1794

ARBORETUM ANI) FRUTICETUM.

PART ill.

J.O. STRVTT.

1636

>4.firt r ^n b n y i t 7. e ,‘f Se -5', i * tbe celebrate(1 oak at Lord Cowper’s [shown in fig.Great Oak at Pan ThlS ab ° Ve & centl "’ y a S°> was wel1 known as the

shanger. There isalso a beautiful tree{fig. 1636.), of thesame description, atLord Darnley ’s seatat Cobham, which,being protected fromthe depredations ofcattle, enjoys themost perfect free-dom of growth, ex-tending its latitudeof boughs in everydirection, and droop-ing its clustered fo-liage to the veryground.” {Strutt inMag. Nat. Hist., vol.i. p. 42.)

^ l fi ®pray aftke Oak has been described and illustrated by Gilpin, with hisusual jelicity. “ In the spray of trees,” he remarks, “ nature seems to observeone simple principle; which is, that the mode of growth in the spray corre-sponds exactly with that of the larger branches, of which, indeed, the spray isthe origin. Thus, the oak divides his boughs from the "

stem more horizontally than most other deciduous trees.

The spray makes exactly, in minia-ture, the same appearance. Itbreaks out in right angles, or inangles that are nearly so, formingits shoots commonly in short lines[see figs. 1637. and 1638., from Gil-pin; and fig. 1639., from Strutt];the second year’s shoot usuallytaking some direction contrary tothat of the first. Thus the ru- -diinents are laid of that abrupt mode of ramification, for which the oak is

J.C.SWTt

1637