god of fire, whose symbol was an oak. Hence at his festival, which was at Christmas, the ceremony of kindling the Yule log was performed among the ancient Druids. This fire was kept perpetual throughout the year and the hearths of all the people were annually lighted from these sacred fires every Christmas. We believe the curious custom is still extant in some remote parts of England, where the "Yule log" is ushered in with much glee and rejoicing once a year.

As an ornamental object, we consider the oak the most majestic and picturesque of all deciduous trees. The enormous size, and extreme old age to which it attains in a favourable situation, the great space of ground that it covers with its branches, and the strength and hardihood of the tree, all contribute to stamp it with the character of dignity and grandeur beyond any other compeer of the forest. When young, its fine foliage, (singularly varied in many of our native species,) and its thrifty form, render it a beautiful tree. But it is not until the oak has attained considerable size, that it displays its true character, and only when at an age that would terminate the existence of most other trees, that it exhibits all its magnificence. Then its deeply furrowed trunk is covered with mosses, its huge branches, each a tree, spreading out horizontally from the trunk with great boldness, its trunk of huge dimension, and its "high top, bald with dry antiquity;" all these, its true characteristics, stamp the oak, as Virgil has expressed it in his Georgics—

"Jove's own tree,

That holds the woods in awful sovereignty;
For length of ages lasts his happy reign,

And lives of mortal man contend in vain.

Full in the midst of his own strength he stands,

Stretching his brawny arms and leafy hands,

His shade protects the plains, his head the hills commands."
DRYDEN'S TRANS.

"The oak," says Gilpin, "is confessedly the most picturesque tree in itself, and the most accommodating in composition. It refuses no subject, either in natural or in artificial landscape. It is suited to the grandest and may with propriety be introduced into the most pastoral. It adds new dignity to the ruined tower, and the Gothic arch; and by stretching its wild, moss-grown branches athwart their ivied walls, it gives them a kind of majesty coeval with itself; at the same time, its propriety is still preserved if it throws its arms over the purling brook or the mantling pool, where it beholds

"Its reverend image in the expanse below."

Milton introduces it happily even in the lowest scene—

"Hard by a cottage chimney smokes,

From between two aged oaks."

The oak is not only one of the grandest and most picturesque objects as a single tree upon a lawn, but it is equally unrivalled for groups and masses. There is a breadth about the lights and shadows reflected and embosomed in its foliage, a singular freedom and boldness in its outline, and a pleasing richness and intricacy in its huge ramification of branch and limb, that render it highly adapted to these purposes. Some trees, as the willow, or the spiry poplar, though pleasing singly, are monotonous to the last degree when planted in quantities. Not so, however, with the oak, as there is no tree, when forming a wood entirely by itself, which affords so great a variety of form and disposition, light and shade, symmetry and irregularity, as this king of the forests.

To arrive at its highest perfection, ample space on every side must be allowed the oak. A free exposure to the sun

and air, and a deep, mellow soil, are highly necessary to its fullest amplitude. For this reason, the oaks of our forests, being thickly crowded, are seldom of extraordinary size; and there are more truly majestic oaks in the parks of England than are to be found in the whole cultivated portion of the United States. Here and there, however, throughout our country, may be seen a solitary oak of great age and immense size, which attest the fitness of the soil and climate, and display the grandeur of our native species. The Wadsworth Oak, near Geneseo, N. Y. of extraordinary dimensions, the product of one of our most fertile valleys, has attracted the

admiration of hundreds of travellers, on the route to Niagara. Its trunk measures thirty-six feet in circumference. The celebrated Charter Oak at Hartford, which has figured so conspicuously in the history of New-England, is still ex

isting in a green old age, one of the most interesting monuments of the past to be found in the country.*

Near the village of Flushing, Long Island, on the farm of Judge Lawrence, is growing one of the noblest oaks in the country. It is truly park-like in its dimensions, the circumference of the trunk being nearly thirty feet, and its majestic head, of corresponding dignity. In the deep alluvial soil of the western valleys, the oak often assumes a grand aspect, and bears witness to the wonderful fertility of the soil in that region.t

*The house seen in the engraving represents the old "Wyllis House." This family, its former occupants, furnished the Secretary of State for Connecticut for more than a century. Near the Charter Oak, are some of the apple trees planted by the Pilgrims, evidently Pearmains. Some of these, lately felled, have been examined, and are found to be more than 200 years old.

+ The following well authenticated description of a famous English oak, is worth a record here. "Close by the gate of the water walk of Magdalen College, Oxford, grew an oak which perhaps stood there a sapling when Alfred the Great founded the University. This period only includes a space of 900 years, which is no great age for an oak. About 500 years after the time of Alfred, Dr. Stukely tells us, William of Waynefleet expressly ordered his college (Magdalen College,) to be founded near the Great Oak; and an oak could not, I think, be less than 500 years of age to merit that title, together with the honour of fixing the site of a college. When the magnificence of Cardinal Woolsey erected that handsome tower which is so ornamental to the whole building, this tree might probably be in the meridian of its glory. It was afterwards much injured in the reign of Charles II., when the present walks were laid out. Its roots were disturbed, and from that time it declined fast, and became a mere trunk. The oldest members of the University can hardly recollect it in better plight; but the faithful records of history have handed down its ancient dimensions. Through a space of 16 yards on every side it once flung its branches; and under its magnificent pavilion could have sheltered with ease 3000 men. In the summer of 1778, this magnificent ruin fell to the ground. From a part of its ruins, a chair has been made for the President of the College, which will long continue its memory."-Gilpin's Forest Scenery.

The King Oak, Windsor Forest, once the favourite tree of William the Conqueror, is now more than 1000 years old, and the interior of the trunk is quite hollow. Professor Burnet, who described it, lunched inside this tree with a party,

As beauty is often closely connected in our minds with utility, we must be allowed a word on the great value of this tree. For its useful properties the oak has scarcely any superior. "To enumerate," says old Evelyn in his quaint Sylva, "the incomparable uses of this wood were needless; but so precious was the esteem of it of old, there was an express law among the Twelve Tables concerning the very gathering of the acorns, though they should be found fallen on another man's ground. The land and the sea do sufficiently speak for the improvement of this excellent material, for houses and ships, cities and navies, are builded with it." In almost all the finest buildings of Europe, particularly the vast Gothic edifices of the middle ages, oak was the chief material for the interior. The rich old wainscot, the innumerable carvings and decorations of those days were executed in this material. In America the vast pine forests produce a wood easily wrought, which has in a great measure superseded the use of this fine timber, and the exportation of immense quantities of the former to the eastern continent, has even in some degree lessened its consumption abroad. But for certain purposes, where great strength and durability are required, the oak will always take the precedence claimed for it by Eve

and says it is capable of accomodating ten or twelve persons comfortably at dinner, sitting.

The Beggar's Oak, in Bagot's Park, is twenty feet in girth, five feet from the ground. The roots rise above the surface in a very extraordinary manner, so as to furnish a natural seat for the beggars chancing to pass along the pathway near it; and the circumference taken there is 68 feet. The branches extend from the tree 48 feet in every direction.

The Wallace Oak, at Edenslee, near where Wallace was born, is a noble tree 21 feet in circumference. It is 67 feet high, and its branches extend 45 feet east, 36 west, 30 south, and 25 north. Wallace and 300 of his men are said to have hid themselves from the English among the branches of this tree, which was then in full leaf.