OAK

OAK, in botany. See QUERCUS.

The oak has been long known by the title of monarch of the woods, and very justly. It was well known, and often very elegantly described, by the ancient poets. The following description from Virgil is exquisite:

Veluti annojo validam cum robore quercum
Alpini Boreas, nunc hinc, nunc statibus illinc
Erucere inter se certant: ita stridor, et alte
Conserunt terram concusso stipite frondes:
Ipsa haret scopulis; et quantum vertice ad auras
Aetherios, tantum radice in Tartara tendit.

ÆN. iv. 441.

As o'er th' aerial Alps sublimely spread,
Some aged oak uprears his reverend head;
This way and that the furious tempest blow,
To lay the monarch of the mountains low;
Th' imperial plant, though nodding at the sound,
Though all his scatter'd honours strow the ground;
Safe in his strength, and seated on the rock,
In naked majesty defies the shock:
High as the head shoots tow'ring to the skies,
So deep the root in hell's foundation lies.

PITT.

The ancient druids had a most profound veneration for oak trees. Pliny^* says, that "the druids (as the Gauls call their magicians or wise men) held nothing so sacred as the mistletoe, and the tree on which it grows, provided it be an oak. They make choice of oak groves in preference to all others, and perform no rites without oak-leaves; so that they seem to have the name of druids from thence, if we derive their name from the Greek," &c. (See DRUIDS—definition, and no 11.) Maximus Tyrius says the Celtae or Gauls worshipped Jupiter under the figure of a lofty oak (A).

This useful tree grows to such a surprising magnitude, that were there not many well authenticated instances of them in our own country, they would certainly appear difficult of belief. In the 18th volume of the Gentleman's Magazine we have the dimensions of a leaf twelve inches in length and seven in breadth, and all the leaves of the same tree were equally large. On the estate of Woodhall, purchased in 1775 by Sir Thomas Rumbold, bart. late governor of Madras, an oak was felled which sold for 43l. and measured 24 feet round. We are also told of one in Millwood fo-

rest, near Chaddeley, which was in full verdure in winter, getting its leaves again after the autumn ones fell off. In Hunter's Evelyn's Sylva, we have an account of a very remarkable oak at Greendale; which Gough, in his edition of Camden, thus minutely describes: "The Greendale oak, with a road cut thro' it, still bears one green branch. Such branches as have been cut or broken off are guarded from wet by lead. The diameter of this tree at the top, whence the branches issue, is 14 feet 2 inches; at the surface of the ground 11½ feet; circumference there 35 feet; height of the trunk 53; height of the arch 10, width 6. Mr Evelyn mentions several more oaks of extraordinary size in Workop park."

In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1773 we have an account of one differing very essentially from the common one; it is frequent about St Thomas in Devonshire, and is in that county called Lucombe oak, from one William Lucombe who successfully cultivated it near Exeter. It grows as straight and handsome as a fir; its leaves are evergreen, and its wood as hard as that of the common oak. Its growth is so quick, as to exceed in 20 or 30 years the altitude and girth of the common one at 100. It is cultivated in various places; Cornwall, Somersetshire, &c.

M. du Hamel du Monceau, of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris (who wrote a treatise on husbandry), gave an account in the year 1749 of an oak which he had kept in water eight years, and which yielded fine leaves every spring. The tree had, he says, four or five branches; the largest 19 or 20 lines round, and more than 18 inches long. It thrived more in the two first years than it would have done in the best earth; it afterwards lost its vigour, and rather decayed; which he attributed to a defect in the roots rather than to want of aliment.

M. de Buffon made some experiments on oak trees; the result of which is recorded in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1754. He had compared barked with unbarked trees; and proves, we think with success, from a variety of trials, that timber barked and dried standing, is always heavier and considerably stronger than timber kept in its bark.

The bark of oak-trees was formerly thought to be extremely useful in vegetation. One load (Mr Mills in his treatise on husbandry informs us) of oak-bark, laid in a heap and rotted, after the tanners have used it for dressing of leather, will do more service to stiff cold land, and its effects will last longer, than two loads of the richest dung; but this has been strenuously controverted. (See OAK-LEAVES.)

The bark, in medicine, is also a strong astringent; and hence stands recommended in hemorrhages, alvine fluxes, and other preternatural or immoderate secretions; and in these it is sometimes attended with good effects. Some have alleged, that by the use of this bark every purpose can be answered which may be obtained from Peruvian bark. But after several very fair

Oak fair trials, we have by no means found this to be the case. Besides the bark, the buds, the acorns, and their cups are used; as also the galls, which are excrevencies caused by insects on the oaks of the eastern countries, of which there are divers sorts: some perfectly round and smooth, some rougher with small protuberances, but all generally having a round hole in them. All the parts of the oak are styptic, binding, and useful in all kinds of fluxes and bleedings, either inward or outward. The bark is frequently used in gargarisms, for the relaxation of the uvula, and for sore mouths and throats: it is also used in refringent clysters and injections, against the prolapsus uteri or ani. The acorns, beaten to powder, are frequently taken by the vulgar for pains in the side. The only official preparation is the aqua germinum quercus.

Oak-Leaves. The uses of oak-bark in tanning, and in hot-beds, is generally known. For the latter of these purposes, however, oak-leaves are now found to answer equally well, or rather better. In the notes to Dr Hunter's edition of Evelyn's Treatise on Forest-trees, we find the following directions for their use by W. Speechly: The leaves are to be raked up as soon as possible after they fall from the trees. When raked into heaps, they should immediately be carried into some place near the hot-houses, where they may lie to couch. Mr Speechly says, it was his custom to fence them round with charcoal hurdles, or any thing else, to keep them from being blown about the garden in windy weather. In this place they tread them well, and water them in case they happen to have been brought in dry. The heap is made six or seven feet thick, and covered over with old mats, or any thing else, to prevent the upper leaves from being blown away. In a few days the heap will come to a strong heat. For the first year or two in which he used these leaves, our author did not continue them in the heap longer than ten days or a fortnight: but by this method of management they settled so much when brought to the hot-house, that a supply was very soon required; and he afterwards found, that it was proper to let them remain five or six weeks in the heaps before they are brought to the hot-house. In getting them into the pine-pots, if they appear dry, they are to be watered, and again trodden down exceedingly well, in layers, till the pits are quite full. The whole is then covered with tan-bark, to the thickness of two inches, and well trodden down, till the surface becomes smooth and even. On this the pine-pots are to be placed in the manner they are to stand, beginning with the middle row first, and filling up the spaces between the pots with tan. In this manner we are to proceed to the next row, till the whole be finished; and this operation is performed in the same manner as when tan only is used. The leaves require no farther trouble through the whole season; as they will retain a constant and regular heat for 12 months without stirring or turning; and our author informs us, that if he may judge from their appearance when taken out (being always entire and perfect), it is probable they would continue their heat through a second year; but, as an annual supply of leaves is easily obtained, the experiment is hardly worth making. After this, the pines will have no occasion to be moved, but at stated times

of their management, viz. at the shifting them in their pots, &c. when at each time a little fresh tan should be added to make up the deficiency arising from the settling of the beds; but this will be inconsiderable, as the leaves do not settle much after their long couching. During the first two years of our author's practice he did not use any tan, but plunged the pine-pots into the leaves, and just covered the surface of the beds, when finished, with a little saw-dust, to give it a neatness. This method, however, was attended with one inconvenience; for by the caking of the leaves they shrunk from the sides of the pots, whereby they became exposed to the air, and at the same time the heat of the beds was permitted to escape.

"Many powerful reasons (says Mr Speechly) may be given why oak-leaves are preferable to tanner's bark."

"1. They always heat regularly; for during the whole time that I have used them, which is near seven years, I never once knew of their heating with violence; and this is so frequently the case with tan, that I affirm, and indeed it is well known to every person conversant in the management of the hot-house, that pines suffer more from this one circumstance, than all the other accidents put together, infects excepted. When this accident happens near the time of their fruiting, the effect is soon seen in the fruit, which is exceedingly small and ill-shaped. Sometimes there will be little or no fruit at all; therefore gardeners who make use of tan only for their pines, should be most particularly careful to avoid an over-heat at that critical juncture,—the time of showing the fruit."

"2. The heat of oak-leaves is constant; whereas tanner's bark generally turns cold in a very short time after its furious heat is gone off. This obliges the gardener to give it frequent turnings in order to promote its heating. These frequent turnings, not to mention the expence, are attended with the worst consequences; for by the continual moving of the pots backwards and forwards, the pines are exposed to the extremes of heat and cold, whereby their growth is considerably retarded; whereas, when leaves are used, the pines will have no occasion to be moved but at the times of potting, &c. The pines have one peculiar advantage in this undisturbed situation; their roots grow through the bottoms of the pots, and mat among the leaves in a surprising manner. From the vigour of the plants when in this situation, it is highly probable that the leaves, even in this state, afford them an uncommon and agreeable nourishment."

"3. There is a saving in point of expence; which is no inconsiderable object in places where tan cannot be had but from a great distance."

"4. The last ground of preference is, that decayed leaves make good manure; whereas rotten tan is experimentally found to be of no value. I have often tried it both on sand and clay, and on wet and dry land; and never could discover, in any of my experiments, that it deserved the name of a manure; whereas decayed leaves are the richest, and of all others the most proper manure for a garden. Leaves mixed with dung make excellent hot-beds; and I find that beds compounded in this manner, preserve their heat much longer than when made entirely with dung; and in both."

both cases, the application of leaves will be a considerable saving of dung, which is a circumstance on many accounts agreeable."