1784
ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.
PART III.
soil for the oak, by deeply trenching it, by planting acorns, and not plants ;and by keeping them pruned till they arrive at a proper height, double thequantity of timber may be obtained in about 50 years, that is now producedin 100. Mr. Yates’s mode of cultivation (for an account of which he receiveda premium from the Society of Arts) will be found in a succeeding paragraph.(See Gent. Mag., vol. lxxiv., for 1804, p. 626.)
The following table of the progressive growth of nine oaks in the NewForest, was communicated by T. Davies, Esq., of Portway House, Wiltshire:—
The circumference taken ininches at 6 ft. from the ground.
1814. 1816. 1818. 1820. 1822
No. 1.
58* 58* 59* 59kfifii fifii 674- fflU
D/ jj OOJ Ool oyj
65k 66* 66| 67:
68* j Average increase in 8 years, 3f in. per87a l tree in circumference.
* zg 43J [ Increase of timber in 12ft. in length63| 67* J of trunk, 1 ft. 9 in.
No. 2.
5 Trees planted120 years.
No. 3.
No. 4.
62} 63
No. 5.
Aggregate 307f
326f
No. 6. 28* 30* 32 33f 35f
Average increase in 8 years, 5* in. per
4 Trees planted/ \ No. 7. 27* 28* 29f 29f 32 (tree in circumference.
60 years. "1N0. 8. 28* 29| 30* 31* 32| f Increase of timber in 12 ft. in length
r Vn Q R<31 “Hi <557 <571 <10 lnffn.nl. 1 A »i«
.No. 9. 33* 34| 35* 37j
of trunk, 1 ft. 7 in.
Aggregate 117f
138f
Relative Growth of Oak Wood , as compared with that of other Trees . The resultof observations by Vancouver in Hampshire, as to the relative growth of woodin that county, was, taking the trees at 10 years’ growth, and fixing the oakas a standard, as follows : — Oak, 10; elm, 16; ash, 18; beech, 20 ; whitepoplar (P. alba), 30. It will thus appear that the oak, which is the slowest-growing forest tree indigenous to Britain, increases only at the rate of onethird part of the white poplar, which is the most rapid-growing indigenousforest tree in Britain.
The growth of the oak, as compared with that of the larch, is exemplifiedin a tree of each growing at Wimbush, in Essex. In 1792, the oak, which iscalled Young’s Oak, at 5ft. from the ground, was 8 ft. 5Jin. in girt; and alarch, at the same place, only 12 years old, at the same height from the ground,girted 2 ft. 4 in. In 1805, 13 years afterwards, the oak had increased only4£in. in girt, while the larch had increased 2 ft. 9 in. ( Young’s Essex, ii.P- «I.) .
Poetical Allusions. The most celebrated poetical description of the oak,as well as, perhaps, one of the oldest, is that of Virgil in the second Georgic,which has been thus rendered by Dryden : —
■ ■ “ Jove’s own tree,
That holds the woods in awful sovereignty,
uuiu!) v»ic WUUU6 m awiui suvei eigmy,
Requires a depth of lodging in the ground,
And, next the lower skies, a bed profound.
High as his topmost boughs to heaven ascend,
So low his roots to hell’s dominion tend ;
Therefore nor winds, nor winter’s rage, o’erthrowsHis bulky body, but unmoved he grows.
For length of ages lasts his happy reign,
a tu icngui ui ages lasts ins iiajjpy itugu,
And lives of mortal men contend in vain.
Full in the midst of his own strength he stands,
a uii in uie unust ui ms uwu streugiii ne stands,
Stretching his brawny arms, and leafy hands:
His shade protects the plains, his head the hills commands.’
The following lines are from the JEneid :—
As when the winds their airy quarrel try,Jostling from every quarter of the sky,
uusiiujg inmi cveijr tjucntei ui uie o*y.
This way and that, the mountain oak they bend,
His boughs they shatter, and his branches rend ;With leaves and falling mast they spread the ground;The hollow valleys echo to the sound :
Unmoved the royal plant their fury mocks,
Or, shaken, clings more closely to the rocks ;
For as he shoots his towering head on high,
So deep in earth his fixed foundations lie.”
Virgil. Mu., Dryden’s trans.