nature seems to observe one simple principle ; which is, that the mode of growth in the spvay corresponds exactly with that of the larger branches, of which, indeed, the spray is the origin. Thus the Oak divides his boughs from the stem more horizontally than most other decid- uous trees ; the spray makes exactly, in miniature, the same appearance, it breaks out in right- angles, or in angles that are nearly so, forming its shoots commonly in short lines, the second year's shoots usually taking some du-ection contrary to that of the first. Thus the rudi- ments are laid of that abrupt mode of ramification for which the Oak is so remarkable. When two shoots spring from the same knot, the}' are commonlv of unequal length ; and one with large strides generally takes the lead. Very often, also,, three shoots, and sometimes four, spring from the same knot. Hence the spray of this tree becomes thick, close, and interwoven ; so that at a little distance it has a full, rich appearance, and more of the picturesque 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 tha^ horizontal appearance which they generally assume." This characteristic, which renders the Oak so great a favourite with the painter, makes it no less serviceable to the shipbuilder, who selects the crooked limbs, and applies them, under the designation of hnce-timhcr, to the purpose of supporting the decks of ships. Trees which grow at a considerable distance from each other ai'c the most produc- tive of this kind of timber ; for, thus situated, the branches have ample room to follow the direction of the straggling roots, to which they naturally incline. In sonic parts of France, it is said, young trees are forced to assume this THE OAK. 13 curved mode of growth by the suspension of weights to their heads ; and in this country also, experiments have been tried in order to produce similar results ; but in most cases with very doubtful success. This custom was known to Virgil : " Continuo in sylvis magna vi flexa domatur In burim, et curvi formam accixjit ulmus aratri." Georg. I. The foliage of the Oak is as characteristic as any other feature of the tree, whether we regard the sinuated form of each individual leaf, or the aggregate tufts. The principal ditierence between the leaves of Querais ijednu- cuUtta (or Qiiercus Rohur) and Qiurcus sessilit^ora is, that in the fonner they have scarcely any stems, whereas the leaves of the latter are decidedly stalked, and the lobes on each side are more nearly opposite. Both species burst their leaf and flower-buds about the same time, in April 01 Maj—Quercus sessili flora being, however, generally somewhat later. At this time their pale-green tint, deli- cately shaded with crimson, seems scarcely to accord with the bulky and more robust character of the rest of the tree; but, as the season advances, they assume a full, florid green, which they retain till very late in the year. At the approach of winter they put on a rich russet-brown or red hue, and light up many a landscape, which without them would be cold and cheerless. Young trees do not cast their leaves, even when every semblance of life has departed from them, but retain them, probably as a protection for the embryo buds of the succeeding year, which are formed many months before they begin to expand. The Oak is remarkable for sending out young shoots of spring foliage (called Lammas shoots) late in the season, when its proper leaves are fully matured ; and this is more particularly the case when the latter have been injured. On the 2ad of August, 1844, the exposed Oaks at Pcir.osc 14 THE OAK. in Cornwall suffered severe!}' from a violent storm from the west. In the course of a few hours all the leaves which had been unprotected from its influence shrivelled up (without, however, acquiring the true autumnal tint) and died. But not long after, a second spring, as it were, set in, and the trees were partially restored to their former flourishing condition. White, noticing a similar occur- rence, says : •' When Oaks are quite stripped of their kaves by chaffers, they are clothed again, soon after midsummer, \vith a beautiful foliage ; but Beechfes, Horse-chestnuts, and Maples, once defaced by those insects, never recover their beauty again for the whole Geason." In many of the rural districts Oak-leaves and Oak-apples (to be mentioned hereafter) are worn by boys on the 29th of May, the anniversary of the Restoration of Charles II., who IB said to have concealed himself in an Oak-tree from the Parliamentary soldiers. I must not omit to mention here tliat the Romans were accustomed to bestow a wTeath composed of Oak-leaves, called a civic crown, on any one who saved the life of a citizen ; which was considered the highest service that could be rendered to the State. " And oaken wreath his hard v temples bore, Mark of a citizen preserved he wore." Rowe's Liican. Here, too, I may mention the absurd belief, once popu- larly prevalent, that the Barnacle-goose owed its origin to this tree. The quaint old botanist, Gerard, tells the story so faithfully, that I cannot do better than transcribe his own words : " There are found in the North of Scotland, and Islands adjacent, called Orchades, certain trees whereon do grow certain shells tending to russet, wherein are contained little living creatures ; which shells, in time of maturitie, do open, and out of them do grow those little living things, which, falling into the water, do THE OAK. 15 become fowles, which we call Ixo-iuihlcs ; in the North of England, hroit-ijeoie ; and in Lancashire, trce-t/eesc ; but the other that do fall upon the- land perish, and come to nothing. Thus much from the writings of others, and also from the mouths of people of those parts, which mny very well accord with truth." This he gives from the report of others ; now for what is proved by the evidence of his own senses : " There is a small island in Lancashire, called the Pile of Toulders, wherein are found the broken pieces of old and bruised ships, some whereof have been cast there by shipwracke ; and also the trunks and bodies, with the branches, of old and rotten trees, cast up there likewise, whereon is found a certain spawn, or froth, that in time breaketh into certain shells, in shape like those of the mu^kle, but shaiper pointed, and of a whitish colour, wherein is con- tained a thing in form like a lace of silke, finely woven as it were together, of a whitish colour, one end whereof is faster ed unto the inside of the shell, even as the fii^h of oiste: s and muskles ; the other end is made fast unto the belly of a rude mass, or lumpe, which in time cometh to the shnpe and form of a bird. When it is perfectly formed the shell .gapeth open, and the first thing that appeareth is the foresaid lace, or string ; next come the legs of the bird hanging out ; and as it groweth greater, it openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it is all come forth, and hangeth only by the bill ; in short space after it cometh to full maturitie, and falleth into the sea, where it gathereth feathers, and groweth to a fowl bigger than a mallard, and lesser than a goose, having black legs, bill, or beake, and feathers black and white, spotted in such a manner as our magpie ; called in some places a pieannet ; which the people of Lancashire call by no other name than a tree-ffoose ; which place afore- said, and the parts adjoining, do much abound there- with that one of the best is bought for three-halfpence. For the truth hereof, if an}' doubt, let them repair to 16 THE OAS. me, and I sLall satisfy them by the testimonie of good witnesses.'' '^ This strange fable took its rise from a certain shell-fish being frequent!}' found attached to pieces of wood which had long lain in salt-water. This shell-fish, now called Lfipas anatlfera, is provided with a long leathery tube, by which it attaches itself to the bottom of vessels, and to other timber ; it is also furnished near the other extremity with a number of curved, feathery fibres, which, when expanded, bear some resemblance to the tail of a bird.'^ From this fancied similarity, and the coincidence that the shell-fish was found in abundance in places which the Barnacle-goose frequented, probably to make them its food, the fable originated- -a fertile imagination making up for the barrenness of the facts. Before the Reformation, Dr. Walsh tells us, the fishy origin of the bird was so firmly believed, that the question was warmly and learnedly disputed whether it might not be eaten in Lent. The story may have gained a more ready credence from the fact that the Oak is more prolific iu animal life, supplying more insects with food, than any other tree. According to Mr. Stephens, an excellent authority, nearly half of the British insects which feed on vegetables, either exclusively or partially inhabit the Oak. If to this number we add the insects which live on the above, it will be found that the total of insects which, during some period of their existence, derive their support cither from ' Herbnl, p. 1301. '•^ " It is harfily worth whi'e to mention the cJapl-s, a sort of peese, which are believed by soiue, vith threat adiniration. to urow upon trees on this coast, and in other places ; and, when they are ripe, 1o fall down into the sea, because neither their nests 7ior Pirirs r:\<\ anv- where be found. Bui they who saw the ship in which Sir Francis Drake sailed round the world, when it was laid up in the ]{iver Thames, could testif}' that little birds brei in the old rotten keeN of ships, since a j,'reat number of such, without life and feathers, stuck close to the outside of the keel of that ship. Yet I should think that the generation of these birds was not from the lo>,'s of wood, but from the (=ea, tertned b}' the poets ' the | arent of all things.' " — Camden's Brilaitnia. THE OAK. 17 the tree itself, or from their fellow-colonists in it, will amount to scarcely less than two thousand. To insects must be referred, also, the vai'ious species of gall-flies, whose instinct teaches them to originate a local disease in some parts of the Oak,' and thus to pro- vide their oftspring with food and a dwelling-house. A history of the Oak would he imperfect without a full notice of the curious productions known by the name of Galls ; and as the subject is an interesting one, I do not scruple to dwell upon it, although, strictly speaking, it belongs as much to Entomology as to Botany. A small fly alights on a twig, or leaf, or bud, of an Oak, and with an excessively acute instrument, with which it is provided by Nature, for this express purpose, punctures the vegetable fibre, and deposits an egg, or peiliai^s two or more eggs, so minute as to be almost invisible to the human eye. Why from the puncture of one kind of fly a large irregular excrescence should le } reduced; -fthy from that of another a smooth spherical gall, or a scaly bud, or a flat circular scale, is all a mystery — a mysteiy so deep that no plausible explanation of it has ever been attempted. To say that an alteration takes place in the character of the juices ; that a disease is produced which arrests Iheni, and causes them to arrange themselves in a certain set f jrm — this is not to account for the phenomenon : it is merely an unsatisfactory statement of the result, the real difficulty being left untouched. You must, therefore, be content to read the description of the different kinds of galls which have been observed, and test its accuracy, when you can, by comparing it with the natural objects themselves. In the first place, it appears that the different kinds of insects select different parts of the tree in which to deposit their eggs, and tLat the character of the galls produced ' In some parts of the New Forest, the Oaks afford n resting-place to countless wiiiie Admirals, of wliiidi it is not diflTicult to capture from twelve to twenty in a i'ingle sunny morning. 18 THE OAK. equally varies. The largest species is generally called the Oak-apple, and grows on the extremit}' of a twig. It is 'of a soft spongy substance, and an irregular shape, shaded ■with brown and pink on the outside ; and it is divided on the inside into a number of cells, each of which contains cither a small grub, a pupa, or a perfect fly, according to the season. It not unfrequently happens that one of the ichneumon-flies lays an egg in the bod}- of the original inhabitant of one of these cells. From this egg proceeds a small worm, which lives on the substance of its pre- decessor, inhabits his house, and, when grown to a perfect insect, escapes, and takes flight in search of a similar abode for its own progeny. What faculty, or sense, or instinct can this little animal possess, which directs it to a solid vegetable substance, in the centre of which is stored up proper nourishment for its young '? What geometrical skill enables it to discover m what part of the mass its prey lies buried '? By the aid of what calculating power does it contrive to pierce the body of the included grub only so deep as to deposit its egg in a place of security, without wounding any vital part ? The most remarkable kind of Oak-gall, next to that described, is produced by another insect of the same genus {Ci/nips). This fly deposits its eggs in the stalk of the stamen-bearing flowers, which is long and drooping. The excrescence which follows resembles a currant in size, shape, and even in mode of growth, it often happening that several are placed at short distances from each other on the same thread-like stem. There is a remarkable fact connected with this species of gall. Those flowers of the Oak which bear stamens only are destined to wither and fall off as soon as Ihey have shed their pollen, being no longer of any use. Those stalks, however, to which galls are attached, remain flruily united with the tree, and grow vigorously as long as the grubs contained in Ihoni cmtinue to feed. Another gall, resembluig the last in form (being spherical), THE OAK. 19 is found attached to the Icavi's of the Oak. Tlicse varv very much in size, some heing as h^rge as a marhle ; and f;.owkr-gai.i.=. each contains a single insect, which, when it arrives at its perfect state, eats its wa}' out through a great portion of the soUd substance of the aall. li:af-gai,ls. The habitation of all the parasitic insects hitherto men- tioned is formed out of the pulpy substance of the tree : one, however, which is not uncommon, and is called the Artichoke-gall, is an irregular development of the bud, and consists of a number of leafy scales overlapping each other. 20 THE OAK. At first sight it might iUmost be taken for a young cone ; but on dissection is found, like other gall-', to contain insects in various stages of their growth, according to the season. Another singular appendage of the leaf is the Oak- spangle, a flat circular disc, attached by its central point ^fY^ ARTICHOKE-GALLS. to the under surface of the leaf. Tlie inner side is smooth ; the outer red, hairy, and fringed. Each of these contains a single insect, which retains its habitation until Marcii, long after the leaves have fallen to the ground. Another insect of the same geinis (Ci/nips) deposits its eggs at the base of the trunk, immediately above the root. In the early spring of the year, IB^o, I detected two galls formed by this species in Merthen Wood, Cornwall. The larger was about as big as a walnut, and produced in April sixty small flies, much resembling winged ants. They were not very active during their early existence, and possessed the remarkable instinct, common to many other insects, of counterfeiting death when touched. The galls of commerce, 1 may here remark, are similar in their nature to those already mentioned. They are THE OAK. 21 produced by a dwarf species of Oak (Qtirmis infectoriti), which rarely attains the height of six feet, growing in Asia Minor and Persia. The insect which occasions this gall is of a pa'e colour, and mny be often found in the galls sold nAK-SPANOLK= in the shops of druggists. The latter vary greatly in the qualities on account of which they are employed ; those which still contain the insect, and are known by the name of black, blue, or green galls, being the best : while those from which the insect has escaped, which are called white galls, do not contain more than two-thirds of the astringent qualities of the former. They are used for making ink, for dyeing, and for medicinal purposes. About the year 1840 a gall appeared in the southern and western counties, which has since spread itself over the whole of England. This is not only more conspicuous than any other native kind, but threatens to produce seriously injurious effects. This species is spherical in shape, perfectly smooth, and about one inch in diameter. It is seen in the greatest abundance on the annual twigs of young trees, which sometimes have as many as a dozen or more in close proximity. These galls act injuriously, by diverting the sap of the tree from essential organs to 22 THE OAK. their own use, and consequently check the healthy gi^owth of the trees. Unlike the other galls — which, for the most part, disappear with the foliage — they are most conspicuous during the season when the trees are bare of leaves. They contain a considerable quantity of gallic acid, but scarcely enough to render them of commercial value. '^ I now come to speak of the flower and fruit of the Oak. Of the former, every tree produces two kinds ; the first containing stamens only, and, therefore, producing no fruit. These appear nearly as soon as the leaves, consisting of yellow tasselled threads, which wither and drop oft' as soon as they have shed the pollen or fructifying dust which they contain ; unless, as I have stated above, they happen to have been perforated by one of the gall-insects. The other kind of flower appears soon after, and is even less conspicuous than the first ; it is this which subsequently produces the acorn. Of the acorn itself no description need be given ; no other natural production, perhaps, has served as a model for so many ornamental works of art ; and this is to be attributed not so much to the popularity of the Oak, as to the finished elegance of form of the fruit itself. " Acorn-shaped " would, T should think, be a word as readih' understood as "round" or "square." Acorns and roses are in modern architecture what pomegranates and lilies were in Jewish. Different in proportions though it is in the various species of Oak, there is yet always similarity enough to reveal the genus of the tree which produced it. The ball may be almost buried in the cup, or may be dis- proportionately long ; the latter may be almost smooth, or rng:Te(3, or even mossy ; yet, were an acorn of any species to be placed before a person who had never seen any other ' These beini: of a closer texture, and harder than any other Oak- fralls, are jiersistent. Coated with loxf ijold, thcv produce a pleasing ftrect, when mixed witli evergreens, for Christni;i< decorations; and beiui,', moreover. s)dierii';)l, and for tlienuxt part ii earl \ ei|Uil in 'i/e, they might, perhaps, be used as a beading for picture frames. THE OAK. 23 than that of the British Oak, he would immediately pro- noimce the tree from which it was gathered an Oak. As an article of food, the acorn has been, and in many places still is, highly prized. In the time of Strabo, Kome was principally supplied with hogs which had been fattened 24 THE OAK. on mast in the -u-oods of Gaul. This mast is supposed to nave included the acorns of the Common and Turkey Oaks, and of the Ilex ; as well as the nuts of the Beech and Chestnut. So important were acorns formerly considered, that hy the laws of the Twelve Tables the owner of a tree might gather up his acorns though they should have fallen on another man's ground. It appears from Domesday Book, that in England, in the time of William the Conqueror, " Oaks were still esteemed, principally for the food they atiorded to swine ; for the value of the woods in several counties is estimated by the number of hogs they would fatten. The survey is taken so accurately that in some places woods are mijn- tioned of a single hog. The numerous herds of swine which still continue one of the chief sources of wealth to the rural popalation of Spain, are fed on the acorns of the Evergreen Oak, which abound in almost every part of the country. They are also a grateful food to deer both when wandering at larg:) in the forests and when contined in parks ; and are greedily eaten by pheasants and partridges. Evelyn, recommending the extensive planting of Oaks, says : "In this poor territory (Westphalia) every farmer does by antient custom plant so many Oaks about his farm as may suffice to feed his swine. To eftect this, they have been so careful, that when of late years, the armies infested the poor coantry (both Imperialists and Protestants), the single Bishoprick of Munstcr was able to pay one hundred thousand crowns per ))iens"iii (which amounts to about twenty-five thousand pounds sterling of our money), besides the ordinary entertainments of their own princes and private families. This being incredible to be practised in a country so extremely barren. I thought fit to mention, either to encourage or reproach us." The same author says, that " a peek of acorns a day, with a little bran, will make a hog, 'tis said, increase a pound weight per diem for two months together. " "The Rev. Mr. liobinson, in his 'Natural History of THE OAK. 5J5 Westmoreland and Camlterland,' says, that ' bird»i are natural planters of all sorts of trees, disseminating the kernels upon the earth till they grow up to their natural strength and perfection.' He tells us that early one morning he observed ' a great number of rooks very busy at their work upon a declining ground of a mossy surface, and that he went out of his way on purpose to view their labour. He then found that they were planting a grove of Oaks. The manner of their planting was thus : they first made little holes in the earth with their bills, going about and about till the hole was deep enough, and then they dropped in the acorn, and covered it with earth and moss. The young plantation,' Mr. Robinson adds, ' is now growing up to a thick grove of Oaks, fit for use, and of height for the rooks to build their nests in. The season was the latter end of autumn, when all seeds are fully ripe.' " ^ But the use of this fruit as an article of food is not confined to the inferior animals : even man has conde- scended to submit to the same humble fare, and among the rest our own progenitors. " The earliest notices which we have of the Oak in Britain are in the Saxon Chronicle, from which it appears that Oak forests were chiefly valued for the acorns which they produced, which were generally consumed by swine and other domestic animals, but, in years of great scarcitv', were eaten by man. ' Famines,' Burnet observes, ' which of old so continually occurred, history in part attributes to the faihu'e of these crops.' Long after the introduction of wheat and oats and rye — nay, little more than seven hundred years since, when other food had in a great measure superseded the use of mast — considerable reliance was still placed thereon, and Oaks were chiefly valued for the acor^is they produced. In the Saxon Chronicle, that year of terrible dearth and mortality, 1110, is described as 'a very heavy-timed, ' Jesse's Gleanings in Natural Ilistorv. 26 THE OAK. vexatious, and destructive year,' and the failure of the mast in that season is particularly recorded : ' This year, also, was so deficient in mast, that there never was heard such in all this land, or in Wales.' " The acorns of the Balonia Oak [Qiierciis JEijilops) are annually hrought to England from the Levant and the Morea, and are in great demand for tanning, being said to contain more tannin in a given bulk of vegetable than any other substance.^ The cups of this acorn are much larger than those of our British species, and are covered externally with long reflexed scales. I have not yet spoken of the application of the various parts of the Oak to the arts of civilized life, it having been my object to devote as much of my space as possible to the tree in its natural state. But inasmuch as a notice of any tree, and especially this King of Trees, would be of necessity considered imperfect without at least some few remarks on this head, I will proceed to give a brief history of the general uses to which the wood and other parts of the Oak may be applied. The particular and most valued qualities of the Oak are hardness and toughness. Shakespeare uses two epithets to express these qualities, which are perhaps stronger than any we can find : "Thou rather with thy sharp and sulph'rous holt Splitt'st the unicedtfecihle aud r/narled Oak Than the soft Myrtle." " Many kinds of wood are luinler, as Box aud Ebony ; many kinds are toiiiilicr, as Yew and Ash ; but it is sup- posed that no species of wood, at least no species of timber, is possessed of both these quahties together in so great a degree as British Oak. Ahn(>st all arts and manufactures arc indebted to it ; but in ship-building and bearing burdens, its elasticity and strength arc applied to most ' The cupo of this Oak. called " valonia." arc now so extensively used, that Uak-bark has materially deteriorated in value. THE OAK. 27 advantage. I mention these mechanical uses ouly bccausa some of its chief beauties are connected with them. Thus, it is not the erect, stately tree that is always the most useful iu ship-building, but more often the crooked one, forming short turns and elbows, which the shipwrights and carpenters commonly call knee-timber. This, too, is generallv the most picturesque. Nor is it the straight, tall stem, whose fibres run iu parallel lines, that is the most useful in bearing burdens; but that whose sinews are twisted, and spirally combined. This, too, is the most picturesque. Trees under these circumstances generally take the most pleasing forms." ^ The admirable qualities of Oak as a material for build- ing, and other purposes, were known to our ancestors m ages long past, scarcely any other timber being found m any buildings of very high antiquity. The doors of the inner chapels of Westminster Abbey are said to be coeval with the original building : if this be true, they must be more than twelve hundred years old. The shrine of Edward the Confessor, in the same abbey, is also of Oak, and must be nearly eight hundred years old. In the county-hall at Winchester is preserved Arthur's round- table, so well known in stories of English chivalry. It bears' the figure of that Prince, and the names of several of his knights. Henry YIII. is said to have taken great pleasure in showing this table to his illustrious visitor, Charles Y., as the actual oaken table made and placed there bv the renowned British Prince, Arthur, who lived in the early part of the sixth century ; that is, about 1,300 years ago. Hence the poet Drayton «ings : '■ And so irreat Arthur's seat ould Winchester prefers, ^^ Whose ould round table yet she vauntclh to be hers." It must have been cut from a tree of immense girth, as it measures eighteen feet in diameter. It has been per- forated in many places by bullets, supposed to have been shot by Cromwell's soldiers. ' Gilpin's Forest Scenery. 28 THE OAK. In digging away the foundation of the old Savoy Palace in London, which was built six hundred and fifty years since, the whole of the piles, many of which were of Oak, were found in a state of perfect soundness, as also was the planking which covered the pile-heads.^ In clearing the channel at Brundusium, in Italy, " the workmen have drawn up many of the Oak piles that were driven in by Cfesar. They are small Oaks stripped of their bark, and still as fresh as if they had been cut only a month, though bui'ied above eighteen centuries seven feet under the sand. These piles were driven in by Julius Cfesar to block up Pompey's fleet.'" - Speaking of the uses of the Oak generally, Loudon says, " The wood of the Oak is more durable, in every state in which it can be placed, than that of any other tree which abounds in large quantities in Europe. It is hard, tough, tolerably flexible, strong, without being too heavy, not easy to splinter, and not readily penetrated by water ; and hence its value in ship-building. Some woods are harder, but they are more fragile ; and others are more flexible, but do not possess so much hardness, toughness, and durability. Where the grain is twisted, no timber is so well adapted for posts, either in house-building, or in setting up mills, engines, or large machines. No wood lasts longer where it is subject to be alternately wet and dry ; and Oak piles have been known to endure many cen- turies. Shingles, poles, and laths last longer of this wood than of any other ; and casks, and every other description of cooper's work, are most durable, and best adapted for containing wines, ales, and other liquors, when they are made of Oak. Oak timber is particularly esteemed for the spokes of wheels, for which the small and slow-growing Oak of mountainous districts is greatly preferred to the more rapid-growing and larger Oak of the valleys. Oaks of from fifteen to thirty years' growth make the most durable poles. The young tree, when from five to ten feet ' Burnet. ■' Phillips. THE OAK. 29 hicrh makes . xcellent hoop?, Nvbich Evelyn says we ought ^substitute for those of Hazel and Ash, as they are six times more durable : it also makes the very best xvalkmg- sticks, and very good handles to carters' whips. Of the roots, Evelyn says, were formerly made hafts to daggers, handles to knives, tobacco-boxes, mathematical instruments, tablets for artists to paint on instead of canvas, and elegant cam- leted joiners work. Oak wood, every one knows, is pre- ferred before all others for ship-buildiug, in the temperate vecions of both hemispheres. From its toughness, it does no°t splinter when it is struck by a cannon-ball, and the hole made bv a ball is consequently easy to plug. Through- out Europe; and more especially in Britain, Oak timber was used for every purpose, both of naval and civil archi- tecture, till the wood of the Pine and Fir tribe came to be generally imported from the Baltic and North Amenca about the beginning of the last century. Since hat perfod, the use of Oak timber has given way to that ot Pine and Fir in house-building ; but where not superseded bv iron, it maintains its superiority in the construe ion of ships, and varfous kinds of machines, and even in house- building where gi'eat durabiUty is required. Oak wood is also still employed in joinery and cabinet-making. Much difference of opinion exists as to which species ot British Oak produces the best timber. Early writers on the subject claim the superfority for Qaercus hobnr or he .< old Enghsh Oak," as they call it, on the ground that it is of more rapid growth, has a cleaner stom and fower knots, is more durable, and contains a larger propor ion ot heart-wood than the other species, Qaercm semhjiora, or Durmast Oak. More recent authors, however, maintain that the true "old English Oak" is Qaercus ses^n^a and account for the fact that it is now less commcm than the other on the supposition that our forefathers were .el aware of the superiority of the former species and applied it so extensively to all works requiring durability, that it has long become comparatively scarce. But a fow years 30 THE OAK. since, it was generally believed that the beautiful carved roof of Westminster Hall was constructed of Chestnut. Kecent examination has, however, proved that it is com- posed entirely of Durmast Oak. This roof has stood for more than three hundred years. The foundation on which the stone piers of old London Bridge were laid consisted of huge piles of limber, which when taken up were found to be perfectly sound, though they must have been driven upwards of sis hundred years. The wood employed is from trees of the same species. Most of the timber found in old buildings which was formerly believed to be Chest- nut, is now known to be the wood of the Durmast Oak. In the year 1844 taere was raised from the bottom of a lake at Davey Strand, between Dublin and Cavan, a huge canoe, which had been hollowed out of the trunk of a tree of the same kind. It measured no less than forty feet iu length, the bottom being four feet thi'ee inches in diameter at one end, and about three feet at the other. On a fiiir computation, the circumference of this tree must have been at least tweaty-oae feet at the base, and fifteen feet at the height of forty feet from the ground. The antiquity of this rehc is almost too great to be speculated on. Much of the wood- work in the old border fortresses of Wales, and the doors of pews in ancient churches, are made from the same tree. The principal difference ap- parent to the eye between the timber of the two species is, that Qnercns liobiir is plentifully furnished with medullary rays, called by carpenters " silver-grain," of which the other species is almost entirely destitute, resembling in this respect the Chestnut : from this similarity have pro- bably sprung the numerous mistakes of the one wood for the other. On the whole it would seem that, whatever good quality is found in either of the species, the other possesses in somewhat greater or bss degree, and there is little doubt that both will long continue to be applied indifferently to purposes where solidity, strength, and durability arc required. THE OAK. 81 But the Oak begins to be valuable long before it baa attained such a size as renders it fit for ship and house- building. "The ground Oak, while young, is used for poles, cudgels, and Avalking- staffs, much come into mode of late, but to the -naste of many a hopeful plant •which might have proved good timber ; and I the rather declaim against the custom because I suspect they are such as are for the most part cut and stolen by idle persons, and brought up to London in great bundles, -without the knowledge or leave of the owners, who would never have gleaned their copses for such trifling uses." ^ According to Loudon, the proper age at which Oak copse should be cut down varies from " fifteen to thirty years, the rale being that the principal stems of the plants, at one foot from the ground, should not be less than six inches in diameter. In favourable soils in the south and west of England this size will be obtained in from twelve to fifteen years ; but in the colder climate and inferior soil of the Highlands of Scotland from twenty- five to thirty years are required. The cutting over of copse is performed at the same season as that in which full-grown trees are lelled, when in both cases the bark is an object as well as the timber." The timber-merchant and the painter, if called to give an opinion on any par- ticular Oak, would, in all probability, greatly differ. To the former, a clean, straight, and regular stem would suggest calculations as to the number of cubic feet of timber it would be found to contain when the axe, and square, and saw should have done their work. A well-grown tree, there- fore, in the vigour of its age, will be to him the perfection cf all trees. The painter will perhaps stop and admire the stately growth of the same tree ; he will notice the symmetry of its form, and watch the brilliant lights play- ing about its thick foliag3, but he will feel no desire to transfer it to his canvas. There must be no perpendicular ' Evelyn. 32 THE OAK. or parallel lines about the object of his choice ; no hemi- spherical evenly- shaped head ; no arms of equal diameter springing from the main stem at the same angle, and ex- tending to an equal distance all round. But show him a veteran patriarch, whose gnarled trunk is eaten out by the frost of centuries, whose knotted limbs are fringed with ferns, and mottled with innumerable mosses and hchens ; even if but a scanty foliage clings to branches which have been shattered again and again by the tempest, or if, instead of a leafy summit, it rears aloft a fantastic assemblage of hoary, sapless antlers ; — and you will hear him exclaim, "I go no farther to-day ; this is the tree for a picture ! " And move he will not, until with his pencil he has produced the same image which the poet has conjured up with his pen. "A huge Oak, dry and dead. Still clad with reliques of its glories old. Lifting to Heaven its aged, hoary head ; Whose foot on earth hath got but feeble hold. And, half-disbowelled, stands above the ground; AViih wreathed roots, and naked arm«. And trunk all rotten and unsound." — Spenser. About the end of April the season for barking com- mences, and to this process Oaks, both old and young, are equally subjected ; those of from twentj' to thirty years' growth, however, being preferred. Oak bark is occasionally used iu medicine, and is employed also as a dye, but is most valuable for the principal called tannin, which is indispensable in the manufacture of leather. Every part of the tree, indeed, abounds in astringent matter, and even the leaves and sawdust will tan leather, linen cloth, and netting or jordage which is to be much exposed to the weather. There is a ?"articnlar interest connected with trees of great antiquity which attaches itself to nothing else. A nourishing Oak ni the vigour of its age, furnished with u THE OAK, 33 well-proportioned, tapering trunk, and with symmetrically- arranged branches, and flinging its chequered shade far and near over the verdant sward, is a beautiful object, and irresistibly draws the attention to itself. But it does not carry the mind of the spectator back to past events, — it does not talk with us about bygone ages and scenes at which no man now living was present ; and if we think of its future fate, there is so much of uncertainty about that, so much of doubt as to the length of time for which it is destined to retain its position, — whether it will be laid low by the tempest, or by the woodman's axe, and, if the latter, to what purposes it may be applied, — that the mind can select nothing sufficiently definite to engage itself upon. The tan-yard, the saw-pit, and the baker's oven are decidedly not subjects to dwell upon ; and these, in fact, are the only passages in its history which can be predicted with certainty. But the case is very diflerent with the uncouth monster on whom the destroyer has done all but his utmost. Though but a hollow shell, blasted above, and worm-eaten below, and indebted for its scanty verdure more to ferns and moss than to the feeble relics of life which yet remain in it, it is a monument of the past more eloquent than buildings the most time-hallowed ; or, save one, than books of the most remote antiquity. It is )wic a Uiinq tree, and it was the same thirtj' generations back. Yes ! a thousand years ago it was a stately tree ; when the present dynasty commenced it was older than the oldest men then alive, and it has lived through all the stirring events which have taken place from that time to this, connecting the names of Stephenson and Tennyson with those of Newton and Milton and Shakespeare, and these with Caxton and Chaucer ; and having sprung from an acorn born by a tree which perhaps flourished when our Holy Religion was preached in Palestine by the Saviour, whose coming was to banish from the earth all those bar- barous rites which were- then being enacted beneath the phade of its branches. 34 THE OAK. Evel}-!!, who wrote his Sylva in the reign of Charles II., thus dedicated the fourth edition to that monarch : — " To you then, Royal Sir, does this Fourth Edition continue its humble addresses, since you are our Xenioreusis Iie.r : as having once had your temple, and court too, under that sacred Oak which you consecrated with your presence, and we celebrate, with just acknowledgment to God, for your preservation." The tree here alluded to, called the " Royal Oak," for- merly stood at Boscobel, in Shropshire, but was destroyed soon after it attained its notoriety by the ill-judged curi- osity of the Royalists. For the same author, speaking of an Oak which put forth its buds about Christmas, says : — " King James went to visit it, and caused benches to be placed about it ; which, giving it reputation, the people never left hacking of the boughs and bark till they killed the tree, as I am told they have served that famous Oak near White-Lariy's, which hid and protected our late Monarch from being discovered and taken by the rebel soldiers who were sent to hnd him, after his almost mira- culous escape at the Battle of Worcester." In the course of the spoliation, a huge bulk of timber, consisting of many loads, was carried away in handfuls. Several sap- lings were raised in different parts of the country from its acorns, one of which grew near St. James's Palace, where Marlborough House bow stands, and there was another in the Botanic Garden, Chelsea. The former has been long since felled, and of the latter even the recollection seems now almost lost. Through the kindness of the Rev. J. Dale, Curate of Donington, the parish in which the Boscobel Oak stands, I am enabled to lay before my readers a full and authentic account of a tree which, from its connection with one of tho most important events in English history, will always bo remembered with interest. On a single printed leaf which is pasted in at the end of one of the parish registers of Donington, is tho THE OAK. 85 following note, in the handwriting of the late rector, Br. Woodbouse : — " Extracts fro)ii the Philosophical Transac- tions, vol. 5, part Ind, chap. 3, written hi/ the Rev. Geortje Plaxton, Rector of Doninrjton and [Kinnardsoj) from 1G90 to 1703." Then follows the type. " The Royal Oak was a fair spreading tree ; the boughs of it all lined and covered with ivy. Here in the thick of these boughs, the King sat in the day-time, with Colonel Carlos, and in the night lodged in Boscobel House ; so that they are strangely mistaken who judged it an old hollow Oak, whereas it was a gay and flourishing ti"ee surrounded with a great many more, and, as I remember in Mr. Evelyn's History of Medals, you have one of King James I. or Charles I., where there is a fine spread Oak with this epigraph, ' Seris nepotibus umbra,' which I leave to your thoughts. . . . The poor remains of the Royal Oak are now fenced in by a handsome brick wall, at the charge of Basil Fitz- herbert, Esq., with this inscription over the gate, upon a blue stone in letters of gold : Felici!5 N. ^.^ WWMW 1 n\\\;//// /^y ///■/// ///v/^ »M6Caii^ the earliest printed books with which they were furnished. That of St. Christopher, above alluded to, was discovered in the monastery at Ruxheim, near I\Ieiningen, and is now in the possession of Earl Spencer. Collections of them appear also to have been published before the invention of printing from moveable types, for the use of those who either were unable to real, or could not afford to purchase 78 THE BOX. a mfinuscript copy of the Scriptures. The most important of these is the BihUa Pauperuin, or " Poor Preachers' Bible," a collection of historical subjects from the Old and New Testa- ments, accompanied by explanatory inscriptions in Latin. This appears to have been a most popular book, for not only are there many copies of it struck from different blocks, but it was repeatedly printed, long after the introduction of printing with moveable types. Another work of the same kind, '' The Apocalypse, or History of St. John," was pub- lished about 1431. Of this there are six different editions, and the execution of some of the wood-engravings evinces considerable ability. The history of the art here divides into two branches, with one of which, — the art of printing, properly so called — I muct leave my readers to acquaint themselves from other sources. In the fifteenth century we find the two combined in one in the Psalter published by Faust and Schoefter at Mentz. The initial letters, engraved in wood, are executed in the most beautiful style of the art. This custom soon became general, and was introduced into England In' Caxton, in 117G. Not long after this Mair, in Germany, published prints, the dark parts of which were produced by an impression from a copper-plate en- graving, the lighter from a wooden block, but of course by two distinct operations. About the same time, Carpi, in Italy, produced woodcuts by the tedious process of printing on the same paper from three several blocks, the first containing the outline, the second tlic dark shadows, the third the light tints. But a much greater improvement was effected by Albert Dnrer, who, bv a simpler process, produced woodcuts in which the figures were more skil- fully designed and grouped, the laws of perspective more carefully attended to, and a variety of minor details intro- duced, which gave to the subject more of the stamp of truth and nature. The names of various other artists might be mentioned, who from time to time distinguished themselves by the eminence which they attained, until THE BOX. 79 "tho close of the seventeenth century, when the custom of illustrating books with copper-plate engravings camo into vogue, and wood-engraving was entirely neglected, so far as it regarded the delineation of subjects of interest, being emploj'ed solely for common decoration. That this should have happened is remarkable, inasmuch as the superiority of wooden blocks over copper plates in illustrat- ing printed books is very great. In copper-plate engraving, the lines from which the design is transferred are sunk into the metal, either by the corroding etlects of a mineral acid, or by a sharp-pointed steel instrument. Conse- quently the sunken lines must be filled with ink before an impression can be struck off; but in ordinary letter- press printing, a raised surface alone receives the ink and transfers the copy. Hence arises an impossibility of print- ing both by the same process. But in wood-engraving, the thickness of the wood being carefully regulated by the height of the type with which it is to be usoti, the block is set up in the same page with the types ; and only one impression is required to print the letter-press and the cut which is to illustrate it. Added to this, the friction (though produced simply by the soft fleshy ball of the thumb) which is required to charge the lines of a copper- plate engraving with ink, soon wears away the sharpness of the hues, and renders every new impression less perfect than its predecessor. But in printing woodcuts, the whole of the pressure being vertical, there is no perceptible wearing away of the block, so that the goodness of the impression depends only on the materials employed, and the care of the printer.^ But even on the supposition that the mechanical advantages of each were equal, the prefer- ence must be awarded to woodcuts for the illustration of ' In an intere-ilin^ Memoir of Bewick, prefixed to the sixth voUime of .lardine's ''Naturalist's Library," it instated that "many of Bewick's blocks have printed upwards of 300,000 ; the head-piece of tin Newcastle Cournut above 1.000,000: and a small vi^mette for a capital letter in the Xewcaxtle Chronicle, during a period of twenty yexrs,, at least 2,000,000." 80 . THE BOX. printed books, inasmuch as there is a harmony produced in the page by the engraving and letter-press being of the same colour, which is very seldom the case when copper- plate vignettes are introduced with letter-press. In spite however of all these advantages, the art of en- graving on wood declined, and was all but lost, when it was revived in England by the celebrated John Bewick, an artist who not only i-estored the taste for the art, but exe- cuted, in the course of a long and industriously-spent life, numerous works, which his most zealous followers can scarcely do more than hope to equal. His excellence did not consist in the mere mechanical skill which he dis- played ; that, great as it was, resulted from his intense de- sire to embody his exquisitely acute perceptions of Nature. His woodcuts, therefore, are not simply representations of birds, and beasts, just so far like the originals as to enable another person to discover what it meant ; — but indices of his mind, like the solemn sounds of Handel's music, the majestic flow of Milton's poetry, the comprehensive exact- ness of Linnajus's descriptions. Xo one can have failed to notice this, who has turned over the pages of " The General Natural History of Quadrupeds,"' or of " British Birds." Nature seems to be alive in all of them ; the very tail-pieces, trifling though the subjects of many of them may be, are replete with interest, owing to the remarkable power which the author possessed of catching and por- traying the peculiar characteristics of Nature, whether animate or inanimate. Much of this taste and skill Bewick imparted to his pupils, and to the same qualities the modern school of wood- engraving is indebted for its principal excellence. Several mechanical improvements have of late years been made in wood -engraving and printing ; but, however ihe father of the modern art may be surpassed in skill, it is next to impossible for any one to excel him in excellence of design. Owing to the numerous illustrated works now almost THE BOX. 81 daily issuing from the press, the number of artists in this lice has greatly augmented, and Box-wood has proportion- ately increased in price. In 1815, the trees which were cui down on Box-hill produced upwards of £10,000. A great deal of that imported from Turkey, Odessa, and other places, is inappli- cable to the purposes of the wood-engraver; nevertheless, in London alone, as much is annually consumed in works of art as amounts to many thousands of pounds. There arc, besides the Tree-Box, two varieties of Dwarf- Box, which were formerly much employed in forming patterns in flower-gardens imitating the. designs of embroi- dery. This fashion is now quite gone out, having, like topiary-work, given place to the much more rational taste of cultivating various exotic plants ; but representations of quaintly- figm'ed gardens may yet be seen in old engravings. Dwarf-Box is now only planted as an edging to garden-beds. for which its low wiry habit well adapts it, preventmg the loose earth from falling into the path, without rising high enough to shade the plants in its neighbourhood, or afibrd- ing a secure refuge for vermin. It may be propagated by dividing the roots, or by planting cuttings in autumn. The best time for clipping Box is in June, when the new shoots obliterate all traces of the shears. The flower of the Box is inconspicuous, being of a greenish yellow colour, and growing in clusters in the axils ^ of the leaves ; it ripens its seed at Box-hill. Flowers have never been observed on the dwarf variety. ' Axil, Lalio, axilla, the arm-j)it ; in botanical phrasejl^gy, " the angle between the leaf-stalk and stem. ' 82 THE HAWTHORN. CRATiEGUS OXYACANTHA. Kafural Order — RosACEJE. f/rtSS— ICOSANDEIA. Ortff/-— PeNTAGTMA. There is, I think, no tree the simple mention of which excites such pleasurable emotions as the Hawthorn. Never attaining a remarkable size, neither stately in growth, nor graceful in form, it yet possesses an interest to which many a loftier and more elegant child of the forest cannot aspire. We may see it applied to the most homely and unromantic purposes, clippad by the hedger's shears of every particle of. natural spray, and reduced, as it were by line and plummet, ^ to the uniform proportions of a mere verdant wall ; yet the tree to which the mind reverts when the Hawthorn is mentioned is independent of any such associations. It does not, it is true, carry us away to forests or woodland mountains, to the wild fastnesses of Nature, where men and the things of men have no place. "Were we acquainted with it only in such situations, it would want half its interest ; bat it recurs to the memory as the necessary, app'andage of tha villaga, to which, in our earlier years, it was our highest privilege to make our hoUday excursions— the veteran record of oar infantile sports, remaining un- changed while the stern realities of life have been working in ourselves a change too perceptible— a common shelter from sun or sho;ver to the rude patriarchs of the hamlet, the sam3 group (nexrly, for some are not) that half a century ago tottered as fe3bly to their childish amusements as noM" ihsy do to their shady scat beneath its branches, and from the selfsame cabins too — and the contemporary of all the Itygona sports that old and young loved to look back upon, or forward to, with e(pial interest. The Hawthorn, too, is a tree which, from its association THE HAWTHORN. 83 •with the villaf«o festivities of the first of May, possesses a kind of antiquarian interest, which is deepened by the recollection that it illustrates "the simple annals of the poor." The first day of the month, from which it derived its name, ''May-bush," was formerly a general rustic holi- day, looked forward to, and prepared for, with as much zest as accompanies many a nobler entertainment ; and it was a matter of no little solicitude whether the Hawthorn would be fully blown in good time ; for a " bunch of May " was the crowning ornament of the May-pole, and encircled the heai of the May-queen, her consort for the day 'being crowned with the more manly Oak. Before the alteration of the style ^ in 1752, the Hawthorn rarely failed to be in flower in good time ; but since that perit)d, May-da}' falling eleven or twelve days earlier, its blossoms are rarely fully expanded even in the south of England, until the second week in the month.- In ' The ancient Church calendar was constructed on the erroneous supposition that ihe year contained 365:j days exactly, being nearl}- iwehe minutes too much. Tlie error, therefore, in 129 \ ears amounts to a whole daj". In cons-equence of the inconvenience which was found to result from this error during a long course of 3 ears, Pope Gregory XIII. in the month of March, 1582, issued a brief, in which he abolished the eld calendar, and substituted that which has since been received in all Christian countries, (xcejit liussia, under the name of the Gregorian Calendar or I\ew Style {X.S.). Gregor}^ in order to restore the commencement of the year to the same place in the seasons that it had occupied at the time of the Council of Nice (a. p. 325), directed the day following the feast of St. Francis, that is to say the 5th of October, 1582, to be reckoned as the 15th of that month. The New Style was adopted in Britain in 1752 ; from that year till 1800, May-day fell eleven days earlier; and during the present century it falls twelve days earlier than when calculated by the Old Style (6..S'.) ; May-day of the Season being now the 13th day of the month. '^ I have, however, seen it in Devonshire so early as the 29th of April ; and in the year 1846 it was gathered in Cornwall on the 18th of April. So unusually mild was the season of that year, that Ihe Oaks at Clowance, Cornwall, had made shoots between two and three inches long on the 11th of April ; thouL'li it not nnfrequently hapjens that the Oak is not sntliciently in leaf "to hide King Hharle*" on the 20th of May. The blossom of tlie Hawthorn, though earl}-, was so exceedingly scarce that many trees might be searched in vain for a single sprig, and scarcely one tree in a hundred bore an average crop of flowers. it '4^^' L THE HAWTHORN. CU mountainous districts, — the Highhmds, for instance, — it ij ficcjueutly in full perfection so late as the middle of June. By the ancient Greeks its flowers were made the emblem of Hope, and it was probabl}^ regarded in the same light by the Romans, as we read that its wood was chosen to make the torch carried before the bride at nuptial processions. In some countries it is regarded with a kind of veneration, from being believed to be the tree used to form the crown placed on our Blessed Saviour's head before His Crucifixion. Whether or not this opir^'on be a correct one is scarcely a fit subject for discussion in this or any other work. But if it really be the case, it is not improbable that it was selected by the Roman soldiers with the object of making the emblem of hope and happiness the instrument of in- flicting pain. Such a motive would accord well with the ■ spirit which demanded the Cross and the purple robe. In some parts of France, the country people aifirm that the Hawthorn utters groans and sighs on the evening of Good Friday ; and when a thunderstorm is impending, they gravely adorn their hats with a bunch of its leaves, in the belief that, thus protected, the lightning cannot touch them. It is also related, that on the morning which followed the horrible massacre of the French Protestants by the Roman Catholics on St. Bartholomew's day, a Hawthorn in the churchyard of St. Innocent's, in Paris, suddenly put forth its blossoms for the second time. It is far from improbable that the legend of " The Glastonbury Thorn " was originally connected with some superstitious veneration of the Hawthorn, yet more ancient than itself. According to this legend, Joseph of Arimathrea, attended by twelve companions, came to preach the Gospel in Britain, and landed on the Isle of Avelon.i Here he fixed his staff in the ground (a dry Thorn sapling, which had been his companion through all the countries he had ' The hicjh cround on which the Abbey of Glastonbury stands is thus named, and tradition asserts that it was in remote times reail^^ an island, the meadows around it having been since formed by the retiring of the sea. 86 THE HAWTHORN. traversed) and fell asleep. When he awoke be found, to hig great surprise, that his statf had taken root, and was covered with white blossoms. From this miracle be drew a very natural conclusion, that as the use of his staff was taken froai him, it was ordained that he should fix his abode in this place. Here, therefore, he built a chapel, which, by the piety of succeeding times, increased to its subsequent magnificeace. Gilpin, in his " Observations on the Western Parts of England," gives the following amusing account of the veneration with which it was regarded at a no more distant period than the close of the last century : — " I should ill deserve the favours I met with from the learned anti- quarian who has the care of these ruins, though he occupies only the humble craft of a shoemaker, if I did not attempt to da som 3 justice to his zeal and piety. Xo picturesque eye could mare admire these venerable remains for their beauty than he did for their sanctity. Every stone was the object of his devotion. But above all the appendages of Glastonbury, he reverenced most the famous Thorn which sprang from St. Joseph's staff, and blossoms at Christmas. '• Jt was at that time, he said, when the King resolved to alter the comaion course of the year,^ that he first felt distress for the honour of the house of Glastonbury, If the tima of Christmas were changed, who could tell how the credit of this miraculous plant might be aftected ? In short, with the fortitude of a Jewish seer, he ventured to expos- tulate with the King upon the subject : and informed his Majesty, in a letter, of the disgrace that might possibly ensue if he persisted in his design of altering the natural course of the year. But though his conscience urged him upon this bold action, he could not but own that the flosh trembled. He had not the least doubt, he said, but the King would immediately send down and have him hanged. He pointed to the spot where the last Abbot of Glastonbury was executed for not surrendering his Abbey ; and he gave us to understand there were men now alivo who could sutt'er ' The alteration of the Calendar alluded to at p. 83. THE HAWTHORN. 87 death, in a good cause, with equal fortitude. His zeal, however, was not put to this severe trial. The King was more merciful than he expected, for though his Majesty did not foUow his advice, it never appeared that he took the least offence at the freedom of his letter." Both Gilpin and his simple-minded infoimant were in error in supposing the tree then standing to have been the identical one with which the legend is ccDnected. The original " Holly-Thorn," which stood en Weaiy-all-hill (Ihe spot where Joseph and his ccmpanicns are said to have sat down all ivearu with their journey), originally tad two distinct trunks, one of which was destroyed ly a Puritan in Queen Elizabeth's reign, and the other, together with many yet more interesting relics of antiquity, stared the same fate during the Great Eebellicn. If we may credit James Howell, the author of "Dcdcna's Grove " (printed in 1644), the mistaken fanatic who cempleted tte woik cf destruction did not go unpunished : " and he was well serv'd for his hlind Zeale, who going to cut doune an ancient white Hautlw rue-tree, which, because she hndcUd before others, might be an occasion of Svpastition, had seme of ihe prickles flew into his eye, and made him Monocular."^ ' Id Ireland, to the present day, it is We popular telief that "eo one will thrive after rrotinpr up an old Tliom.' S( me }ears smce a gentleman residiri^^ in Carrickfergus, co. Aiitrim, emplojed as h.s gardener an old arlillennnan, named Peter S , -who bad been invalided in consequecce (f wounds rtceiTed in tattle, and passed among his ccmrades as a brave Hildier. Ore day Peter received directions to uproot a "rtveretd Eawlhcm," which, together wUh the hedge in which it stocd. was to mike way for f( meimprcTements in the garden. He immediately set to woik, snd scon cleared the hedge of all that grew in it except the ahoin, lie roots of w hu h had penetrated deeply into the ground, and which leiraited unttue-hed. Next day, the gentleman asked him why the tree had not been removedas he desired. Peter answered, "that it was haidly possible— that it would be dangerous to attempt it."' IIis master reraon.strated with him. explaining why it was recessavy that the Thorn should be included in the order for lemoval, aid left him with a strict injunction to set about the task in mediately, which he, very reluctantly, then prepared to do. Next day, however, to his surpri.se, the master fou d the devoted tree still mainlainirg I's ground, erect and uninjured. On sharply questioning the cffcLder 88 THE HAWTHORN'. There are, however, still in existence two trees of tbe same description, evidently much above a hundred years old, which no doubt were either grafts, or sprung from seeds of the original tree. From one of these, which stands within the precincts of the Abbey, in a garden adjoining St. Joseph's Chapel, I received, on the 11th of February, 1346, a sprig, in full leaf, and furnished with perfectly formed flower-buds. The tree from which it was gathered measures two and a half feet in circumference, and I was assured by the vicar of Glastonbury, Dr. Parfitt, that it had been budding and blossoming since Christmas. It blossoms a second time in May, and from these latter flowers only is fruit produced. Formerly, the blossoms wei'e so highly valued that they were sold at Bristol, and even exported to various parts of Eui'ope, and the variety is still propagated by grafts in the gardens cf the curious, bat only on account of the strange etforts which it annually makes to commence spring in mid-winter. Miss Strickland, in her "Lives of the Queens of England," mentions that its branches were deemed worthy of being presented to royalty. " Christmas," says Pere Cyprian, *' was always observed in this country, especially at the King's palaces, with greater pomp than in any other realm in Europe." Among other ancient ceremonies now forgotten, why be had not followed his direction?, poor Peter, with the utmost solemnity, assured hiiu that " he had commenced the work, but at the moment his pick-axe struck tbo root of the tree he received a violent blow from some invisible hand, that made him staL'i,'er and almost fall to the ground — moreover, lliat on going home, lie found that just at the same hour, and he had no doubt, at the very same instant, his wife had ex|)erien('ei a similar blow." After this his master did not urge him further in the matter, but got some other person to extirpate the mysterious tree, and the task was accom- jijished without any further evil result. Croftcm Croker, who is most learned in the superstitions of Ireland, remarks that, according to the popular belief, " On ]lf(ii/-ei-e the evil Elves seem to be par- ticularly active and powerful : to those to whom they are inimical they i/ire a bloir uiipcrccireil. the consequence of which is lameness." There can be little doubt that tbese two superstitions are connected ill their origin with that recorded in the text respecting the Glaston- bury Thorn. THE HAWTHORN. 89 he mentions a pretty one, ia wliich a branch of the GlasLonbury Thorn, which usually flowers on Christmas Eve, used to be brought up iu procession, and presented in great pomp to the King and Queen of England on Christ- mas morning. Pere Gamaehe, in mentioning this cere- mony, says, this blossoming Thorn was much venerated by the English, because in their traditions they say that St. Joseph of Arimathaea brought to Glastonbury a thorn out of our Lord's ci'own, and planting it iu the earth, it burgeoned and blossomed, and yearly produced blossoms to decorate the altar on Christmas Eve mass — '■' That onl}' night iu all the 3'ear Saw the stoled priest the cbaUce rfar." SroTT. The Pere seems to enjoy very much the following anec- dote of Charles I., though it was against the Catholics : — " Well ! '' said the Kin;r, extending his hand, one Christ- mas Day, to take the flowering branch of Glastonbury Thorn, " this is a miracle, is it "? " " Yes, your Majesty," replied the oflicer who presented it, "a miracle peculiar to England, and regarded with great veneration by the Catholics here." " How so," said the King, " when this miracle opposes itself to the Pope ? " (Every one looked astonished in the royal circle, Papist and Protestant ) " You bring me this miraculous branch on Christmas Day, old style. Does it always observe the old style, by which we English celebrate the nativity, in its time of flowering?" asked the King. " Always," replied the venerators of the miracle. " Then," said King Charles, " the Pope and your miracle difier not a little, for he always celebrates Christmas Day ten days earlier by the calendar of new style, which has been ordained at Rome by papal orders for nearly a century." This dialogue probably put an end to this old custom, which, setting all idea of miracle aside, was a picturesque one ; for a flowering branch on Christmas Day is a pleasing gift, whether in a court or a cottage. The same authoress thus accounts for the fact that the 90 THE HAWTHORN. Hawthorn was selected to be the distinguishing badge of the House of Tudor. After the battle of Bosworth, in which Richard HI. was slain on Redmore Heath, and his body iguominiouslv stripped, " the crown was hidden by a soldier in a Hawthorn bush, but was soon found, and carried back to Lord Stanley, who placed it on the head of his son- in-law, saluting him by the title of Henry VII., while the victorious army sang Te T'eiim on the blood-stained heath. It was in memory of the fact that the red-berried Hawthorn once sheltered the crown of England, that the House of Tador assumed the device of a crown in a bush of Fruited Hawthorn. The proverb of ' Cleave to the crown though it hang on a'bush,' alludes to the same circumstance." The sight of the Hawthorn always recalls images of rural life ; but we must go back to a somewhat remote period to find it invested with its full honours. During the reign of Henry YIII., May sports were the favourite diversion of all classes, not only in the country, but even in London. On the eve of May-day, the citizens used to go in companies to the neighbouring woods and groves, Bom'j to Highgate or Hampstead, some to Greenwich, some to Shooter's Hill ; there the night was spent in cutting down green branches, in preparing the May-pole, and in a variety of sports and pastimes. On their return early in the morning, the revellers adorned the ]\Iay-pole with flowers and foliige from one end to the other, the pole itself being previously painted with the most brilliantly variegated colours. The pole was dragged to its destina- tion by a large number of oxen, each ox having a nosegay of flowei's tied to the tips of his horns : men, women, and children, all dressed in their gayest habiliments and laden with green boughs, completed the procession. As they passed through the streets of London, they found " Each street a park, ^fade green, and trimm'd with trees;"' the church porches decorated " Witli Hawthorn buds and sweet eglantine, And garlands of njses ; ' THE HAWTHORN. 01 they heard music sounding from every quarter, and here and there they heheld in their way some May-pole, pre- served from the hist year, ah'eady elevated, and a wide circle of beaming faces dancing round it. The church of St. Andrew the Apostle was called 8t. Andrew llidersltaft , from the circumstance that from time immemorial a May- pole or slut ft had been set up there, which towered con- siderably ,tb()ve the church tower. Long streamers or flags were now attached to the pole, which was then finally reared to its proper position, amidst the loud cheers of the multitudes gathered round. Summer-halls, bowers, and arbours were now formed near it ; the Lord and Lady of the May were chosen, and decorated with scarves, ribbons, and other braveries ; and then the dances, feastings, and memment of the day fairly began. The King himself frequently took part in these festivities, for, as we learn from " Hall's Chronicle,"' " his Grace being young, and not willing to be idle, rose in the morning very early to fetch May or green boughs, himself fresh and I'ichly apparelled, and clothed all his knights, squires, and gentlemen in white satin, and all his guard and yeomen of the crown in white sarcenet. And so went every man with his bow and arrows shooting to the wood, and so repaired again to the court, every man with a green bough in his cap ; and at his returning, many hearing of his going a-Maying were desirous to see him shoot ; for at that time his Grace shot as strong and as great a length as any of his guard." During the Great Rebellion the Parliament ordered that " all and singular May -poles be taken down," When Charles II. ascended the thrtme, the famous May-pole of the Strand^ was restored with great pomp and rejoicing, amidst multitudes of people, whose shouts and acclamations were heard from time to time throughout the whole day. When this pole had ceased to be the centre of the merry ' " Amidst the area wide Ihey (ook their stand, Where the tall Ma3--pole once o'erlook'd the Strand." Pope. ,92 Tn2 HAWTHORN. May-day circles, and the interest with which it was origin- ally regarded had faded away, it was given to Sir Isaac Newton, and by his directions removed to Wanstead, to support the then largest telescope in the world. ^ MAY-POLK. Of late years the celeln-ity of the Hawthorn as the symbol of May-day festivities has greatly declined. lu London the number of those " That do the fair and living trees neglect, Yet the dead timber prize," is SO vastly increased, that the May-bush " swells its gems " and " salutes the welcome sun " without exciting a passing thought. The only class who, nowadays, "AVitli du honcur uslicr in the ^lay,"' are the poor chimney-sweeps, who, on this their single ' Kuight's London, vol. i. p. I?'!. THE HAWTHORN. . 93 holiday, put off their sable suit for one day in the year, to deck themselves with flowers and green branches, and after all gain but little sympathy for their "maimed rights." In the rural districts we may see, here and there, the tall May-pole, standing all the year round, but never decked with tlowers, never made the centre of festivity. In a few remote parishes, the poor farmer's boy yet rises earlier on May morning than on other days, and hastens to attach a branch of Hawthorn to the cottage-doors, claiming as a reward, when the inmates are astir, a slice of bread and cream ; and in some few towns and villages, principally in the West of England, children on May-day carry round from door to door, garlands of flowers decorated with birds' eggs, and beg contributions of halfpence. But, as far as regards legends, or the merry days of old, the Hawthorn has fallen into the " sere and yellow leaf." It is never- theless still a favourite with all. Xot, as I have' before said, that it has great pretensions to elegance of form or picturesque beauty; but it possesses qualities which, I may almost say, engage our aflections. It is the tutelary guardian of our fields, our orchards, and our gardens ; and loves to grow anel seems to thrive best near the rural habitations cf men. "When the cottager sets about inclosing his bit of garden-ground, the Hawthorn is ready to crown his lowly fence with its protecting and closely -woven boughs, which, with their thickest prickles, form an almost impenetrable barrier round the little domain. "When arrived at maturity, its stoutest branches are often hacked unmercifully, nearly through their whole dimensions, and forcibly fixed in a direction contrary to their natural growth ; yet the lacerated limbs, regardless of this rude treatment, send forth their shoots as vigorously as ever, and accommodate themselves to the humour or convenience of the planter, with all the fidelity of a spaniel. The Hawthorn may be considered, indeed, a domesticated tree, that readily adapts itself to the wishes and wants of man, requiring httlc care or attention during 94 THE HAWTHORN. any period of its growth. Nor are these all its services ; every plant that grows near it seems to acquire increased vigour from its friendly shelter and vicinity. The snow- drop, fearless of the tempest, displays its earliest flowers amid the thick covert of the Hawthorn ; while the prim- rose, the violet, and the speedwell are generally its beau- tiful associates COMMON HAWTHORN. Deprived of its Hawthorn hedges, our rural scenery would lose one of its most interesting features, and present to the eye of the painter and the poet little more than a tame and monotonous expanse of country. Not only do they agreeably diversify our immediate vicinities, but when: blended by distance give a rich and uinivallcd charm to English landscape. The Hawthorn is also one of the earliest harbingers of summer. "What can surpass the beautiful and delicate THE HAWTHORN. 95 green of its first unfolding leaves ? After siu'veying from oar windows the monotonous and dingy prospect of a long succession of house-tops and chimneys, how refreshing is it to turn our eyes to the green symbol of spring, which tella us that Nature, in her own lovely domain, is quietly preparing her robe of summer beauty ! In the balmy month of May, the Hawthorn has no rival. It may then be said to live in an atmosphere of its own fragrance, the whole country being filled with its delicious odour. It has never been my lot. to scent the aromatic breezes which are said to float through the air for a distance of many miles from the shores of Ceylon ; but I can scarcely think that they are more grateful in themselves, or connected with more delightful associations, than the Hawthorn perfume of an English spring. And as to its wreaths of snowy blossoms, I know nothing more beautiful — some with their blossoms fully expanded, dotted with their delicate pink stamens — others, as yet unfolded, resembling little globes of silver set in pedestals of emerald. India may boast of more gorgeous flowers, but surel}' of nothing more elegant and graceful. '• ^A'hen first the tender blades of grass appear, And buds, that j'et the blast of Eurus fear, Stand at the door of life, and doubt to clothe the year Till gentle heat, and soft repeated rains, JIake the green blood to dance within their veins: Then, at their call embolden"d out the}' come, And swell the gems, and burst their narrow room; Broader arid broader yet, their leaves display. Salute the welcome sun, and entertain the day. Then from their breathing souls the sweets repair To scent the skies, and purge th' unwholesome air : Jo}- spreads the heart, and with a general song Spring issues out, and leads the jolly monihs along." ' Dkvden. la spring and summer the Hawthorn breathes the very soul of rustic poetry ; its rich profusion of crimson berries contributes largely to the glorious colouring of 96 THE HAWTHORN. autumn, and scarcely less to relieve the dreary sameness of winter. The Hawthorn, according to some etymologists, is so called from its fruit, or June : or, if Booth be correct, the tree gives the name to the fruit ; the first syllable of the vrord being a corruption oi liage, or Ikkj, and the word itself signifies a hcdije-thurn} Cratagus and 0.v)j((cautha, to which may be added Pijracantha, arc the names by which the Greeks are supposed to have de- signated the tree. By the Eomans it appears to have been called Spina. Its French name, Auhe-cpine, re- fers to its flowering early in the spring, or morning of the year ; auhe signifying "• the dawn of day." "With us it is known in- diflerently by the names May-tree, May- bush, from its season cf flowering, and from the important place which it held in the old May games ; Quickthorn, Quickset, and simply Quick, from its application to the construction of quick, or ■ Uve hedges, instead of dead branches of trees ; and "White- thorn, from the profusion of its white flowers. By somD botanists it is placed in the same genus with Mcspiliis the Medlar, with which it has many botanical characters m common. It is found in most parts of Europe, from the Mediter- ranean to as far north as GOA°, in Sweden, in the north of Africa, and in "Western Asia. It was introduced many years since into Australia, where it grows as luxuriantly ' Scott, in his '■ Dii^covcry of Witchcraff," cu'ls it " llay-thorn." nAWTlIOEX BLOSSOM. TPE HAWTHORN. 07 as in its native country, and where it must have no little efficacy in keeping alive the memory of the shady lanes and village greens of Old England. It v.-ould be superfluous for me to give a detailed description of a tree with which every one is so familiar as the Hawthorn. I will therefore simply make a few remarks on its mode of growth and other peculiarities, which I will leave to my readers to verify at their leisure. FRUIT OF HAWTHORN. NATURAL SIZE. In size, mode of growth, foliage, colour, and even odoui of its flowers, the Hawthorn is perhaps more liable to variation than any other tree. Some exhibit a strong, free, and upright growth, being furnished with large and luxurious foliage, and \)ut few spines ; others, on the con- trary, assume the character of stunted, prickly bushes, with numerous small and deeply-cut leaves. Not unfrequcntly, from having been cut down to the ground in an early stage of their growth, numerous suckers rise from the same root, which, in after years, as they increase in bulk, become partially united at their bases, and have the appearance cf a trunk dividing itself into many branches. H 98 THE HAWTHORN. Occasionally, but rarely, the Hawthorn assumes a pendent or " weeping " character. There is a line tree of this kind in the garden which belonged to the Kegent Murray in Scotland, and it is said to be very beautiful. Like many other trees, the Hawthorn is occasionally liable to an unhealthy mode of growth, when tufts or clusters of twigs are produced, resembling, if observed at a little distance, a large bird's nest. Mr. Anderson, the late curator of the Chelsea Botanic Garden, had the curiosity to graft young Thorns with some of these twigs, and found, in the course of two or three years, that they produced beautiful weeping branches.^ It has already been said that the varieties of the Haw- thorn are very numerous, and no less strongly marked. Difference of soil and situation produces yet more remark- able contrasts. A bushy tree in the rich lowlands, it be- c )mes, as it creeps up the mountains, gnarled, ragged, and fantastic in form, and finally dwindles into a mere stunted and knotted shrub. The spines, or thorns, which form a characteristic feature of this tree, are to be distinguished from iiricldes, such as those which invest tli9 stems of the rose or bramble. The latter are attached only to the surface of the stem, and even to that sometimes not very firmly. Thorns, however, are to be considered as imperfect branches, hchvy furnished with proper bark, wood, and pith of their own. They enlarge in the second year of their growth, and for the most part produce buds and leaves, and eventually flowers and fruit ; whereas prickles never in- crease in size after the first year, and are not converted into branches. Not even is the colour of the blossom which gives the name " White-thorn " free from variations. Indeed, most commonly it assumes a pink hue in fading ; but in gardens ' Similar results followed from budding, or grafting, from the tufts produced by the Elm {Ulmus campesiris). THE HAWTHORN. 99 and shrubberies varieties arc frequent in which the flower is cf a permanent and decided piuk or crimson. The per- fume of the blossom is generally exceedingly fragrant ; but occasionally this fragrance is almost overpowered by a strong fishy smell, which is most perceptible when the branch is held close to the ncse, or carried into a close room. The Juiir, too, varies greatly in size, shape, and colour, being sometimes oblong, sometimes nearly globular, sometimes downj', at other times smooth and polished. Varieties have been ol served in which it exchanges its usual crimson hue for black, orange, golden yellow or white. In the West cf England, and probably most other parts cf the country, each haw contains a single nut : but in the neighbourhood of Baruet and Hadley, in Hertford- shire, I have observed that they more frequently contain two. The 2^ink and double varieties of Hawthorn are multi- j)lied by grafting and budding, but the common sort is generally raised from seed. The haws are gathered in ■winter and laid in a heap, mixed M-ith a sufficient quantity of soil to cover them atd separate Ihem frf m each other, and exposed to the inliuence of the weather, until the spring of the second, or even the third, ensuing year. Unless this plan is adopted, the young plants do not appear till the year after they are sewn, and consequently occasion the loss of the ground for that time. Various experiments have been tried with the seed, in the hope of finding some method of securing their growth in the year following that of their being gathered, but none have succeeded. The extreme hardness and durability of the shell is the pro- bable cause of this sluggishness of growth. Could any plan be devised for breaking the shell without injuring the kernel, it is not unlikely that the desired object would be efi'ected. I have already spoken of the claims of the Hawthorn to picturesque beauty. Whether they are allowed or not, there can be no doubt that not onlv the several varieties 100 THE HAWTHORN. of the British tree, but many foreign species, are eminently ornamental to the lawn and shrubbery. In husbandry, the principal use of the Quicktliorn is for making hedges, for which purpose very many thousands are annually raised in Britain, an employment which forms an important branch of the business of nurserymen. This raising of Thorns for profit is a comparatively modern occupation, Evelyn being the first to tell us of a gentle- man who had "considerably improved his revenue by sowing Haws only, and raising nurseries of Quicksets, which he sells by the hundred far and near." In the first year of their growth, the seedlings attain the height of from six to twelve iuches, and during the two or three following years increase at the annual rate of from one foot to three feet ; afterwards they grow more slowly till they have attained the he'ght of from twelve to fifteen feet, when the shoots are produced principally in a lateral direction. This peculiarity, added to the rigidity of its thorns, makes it so valuable for the purpose above men- tion 3d, the denseuess of its side-branches being greatly promoted by frequent prunings of the upward shoots. In order to insure a uniformly dens3 hedge, the best plan is to plant three- or four-years-old trees in two rows, about a foot or a foot and a half apart, and in the following season to cut them down within an inch or two of the ground. If kept clear of weeds, they will make numerous strong shoots during the succeeding year, and soon form an impenetrable barrier. Hedges of this tree will stand the sea-breeze better than most others ; but still are far from being uninjured by their rude visitor, for ' -Where from sea-bla«ts the Hawthorns lean, And hoirv dew? are slow to melt," the side most exposed to the weather may frequently be observed rounded off as neatly as if by the gardener's shears. Tliis effect is produced by the particles of salt with which the sea-breeze is charged being arrested by the THE HAWTHORN". l(Jl twigs and tilling the young buds ; but the opposlto side flourishes with tolerable luxuriance.^ The stock of the Thorn is employed not only for grafting varieties of its own species, but also, and with great advan- tage, for several of the garden fruits. " Man does the savage Hawthorn teaoli To bear the Medlar and the Peir ; He bils the rustic rium to rear A noble trunk and be a Peach." — Cowley. The leaves, like those of the Beech and some other trees, are invested with a short downy covering while young, which afterwards almost entirely disappears, leaving a bright and glossy surface. They are said to be used not imfrequently for the purpose of adulterating tea ; and indeed, not many years since, a patent was taken out for preparing them as a substitute for the more costly leaf; cattle will browse on them, not forgetting to pay due re- gard to the sharp spines with which the younger branches are plentifully armed. With the exception that a strong fermented liquor may be made from haws, neither the blossom nor the fruit has been applied to any important use by man : but the flowers as well as the leaves aflbrd sustenance to a variety of insects ; and the haws, which are followed, as to the time of ripening, by the berries of the Ivy, and those again by the berries of the Mistletoe, produce an abundant supply ' Some few years ai^n, a gardener, accustomed only to the midland counties, waseutiaged by a jrentleman, whose es-tate lies on the nortl'.ern sea-coast of Devonshire, to sui erintend his garden and plantations. On his arrival he was sent by his employer to walk throuu'h his domain, that Le might gain soU-e notion of what would be rei|nired of him. His inspection being cc nipleted, he was asked what he thought of his new employment : " T like the jilace well," he rei.lied, "and doubt not that I should be able to give satisfaction, except on one point. How my ]irode(essor contrived to keep the Thorn-hedges so neatly clipped with only four hands to help him, I cannot tell, nor can 1 undertake to do as well : I must therefore decline the situation." He was not a little surprised on being told that the north-west wind was his " predecessor," a coadjutor who!>e services he probably afterwards found verging on the officious. 102 THE HAWTHORN. of food to the feathered tribe during the severest and most protracted of our winters. It vras formerly beheved that the Hawfinch, a bird which derives its name from the fruit of this tree, remained with us during those mouths only when its favourite food is to be procured. It is now, how- ever, known that it resides in England all the vear round. ■'-X %: w-^;^£: -••V\\\f#cV*it >.;jx- THE nATrFi::c:i". The Hawthorn attains a great age, and, when large enough to rank among timber trees, is of considerable value. According to Evelyn, " The root of an old Thorn is excellent both for boxes and combs, and is curiously and naturally wrought : I have read that they make ribs to some small boats or vessels, with the "White-thorn ; and it is certain, that if they were planted single, and in stan- dards, where they might be safe, they would rise into large-bodied trees in time, and be of excellent use icf: the turner, not inferior to box." Loudon says, " Its wood is very hard and dilficult to wcrk : its colour is white, but TUE ELACKTHOKN. 103 with a yejiowish tinge ; its grain is fine, and it takes a beautiful polish ; but it is not much used in the arts, because it is seldom found of suiiieient size, and is besides apt to warp. It weighs, when green, sixty- eight pounds twelve ounces pei* cubic foot ; and when dry, fifty- seven pounds five ounces. It contracts, by drying, one-eighth of its bulk. It is employed for the handles of hammers, the teeth of mill-wheels, for flails and mallets, and, when heated at the fire, for canes and walking-sticks. The branches are used in the country for heating ovens ; a pur- pose for which they are ver}' proper, as they give out much heat, and, like the Ash and Furze, possess the property of burning as readily when green as in their diy state." It has also been stated that it might be substituted for Box-wood as a material for wood-engraving, in case of any deficiency in the supply of the preferable but more costly wood. It is often spoiled through inattention after cutting ; if it be allowed to lie in entire logs or trunks, it soon heats and becomes quite brittle and worthless ; it ought, therefore to be cut up immediately into planks, and laid to dry. THE BLACKTHORN. PrUNUS SPIN'OSA. Natural Order — Rosace.t:. C/a«5— ICOSASDBIA. Order — MoNOGYXIA. The subject of the last chapter has high claims to be ranked among the most interesting of British trees, being not only a beautiful ornament to the landscape at all sea- sons, but possessing a legendary character which secures for it more than the passing attention even of the anti- quary. The subject of the present memoir, however, though its name might lead us to hope that it had more 104 THE BLACKTHORN. points of resemblance to the Hawthorn, possesses but little interest for botanist, forester, painter, or antiquary-. In its natural state it is a rigid, wiry bush, remarkable for no beauty of flower or foliage, and not making up for its outward deficiencies by any inherent virtues residing in fruit, stem, or root. Its very flowers, which are numerous and appear early in Spring, can barely be called ornamental. Expanding, as they do, before any other tree has ventured to show SLOK-FLO'VrER. signs of returning life, wo are inchued to look on them in the light of daring adventurers, rather than harbingers of the time which " purples all the ground with vernal flowers." Their white ragged petals contrast strangely with the sombre hues of the bare boughs around them — they look cold and cheerless, and carry the mind back to the frosts and snow of the winter which has just passed, instead of forward to the bright days of spring which are THE BLACKTHORN. 105 coming. A single primrose, a leaf-bud of Hawthorn or Elm — either of these is a prophet in whom we place un- bounded confidence ; they are emblems of soft west winda and sunny showers : but the Blackthorn bespeaks our at- tention to the possible return of black east winds, frosty nights, and nipping blights.^ Nor does the Sloe-tree find a champion in the husband- man. It is by no means particular in its choice of soil and situation, but tlu'ives everywhere. Its long creeping roots extend so rapidly, that in the course of a few years a single plant would, if left unmolested, cover an acre of ground.'-^ Thus left to itself, it has no disposition to as- sume the character of a tree, but forms a low thicket, to the exclusion of every more valuable plant, and, if growing in the neighbourhood of sheep-walks, most unceremoniously levies contributions from ever^^ woolly visitor who comes •within reach of its knotted and thorny branches. If, by being deprived of its suckers, it is compelled to throw all its strength upwards, it will sometimes attain the height of thirty feet ; and even in natural situations, where it cannot extend itself lateral!}', it rises to fifteen or twenty feet. The name " Blackthorn " appears to have been given to it from the hue of its bark, which being much darker than that of the Hawthorn, probably originated the name of " White-thorn " given to the latter tree. ' " This tree usually blossoms while cold north-east winds blow; so that the harsh, ru^t^ed weather obtaining at this season is called by country people, ' Blackthorn winter.'" — White's Selbome. ^ "Thenameof ilere-du-Bois {Mother of the Wood) is applied to the Sloe-thorn in France, in the neighbourhood of Moutargis, because it has been remarked there, that when it was established on the margins of woods, its underground shoots, and the suckers which sprung un from them, had a constant tendency to extend the wood over the adjoining fields ; and that, if the projirietorsof lands adjoining forests where the Sloe-thorn formed the boundary did not take the precaution of stop])ing the progress of its roots, these would, in a short time, spread over their property ; and the suckere which arose from them, by afiFording protection to the seeds of tim- ber trees (which would be deposited among them by the wind, or by birds), would ultimately, and at no great distance of time, cause the whole to be covered with forests." — Loudon. lOG THE BLACKTHORN. The cpidcrinis, or outer coating of the bark, has, in this species, as in most others of the same genus, a tendency to spht horizontaUy, and to curl back while yet partially at- tached to the tree. The leaf is small, of a dark green colour, slightly downy underneath, especially at the junction of the veins, and in its young state. The flowers are white and conspicuous only from their abundance : as they expand before the leaves, and are consequently unrelieved bv anv verdure, they are not beautiful. The fruit when ripe is black, and being covered with a delicate bloom, presents, late in the autumn, a more pleasing appearance than the tree can display at any other season. It is found throughout Europe, with the exception of (he extreme north ; it occurs also in the north of Africa, and many parts of Asia, and has been introduced into America, where it is frequently found in bodges perfectly naturalized. THE BLACKTHORN. 107 The Blackthorn is not nearly so valuable for the con- struction of live hedges as the Hawthorn, owing, in the first place, to its rambhng habit ; and, secondly, to its tendency to send up perpendicular branches, which are bare of thorns towards the base. The wood rarely attains a size v.hich will allov/ it to be applied to any useful pur- poses as timber ; but the straight stems are extensively used as walking-sticks, which are much admired for their bright colour and numerous knots. The thorny dead branches are also recommended as being well adapted for forming a fence round young trees planted in parks, the sharp and rigid thorns effectually preventing the inroads of cattle. The leaves are used to adulterate tea, for which they form a substitute less liable to detection than almost any other British plant, possessing a bitter, aromatic prin- ciple, which, inasmuch as it is to be attributed to the pre- sence of prussic acid, must render them very unwholesome. The fruit is intensely austere and astringent, so much so that a single drop of the juice placed on the tongue will produce a roughness on the throat and palate which is perceptible for a long time. When mellowed by frost, however, it becomes red and pulpy, but at no period of its existence claims to be considered a grateful fruit. The juice of it, in its unripe state, is said to enter largely into the composition of spurious port wine, and it may, it is said, be fermented into a liquor resembling new port. So impudently and notoriously is this fraud carried on in London, and so boldly is it avowed, that there are books published called " Publicans' Guides," &c., in which receipts are given for the manufacture of port wine from cider, brandy, and sloe-juice, coloured with tincture of red sandars or cudbear. '^ This villanous compound may be ' Red Sandirsis a preiuration of sandal-wood, used as a dye. Cud- bear, so called after a Mr. Cuthbcrt, who first brought it into use, is a lichen {Lecanora /ar/r/cM), found growint^ in several parts of the Continent, and in Great Britain, on granitic and volcanic rock, and is also used as a d3'e. The chemical test called lifmux i< a jirefiara- tion of this vegetable. Catechu is a substance procured by boiling 108 THE BLACKTHORX. converted iuto " old port " in a few days by the addition of catechu. The corks may be stained by being soaked in a strong decoction of brazil-wood and a little alum ; and even bottles are manufactured which contain a sutticient quantity of lime to be sensibly acted on by the acid, and to produce a counterfeit " crust ! " In France the unripe fruit is sometimes pickled and sent to table as a substitute for olives, and in Germany and Russia' it is crushed and fermented with water, and a spirit distilled from it. In Dauphine, the juice of the ripe fruit is used for colouring wine. Letters marked on hnen or woollen with this juice will not wash out. The substance sold by druggists under the name of German Acacia is prepared from the juice of the unripe fruit.^ The bark, according to Dr. Lindley, is one of the sub- stances which has been reported to resemble " Jesuits' bark " in its etfects. It may be used for tanning leather ; a decoction of it with alkali dyes yellow, and it may be employed with advantage as a substitute for galls in the manufacture of ink. There are several varieties, ditfering principally in the size of the leaf and fruit ; but the only one deserving notice is the double flowered, which is cultivated and said to be highly prized in Japan and China for the abundance of its blossom. On the whole, the Blackthorn, in its natural state, possesses few valuable qualities. It certainly does not recommend itself to our favourable consideration on the score of beautj', and being employed to adulterate some substances, and as an inditl'erent substitute for others, we are inclined to suspect its honesty ; and as it is, moreover, a great enemy to the agriculturist, we do not scruple to include it among the " thorns and thistles " of the prima?val curse*. Yet, strange to say, as. if to be both a memorial of the curse, and of the implied promise, that the industry of chips of the lieart-wood of Acacia cafechii ; it i? a chirk-coloured, powerful a-^- ^ v V ■ some eminent horti- culturists - to the same origin. Every cultivator of Dahlias or Verbenas must be aware that it is im- possible to assign limits to the varia- tions which these plants will undergo when subjected to the skilful treatment of the florist ; and there is ever}' reason, deduced both from theory and practice, why the same rule should be extended to fruit-trees. In the Horticultural Society's Transactions, 274 distinct varieties of the plum actually in cultivation are enumerated, a number sufficiently great to admit of every possible gradation from the worthless sloe to the delicious green-gage. All these are referred by some horticulturists to another variety, Pninm tJomesiicn, which, as its name would imply, is no longer found in a FRUIT AND FOLIAGE OF Brtl.ACF.-TREF.. ' Frunus insH'ilia, ' Knight, Loudon, SiC. 110 THE BLACKTHORN', really wild state ; and even wlicu it is occasionally met ■with in hedges, approaches much more closely in character to the undoubtedly wild Buliace-tree, or Blackthorn, than it does to the garden varieties. The inference which we may safely draw from this fact is, that if the yellow marinnm honum plum may be referred for its origin to the small black fruit of the " domesti- cated plum," as we find it in our hedges, we have at Last equal reason for referring the latter to the sloe-tree. For many of our best varieties of plum we are indebted to the French. First among these stands the Green-gage. It is known in France by several names : that of "Reine Claude"' was given to it from its having been introduced into France by Queen Claude, wife of Francis I. During the Revo- lution, so great was the horror entertained against every- thing bearing the slightest allusion to royalty, that in order to retain its popularity it was obliged to change its name to " Prune citoyenne," Citizcn-jilum. It received its iiamo Green-gage from the following circumstance. The Gage family, in the last century, procured from the monas- tery of Chartreuse at Paris, a collection of fruit-trees, the names of which were in every instance but one carefully attached to them. That of the Reine Claude, however, had beea cither omitted by the packer, or been rubbed off JIYEOBAL.VN PLVM. THK BLACKTHORX. Ill during the transit to England. The consequence v.-as, that it stood without a name until it bore Iruit, vhcn the gardener very appropriately called it " Green-gage," in honour of the family who had introduced it. Since the revival of royalty in France, the Citizoa-plum has recovered its ancient name, and " Ecinc Claudes " are now exported in large quantities. The best prunes and French-plums come from Provence and the neighbourhood of Tours, the quality depending upon the sort of fruit used, and the care observed in the MAGNUJI-BONUM PLVM. preparation. The commoner kinds are shaken from the tree and baked in an oven ; but the finer sorts are gathered singly by the stems before sunrise, and laid, without touch- ing one another, exposed to the sun and air several davs before baking, great care being taken not to remove the delicate bloom with which they are covered. Brignoles ^ are the dried fruit of a tree which grows prin- cipally near the town of the same name in Provence. Thev are peeled when fresh, and dried in the sun. When th3 ' Corrupted into Prunellas. 112 THE CHEERY. moisture which they contain is entirely evaporated, the stones are taken out hj hand, and the plums are pressed together in such a manner as to make them quite round. They are afterwards packed into small wooden boxes, orna- mented with cut paper, and form an important article of revenue to the gi'owers. The Damascene, or Damson, takes its name from Da- mascus, where it grows in great quantities, and from whence it was brought into Italy about 114 b.c. It is used prin- cipally for preserves, and for making a kind of jelly called " Damson cheese." Many kinds of plum were known to the Greeks and Romans ; and Gerard had in his garden at Holborn, in 1597, " three-score sorts, all strange and rare." For a-fuller description of the garden-plums I must refer my readers to works treating on horticulture. THE CHERRY. Cerasus sylvestris. Cerasus vulgaris. Natural Order — RosACEiE. Class — IcOSAXDRI v. Order — MOXOGTNIA. The subject of the present memoir aflbrds another emi- nent example, in addition to that recorded in the last chapter, of the beneficence of the Almighty in permitting man to control the course and operations of Nature, so as to render them, in a measure, subser\-ient to his gi-atification and advantage. Human industry, we have seen, has con- verted the Thorn into the fruitful plum, and in the Cherry- tree we have another instance scarcely less remarkable ; by dint of careful perseverance, a juiceless unpalatable berry becomes a delicious and nourishiu':' fruit. The success THE CHERRY. 113 which has attended the efforts of earlier cultivators ought, therefore, to supply us with a delightful incentive to in- dustry, and, at the same time, a powerful motive to grati- tude to our great Creator and Preserver. ^f i~ THE V.'IT.D CHF.RRT-THEF. The Cherry-tree, though more familiarly known as C valued tenant of the orchard and garden, possesses unde- niable claims to be considered a naturalized, if not a native. Forest Tree, resting its title both on its size and on the wildncss of its haunts. It is not unfrequently met with in woods and hedges, and in the north of England is found I 114 THE CHERRY. on the mountains at an elevation of a thousand feet above the level of the sea. In congenial soils and situations it rises to the height of seventy or eighty feet, and in Scotland is planted for its timber. In some of the wilder parts of the same country it is as plentiful as the Birch, and propagates itself as freely. In a picturesque point of view, its trunk and branches ai's light and graceful, but not sufficiently concealed by its FLOWKR OK THK WILD CIIFIIRT. scattered and somewhat scanty foliage. In early spring, however, the very deficiency of foliage renders more con- spicuous its beautiful cluster of large flowers ; while, in autumn, the bright crimson hue of its fading leaves irre- sistibly catclies the eye, and imparts to the landscape a brilliancy which amply atones for any other defects. Amid mountainous scenery it is often particularly striking, THE CHEERY. Hi contrasting exquisitely (especially when kimllctl into a brighter blaze by the straggling rays of the sun) with the dull grey of the rocks among which it has taken its station, and the rich brown of the river which it overhangs. There are several varieties of the tree even in the wild state ; but modern botanists are of opinion that these may all be reduced to two species, the Black and Bed-fruited. ,^^ FRVIT OF THE WiLD CHERRY. It derives its name from Cerasus (nov,- Kerasoun), a city of ancient Pontus, in Asia, whence it was brought by LucuUus, the Roman general (b.c. G7), at the close of the Mithridatic war. LucuUus thought this tree of so much importance, that, when he was granted a triumph, he placed it in the most conspicuous situation among the 116 THE CHERRY. royal treasures which he had captured during the war ; nor can there be any doubt, that, in permanent utiUty, it was the most vahiable of his acquisitions. Some authors, how- ever, are of opinion that the wild Cherry ^ was the same as the Cornel, which was indigenous in Italy at the time, but not cultivated as a fruit-tree, and that Lucullus only intro- duced improved sorts. At all events, it does not appear to have been cultivated previously to the time of Lucullus, though afterwards it increased so rapidly that, in th3 course of a hundred and twenty years, it had reached even Britain. According to the foregoing statement, the Cherry-tree was introduced into Britain before a.d. 53. The earliest mention of the fruit being exposed to salo by hawkers in London is in Henry the Fifth's reign, 1-115. New sorts were introduced from Flanders, by Kichard Haines, Henry the Eighth's fruiterer, and being planted in Kent, wer3 called " Flanders " or " Kentish Cherries," of which Gerard (1597) says, " They have a bitter juice, but watery, cold, and moist." Philips sa^'S, " Thero is an account of a Cherry-orchard of thirty-two acres in Kent, which, in the year 1510, produced fruit that sold, in those early days, for 1,000/. ; which seems an enormous sum, as at that period good land is stated to have let at one shilling per acre." Evelyn tells us, that in his timo (1G62) an acre planted with Cherries, one hundred miles from London, had been let at 10/. During the Commonwealth (1619), the manor and mansion of Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I., at "\Yiml)lodon, in Surrey, were surveyed pre- viously to being sold, and it appears that there were upwards of two hundred Cherry-trees in the gardens. Since that time the Cherry-tree has found universal admission into shrubberies, gardens, and orchards. Kent still continues the principal county for cherries ; yet nowhere do they grow in greater luxuriance and beauty ' The fruit of this tree was subfcriuently callel the Cornel- Cherry hy some authors. THE CHEEKY. 117 than on the banks of the Tamar, in Dcvonshii-c, where they freely " thrive into stately trees, beautiful with blossoms of a surprising whiteness, greatly relieving the sedulous bee, and attracting birds. "^ In popular mythology the Cherry-tree is, for some un- known reason, associated with the cuckoo. In Germany, "the cuckoo never sings until he has thrice eaten his fill of cherries." In Yorkshire, children were formerly, and perhaps still are, accustomed to sing round a Cherry-tree the following invocation : — '•' Cuckoo, cberry-tree,- Come down and tell me How many years I have to live." Each child then shook the tree, and the number of cherries which fell betokened the years of its future life. The naturalized species of Cherry in Great Britain are the Black and Pied-friiitcd, belonging to the genus Pruuits of Linnaeus, Cerasus of Jussieu.^ rrunus avium, Prtinus (. crasus or Cerasus syhestih, is the Black-fruited Chen-y, which, ia favourable situations, attains the dimensions of a tree. Its leaves are large, pointed, somewhat drooping, and slightly downy en the under- side. The fruit is small, round, black when ripe, of an insipid bitterish flavour, and containing a stone which is very large in proportion to the size of the fruit. It is known in various districts by the name of Gean (a corruption of Guifjnes), Merries, Corone, or Coroun, Black-heart, &c. Those botanists who are of opinion that Lucullus only introduced new kinds of Cherries into Europe, consider this species a native, and not without reason ; for it grows ' Evelyn's Si/lva. ^ A popular nursery rhyme beffins with the same words. ' Cerasus may be distinguished from Primus, by its leaves being condupHcate, or /oWf^/ together in their young state, instead of being convolute or rolled together ; and by the frui' being always destitute of tie blocm which characterises all the varieties of Plum. 118 THE CHERRY. freely and abundantly in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Greece, Russia, the Mediterranean islands, Great Bntain and Ireland, attaining a larger size in the north than in the south. Nevertheless, its general diffusion and apparent wildness of growth is not conclusive evidence in favour of its being considered a native of these countries. It has been remarked by M. le Conte, that in America, when Beech woods are cut down, they are speedily replaced by Cherry-trees. He accounts for this on the supposition that birds, who eat the fruit with avidity, may have resorted to the woods for shelter, and there dropped the stones, which either lay dormant, or germinated and re- mained in a diminutive state until the Beeches were cut down, when they advanced rapidly, and finally became the principal occupants of the soil. Now, if the Cherry-tree has become thus thoroughly naturalized in America, into which there can be no doubt that it was introduced, there is verv fair ground for the opinion that its extensive diffusion through Europe may be attributed to the same cause, and that the assertion of the older authors, that it is of Asiatic origin, is correct. The second species, which, though often found in our woods and hedges, is not really wild in any part of Europe, is the Red-fruitei Charry. It is called by botanists Pniuus Ccrasits, or by those who assign the Plum and the Cherry to distinct genera, Cerasiis vuhidris. To this species many of the best sorts of our garden Cherries are referred, including the Flemish and Kentish Cherries, Maydukes (from Medoc, the province in France where the variety originated), and many others. It is a much smaller tree than the last, from which it may be distinguished by its unpointed leaves, v.liich do not droop and are never downy beneath, and by its red, acid fruit. In England, Cherries are to be considered rather as a luxury than as a staple article of food ; but on the Con- tinent, particularly in France, they arc highly prized as supplying food to the poor ; and a law was passed in that THE CnEHRY. 119 country in 16G9, commanding the preservation of all Cherry- trees in the royal forests. The consequence of this Mas that the forests became so full of fruit-trees, that there was no longer room for the underwood, — when they were all cut down, except such young ones as were included among the number of standard saplings required by the law to be le-ft to secure a supply. This measure was a great calamity to the poor, who, during several months of the year, lived either directly or indirectly on the fruit. Soup made of Cherries, with a little bread and a little butter, was the common nourishment of the wood-cutters and (hr.rccal- burners of the forest. Of late years the practice of planting Cherry-trees by the roadside las been extensively adopted in Germany : and one may row travel from Strasburg to Munich, a distance of two hundred and filly miles, through an avenue ot Cherries, interspersed with Walnuts, Plums, and Pears. By far the greater part of the fast are un- grafted trees, -which succeed in the poorest soil, end in the coldest and most elevated situations. A large portion of the tract of country which bears the name of Black Forest is an elevated, irregular surface, with no other wood than the Cherry-trees, which have been planted by the roadside. Cherries are preserved in vaiious ways. Sometimes they are simply dried in the sun, in vLich state they are much used for puddings : they are also preserved in brandy, or converted into marmalade, lozenges, &c. Fer- mented and distilled, they furnish the liqueurs called Ratatia, Kirschwasser, and Maraschino. "Wine and vinegar are also made from them ; and an oil is extracted from the kernels, which is used to give the flavour of bitter almonds to puddings, &c. ; the leaves are also used for the same purpose. From the bark of the Cherry-tree an elastic but not very viscid gum exudes, which is said to have many of the properties of gum-arabic. ^ Hasselquist relates that more ' Any excessive flow of j:;mii is very injurious to the tree; and, indeed, in time proves fatal. 120 THE CHERRY. than a hundred men, during a siege, were kept ahve for nearly two months, without any other sustenance than a httle of this gum, taken sometimes into the mouth, and suffered gradually to dissolve. " The timber is very valuable, being of a firm texture, red-coloured, close-grained, easily worked, and susceptible of a high poHsh. These qualities render it a desirable material to the cabinet-maker, and the furniture made of it is little, if at all inferior, both in respect to beauty and durability, to that of the plainer kinds of mahogany. In this country, where the wood just mentioned has in a great measure superseded all other kinds in our articles of furniture, and where the Cherry-tree has never been culti- vated to any extent as a timber-tree, it is rare to meet with specimens of furniture made of its wood ; but in France, and other parts of the Continent where it abounds, it is extensively used for this and various other purposes, and is eagerly purchased by the cabinet-maker, the iumer, and the musical-instrument maker. Its value, however, is not restricted to the uses made of it by those artisans ; it is equally applicable to out-of-door uses and general car- pentry ; and where exposure to the atmosphere, or the alternation of dr^-ness and moisture is required, it is superior to most other timber we possess, and is only in- ferior to the best Oak, or its rival the Larch. "^ When treated as coppice, it is very useful for hop-poles, props for vines, and hoops for casks. The Turks have the tubes of their pipes, which are from four to seven feet long, made of Cherry stems.^ Like the Ash, it burns very well as fire- wood in its green state ; but if kept two or three years and then used as fuel, it smoulders away like tinder, without producing much heat. The double-flowered Cherry is a favourite oruauiont of our gardens and lawns in spring, when its numerous snow- white flowers present a beautiful appearance. Like many ' Selby. ' The "best are made of the Maha'ob, or perfumed. Cherry. THE BIRD-CHERRY. 121 other double flowers, it procluces no fruit ; but the structure of its blossoms is particular!}' interesting to the physiolo- gical botanist, illustrating, better perhaps than any other plant, the fact that the seed-vessel, among other compound organs, is a metamorphosed or transformed leaf, altered in structure and functions, so as to perform offices in vege- table economy entirely diflerent from those of the true leaf. In the double Cherry it appears to return to its primitive form ; for in the centre of each flower is a minute leaf, exactly similar to those of the branches, notched and veined in the same manner, and even folded together like the young stem-leaves. Other double flowers, beside those of the Cherry, occasionally present the same appearance, especially Roses ; but in all these the phenomenon is an irregular mode of growth, whereas in the Cherry it is constant. The Cherry is a favourite tree of the Woodpecker, who perforates its trunk for the sake of feeding on the larva; of insects, and hollowing out his nest : but the remarks made at page 68 are equally applicable to the case of this trs9. THE BIRD-CHERRY. Cerasus padus. The Bird- Cherry in its wild state rarely attains the dimensions of a tree ; but there are in existence cultivated specimens between thirty and forty feet high, and a foot or more in diameter. It is most worthy of attention for its copious long clusters of snow-white flowers, which are much smaller than those of the Cherry, and soon fiide. The fruit, called also Foid-Chernj, Cluster-Cherry, and m Scotland lliKj-Clumj, is small and worthless. "Birds of several kiads soon devour this fruit, which is nauseous, and probably dangerous to mankind, though perhaps not 122 THE BIED- CHERRY. of SO deadly a quality as the essential oil, or distilled water of the leaves."'^ It is most abundant in the north of England and Scotland. In Gerard's time it grew wild in the woods of Kent, where it was used as a stock to graft Cherries on : and in Lancashire it was found in almost every hedge. The wood is much used in France by the cabinet-maker, but little known in this country, ov.'ing, 'wm VW BLOSSOMS OF THE BIRD-rnEHHT. among other causes, to the difliculty of obtaining it suffi- ciently larg>'. The leaves arc more frequently attacked by caterpillars than those of any other species of Cherry ; hence, a writer in the Aurinilhinil JonruaJ of Bavarin recommends that from one to four young trees (according ' English Flora. 1 TUS DIRD-CHERRY. 123 to their size) should be i^lauted at intervals of one or two hundred yards in orchards, v.hcn, he says, almost all the caterpillars and butterflies will resort to them. The ap- pearance of the Bird-Cherry will be hideous, but the fruit- trees will be safe. Several other species of Cerasiis are extensively cultivated in England as ornamental trees and shrubs, but none of them have any pretension to be admitted among British fhvit of the hird-chkrry. Trees. My notice of them, therefore, must be very brief: Cerasus Ln)trocerasus, the TMurcl-Cherry, or, as it is now almost exclusively called. Laurel, was introduced into Europe from Trebizond, in Asia Minor, in 1576; conse- quently, it is a mistaken notion to identify it with the famed Laurel of the ancients. This error is the more frequent, from om* having given to the true Laurel, Lmnus 124 THE BIRD-CHEERY. iiohUis, the name of Bay. Laurel leaves abound in prussic acid, and the water distilled from them is a most virulent poison. The custom of using them to flavour custards, puddings, &c., should therefore be strongly deprecated. Insects, the appearance of which is liable to be injured by immersion in spirits of wine, may readily be killed by being shut into a closed box with bruised leaves, the aroma from which speedily takes eff"ect. Ceras-iis Lusitanica, or Poriuijal Laurel, is a native of the country from which it derives its name. It is not of rapid growth, but is a valuable acquisition to the shrub- bery, from its elegance of form and hardy nature, resisting the severest frost, before which the Laurel and Laui-ustinus shrink and perish. POKTIGAL LAVlltL. 125 THE MOUNTAIN ASH. Pyrus aucupaeia. Natural Order — RoSACE.E. C/as5— IcosANDHiA. Order — Ppntagynia. This universally admired tree chooses its dwelling, as its name would imph', in the wildest and most exposed situa- tions, where, though impatient of being itself sheltered by any other kind of trees, it affords a friendly protection to gi-ass and other plants which choose to grow beneath its shade. As long as it overtops its companions in the wood or mountain-side, it is a vigorous and stately tree : but ■when it has attained its utmost height, and its more aspiring neighbours begin to screen it from its due share of air and light, it quietly retires from the contest, pines away in confinement, and suffers itself to be destroyed by the drip of the very trees that it formerly nursed and protected. Hence we rarely meet with a full-grown Mountain Ash in a crowded forest of ancient trees. Where it has gained the vantage-ground of a broken rock partially covered with rich, light soil, or taken its stand in an open glade, amid ■:lants of humbler growth, it attains a considerable size. Or again, in an elevated situation, uncongenial to the rapid growth of its companions, but well suited to its own wild tastes and habits, it will continue to flourish for a century or more. " The Mountain Ash No eye can overlook, when 'mid a grove Of yet unfaded trees she Hfls her head, Deck'd with autumnal berries that outshine Spring's richest blossoms ; and ye may have irark'd By a brook -side or solitary tarn, How she her station doth adorn : the pool Glows at her feet, and all the gloomy rocks Are brighten'd round her."— Wokuswokth. 12G THE MOUNTMX ASH. The Mountain Ash is placed by most modern botanists in the same genus '\\'ith the Apple and Pear, the fruit of ,.:fft*?'»>,_. fei THE MOrXTAIX AFII. whicli it resembles in conformation.^ Others assign it a place ^\ith the Medlar (MrsjiHits), or make it and the ' The Siberian Crab {Pt/run hacrafa) ])roduces fruit which may be considered as a connecliiif,' link between the borrv of the Mountain Ash and the apple of Pi/i-ks malus, the common Apple-tree. THE MOUNTAIN APH. 12? group with which it is conuected a distinct Qen\is(Suihits). The Dame Auciiparia (from auceps, a fowler) indicates the use to which its berries are appHed by bird-catchers in France and Germany, who bait their traps with tliem as a certain lure for thrushes and fieldfares. Its popular names are very numerous : Mountain Ash, the commonest, is fr.r from correct, as it belongs to an entirely dilierent tribe from the Ash, which tree it resembles only in its leaves ; Rowan, Roan, its common name in Scotland, and various other forms of the same word, occur in old authors. It is also called Quick-Beam, Wild or Fowler's Service-tree : " Service" appears to be a corruption oi Sorhus, the ancient Latin name of an allied species, Pijrus Surbus. "Witchcn, Wicken, Wiggen, &c., evidently bear allusion to the power it was once supposed to possess of counteracting witchcraft, Lightfoot and Gilpin are both of opinion that the Moun- tain Ash was held in high estimation by the Druids. The former says, " It may to this day be observed to grow more frequently than any other tree in the neiglibourhood of those druidical circles of stones so often seen in the north of Britain ; and the superstitious still continue to retain a great veneration for it, which was undoubtedly handed down to them from early antiquit}'. They believe that any small part of this tree, carried about them, will prove a sovereign charm against all the dire eflects of enchantment and witchcraft. The cattle also, as well as themselves, are supposed to be preserved by it from evil ; for the dairy-maid will not forget to drive them from the shealings, or summer pastures, with a I'od of the Rowan- tree, which she carefully lays up over the door of the sheal-boothy or summer-house, and drives them home again with the same. In Strathspey, they make, on the 1st of May, a hoop with the wood of this tree, and in the evening and morning cause the sheep and lambs to pass through it." The belief in the efficacy of the Mountain Ash as a preservative against witchcraft has led some commentators 128 THE MOUNTAIN ASH. on Sbakspeare to substitute, for the puzzling expression in "Macbeth," "Aroint thee, witch!" the words "A Roan- tree, witch ! " The passage being thus uttered, the men- tion of a tree so fatal to the power of the witch might naturally excite her acrimony against the person who ap- plied the test. The authoress of " Sylvan Sketches" quotes a stanza from a very ancient song, which runs as follows : — *■' Their spells were vain : the bny? return'd To the queen in sorrowful mood, Crying, that ' witches have no power Where there is Roan-tres wood.' " In remote districts of England the superstition has not even yet died away. Waterton, in his "Essays on Natural History," relates an anecdote which fell under his personal observation, of a countryman in Yorkshire, who " cut a bundle of Wiij;iiii, and nailed the branches all up and down the cow-house," in order to counteract the effect produced on his cow by the " overlooking" of a supposed witch. The Mountain Ash is found in a native state through- out the whole of Europe, and in several of the northern countries of Asia and North America. The parts of Great Britain where it attains its largest size are the western highlands and the western coast of Scotland. On the hills of Cheshire and Derbyshire it does not often attain a great size ; in such situations an entire tree, with roots, leaves, and flowers, is sometimes found not more than nine inches high. Ordinarily it grows very rapidly during the first five years of its existence, and at the age of twenty years forms a tree of the sime number of feet with a single erect stem and a bushy head. The branches are smooth, and vary in colour from grey to purplish brown. The buds, before their expansion in the beginning of April, are large and downy. The leaves consist of from seven to nine pairs of narrow, acute, notched leaflets, terminated by an odd one. Thc«o are soniewbat downy underneath in their young state, but soon become quite THE MOUNTAIN ASH. 129 smooth. The flowers arc numerous, resembling in shape those of the Pear, but much smaller ; in odour, those of the least fragrant varieties of Hawthorn. In early summer they are conspicuous from their number, and arrangement in large white clusters : when these are shed, the tree is still a pleasing object, from the brightness and elegant /'■ FL'JWEHS 01' THE MOUNTAIN ASH. shape of its leaves. As autumn advances, it asserts its claims to be considered a fruit-tree, in appearance, if not for utility. Its flowers are then succeeded by numerous bunches of coral-red berries, which, until devoured by the Thrush and Storm-cock, or scattered by the equinoc- tial gales, infallibly distinguish it from every other tenant 13C THE MOUNTAIN ASH. either of tlie wood or the parli. "In the Scottish high- lands, on some rocky mountain covered with dark Pines and waving Birch, which cast a solemn gloom over the lake below, a few Mountain Ashes joining in a clump, and mixing with them, have a fine efiect. In summer the light green tint of their foliage, and in autumn the glow- rariT of the mouxtaix ash. ing berries which hang clustering upon them, contrast beautifully with the deeper green of the Pines ; and if tliey are happily blended, and not in too large a proportion, they a:ld some of the most picturesque furniture with which the sides of those rugged mountains are invested."^ ' Gili>in. THE MOUNTAIN ASH. IPl A variety is cultivated which has yellow berries, and another with variegated leaves ; but neither of these, as is the case with many other treasured rarities, has anything beyond its rarity to recommend it. The berries, besides being applied to the use from which the tree derives its name, " Birdcatcher's Service," are eaten in the extreme north of Europe as fruit, though not, one would suppose, until every other kind of attain- able fruit is exhausted, for they are intensely acid, and possess a peculiar flavour, which makes them very un- palatable. In seasons of scarcity, it is said that they are sometimes dried and ground into flour. " Some," says Evelyn, "highly commend the juice of the berries, which, fermenting of itself, if well jn-eserved, makes an excellent drink against the spleen and scurvy. Ale and beer brewed with these berries when ripe, is an incomparable drink, familiar in Wales." A beverage resembling perry is still made from them in that country, and is much used by the poor. In Kamtschatka and in the Scottish highlands an ardent spirit is distilled from them, which is said to have a fine flavour. As a timber-tree, the Mountain Ash does not attain a size which renders it available by the carpenter ; but its wood being fine-grained, hard and susceptible of a high polish, is used for smaller manufactures, principally in turnery. As coppice it may be apjDhed to most of the uses of Ash, Hazel, &c. ; and the bark is employed by the tanner. In the days of archery, it ranked next to the Yew as a material for bows, and was considered sufficiently important lo be mentioned in the statute of Henrv YIII. 132 THE WHITE-BEAM. Pyrus aria. The Wliitc-IIeam^ (or AVhitc-tree), (bough closely allied t;) the Mouuttiiu Ash, and consequently bearing a strong resemblance to it as to llower and fruit, is nevertheless very unlike it in general character and appearance. It is a native of the same countries, with the exception of North America, i:)referring chalky or limestone soils, where it frequently attains the height of thirty or forty feet. The trunk is straight and smooth, and the young shoots are ' " Beam," Saxon for "tree." So, in German, "Melil-baum" moans literally " Moal-lrco," from the remarkably white and mealy appearance of the undcr-sidc of Us leaves. ViaLD SERVICE- THEE. 133 covered with a vrhite mealy clown, as are also the under- sides of the leaves, to such a degree as to give the tree its name. The flowers are larger than those of the Mountain Ash, and are succeeded hy pale red berries, resembling in shape those of the Siberian Crab. "Without being by any means common or well known, it occurs occasionally in various parts of England and Scotland. In the north of Devon and in Surrey I have seen it reaching a large size, and bearing abundance of fruit ; but where the soil is not congenial, or the situation is confined, it scarcely merits the rank of a tree. The fmsst are said to grow near Blair, in Perthshire. The fruit is used for the same purpose as that of the Roan-tree, and, if kept till it begins to decay, is somewhat more palatable, for in this state, like the Medlar, it loses a great deal of its austerity. It is eagerly devoured by birds, and on this account is in France protected by law, our neighbours having anticipated us in the discovery that the hostility of birds against insects more than compensates in its effects for the occasional depredations which the former commit in our orchards and gardens. The wood of the White-Beam is very heavy and of a close texture, and is much used, especially on the Continent, for the cogs of wheels in machinery. WILD SEPtYICE-TREE. I'YRUS TOmilNALIS. This species differs from the lasi in having its dark, glossy leaves lobed very like those of the Maple, whence it is sometimes called " Maple-Service." The fruit, which is brown and dotted when ripe, and not much larger than that of the Hawthorn, begins to decay when the frost has touched it, and is then agreeably acid and wholesome. Its geographical distribution is nearly the same Avith the White-Beam ; but it is not found in Scotland or Ireland, 134 THE PEAR. It occurs occasionally in Cornwall as a hedge-bush, and in some other of the southern counties is said to attain tho height of fifty feet ; but it is nowhere common. The " True Service-tree " (Pijnis Sorbiis) is a doubtful native of Britain ; but this is rarely met with even in a cultivated state, and requires no further mention. The name " Service-tree " is often applied indiscrimi- nately to all the above species of Pyrus, but belongs more particularly to the last. THE PEAR. Pyrus communis. The Pear-tree, in its wild state, varies considerably in difierent countries, both in its mode of growth, and in the shape, size, and pubescence of its leaves. Some of these are probably distinct species, and inhabit most parts of Europe and Asia ; but, as we have only to deal with the British form of the tree, it is unnecessary to pursue this subject. It is found in most counties of England, growing in woods and hedges. Its outline, when it stands alone, is pyramidal : the branches are at first erect, then curved downwards and pendulous ; in a truly wild state, thorny. The young leaves are slighth' downy beneath, but, when mature, are quite smooth on both sides. When it is culti- vated the thorns on the branches disappear, as in the Plum. The flowers grow in clusters, and are lars^e and of a pure white. The fruit is much smaller thau that of any of the cultivated varieties, hard, austere, and unfit to eat ; its only use is to mix with cultivated sorts in making perry. The wood was formerly sought after for wood-engraving, but is only adapted to coarse designs : it is also sometimes dyed black, in imitation of ebony. For usefulness as a fruit-tree the Pear is rivalled only by the* Apple, — furoishinf:; abundance of fruit, which is THE PEAR. Uo valuable in its fresh state, as wlII as for baking and pre- serving. ]\Iany sorts were well known to the Greeks and Romans ; Pliny enumerates thirty-two. It was cultivated in England at a ver}' early period. Chaucer makes mention of it ; and in an account-book of Henry VIII. there aro the following charges, among others : — £ s. d. " For medlars and wardens ' 034 Item, to a woman who gatf the Kyng peres ..00 2." ? ';,) FLOWEa OF PEAR-TREE. In Gerard's time, " threescore sundrie sorts of pears, and those exceeding good," were growing in one garden ; and of late years so much attention has been paid to the ' "Wardens" were so called from their property of keeling: "peres" ^ere probably some comm