_Of the Oak._
1. _Robur_, the oak; I have sometimes consider’d it very seriously, what
should move _Pliny_ to make a whole chapter of one only line, which is
less than the argument alone of most of the rest in his huge volume: but
the weightiness of the matter does worthily excuse him, who is not wont
to spare his words, or his reader. _Glandiferi maximè generis omnes,
quibus honos apud Romanos perpetuus._ “Mast-bearing-trees were
principally those which the Romans held in chiefest repute,” lib. 16.
cap. 3. And in the following where he treats of chaplets, and the
dignity of the civic coronet; it might be compos’d of the leaves or
branches of any oak, provided it were a bearing tree, and had acorns
upon it, and was (as{31:1} _Macrobius_ tells us). Recorded among the
_felices arbores_; but this φυλλινὸν ϛέφανον was interwoven, and
twisted with thorns and briars; and the garland carried to usher the
bride to her husband’s house, intimating that happy state was not exempt
from its pungencies and cares. It is then for the esteem which these
wise and glorious people had of this tree above all others, that I will
first begin with the oak; and indeed it carries it from all other timber
whatsoever, for building of ships in general, and in particular being
tough, bending well, strong and not too heavy, nor easily admitting
water.
2. ’Tis pity that the several kinds of oak are so rarely known amongst
us, that whereever they meet with _quercus_, they take it promiscuously
for our common oak; as likewise they do Δρὺς, which comprehends all
mast-bearing trees whatsoever, (which I think they have no latin word
for): And in the _Silva Glandifera_ were reckon’d the chessnut, ilix,
_esculus_, _cerris_, _suber_, &c. various species rather than different
trees, white, red, black, &c. among our American plantations,
(especially the long-stalked oak not as yet much taken notice of): we
shall here therefore give an account of four only; two of which are most
frequent with us; for we shall say little of the _cerris_ or _ægilops_,
goodly to look on, but for little else: Some have mistaken it for beech,
whereas indeed it is a kind of oak bearing a small round acorn almost
covered with the cup, which is very rugged, the branches loaded with a
long moss hanging down like dishevell’d hair which much annoys it.
Φάγος is indeed doubtless a species of oak; however by the Latins
usually apply’d to the beech, whose leaf exceedingly differs from that
of the oak, as also the mast and bark rugged, and growing among the
hills and mountains; the other in the valleys, and perhaps, but few of
them in Italy. Physicians, naturalists and botanists should therefore be
curious how they describe and place such trees mention’d by
_Theophrastus_ and others, under the same denomination as frequently
they do; being found so very different when accurately examin’d. There
is likewise the _esculus_, which though _Vitruvius_, _Pliny_,
_Dalcampius_ and others take for a smaller kind, _Virgil_ celebrates for
its spreading, and profound root; and this _Dalcampius_ will therefore
have to be the _platyphyllos_ of _Theophrastus_, and as our botanists
think, his _phegos_, as producing the most edible fruit. But to confine
our selves; the _quercus urbana_, which grows more upright, and being
clean and lighter is fittest for timber: And the _robur_, or _quercus
silvestris_, (taking _robur_ for the general name, if at least
contradistinct from the rest); which (as the name imports) is of a vast
robust and inflexible nature, of an hard black grain; bearing a smaller
acorn, and affecting to spread in branches, and to put forth his roots
more above ground; and therefore in the planting, to be allow’d a
greater distance, viz. from twenty five, to forty foot; (nay sometimes
as many yards;) whereas the other shooting up more erect, will be
contented with fifteen. This kind is farther to be distinguished by its
fulness of leaves, which tarnish, and becoming yellow at the fall, do
commonly clothe it all the winter; the roots growing very deep and
stragling. The author of _Britannia Baconica_, speaks of an oak in
Lanhadron-Park in Cornwall, which bears constantly leaves speckled with
white; and of another call’d the painted oak; others have since been
found at Fridwood, near Sittingbourn in Kent; as also sycamore and elms,
in other places mentioned by the learned Dr. Plot in his _Nat. Hist._ of
_Oxfordshire_: Which I only mention here, that the variety may be
compar’d by some ingenious person thereabouts, as well as the truth of
the fatal præ-admonition, of oaks bearing strange leaves: Besides that
famous oak of _New Forest_ in _Hampshire_, which puts forth its buds
about Christmass, but wither’d again before night; and was order’d (by
our late King Charles II.) to be inclos’d with a Pale; (as I find it
mentioned in the last edition of Mr. Camden’s _Brit._) And so was
another before this; which his grandfather, King James, went to visit,
and caused benches to be plac’d about it; which giving it reputation,
the people never left hacking of the boughs and bark till they kill’d
the tree: As I am told they have serv’d that famous oak near
_White-Ladys_ which hid and protected our late Monarch from being
discovered and taken by the Rebel-Soldiers, who were sent to find him,
after his almost miraculous escape at the battel of _Worcester_. In the
mean time, as to this extraordinary precosness, the like is reported of
a certain wallnut-tree as well as of the famous white-thorns of
_Glassenbury_, and blackthorns in several places. Some of our common
oaks bear their leaves green all winter; but they are generally
pollards, and such as are shelter’d in warm corners and hedge rows. To
speak then particularly of oaks, and generally of all other trees of
the same kind, (by some infallible characters) notice should be taken of
the manner of their spreading, stature and growth, shape and size of the
acorn, whether single or in clusters, the length or shortness of the
stalks, roundness of the cup, breadth, narrowness, shape, and indentures
of the leaf; and so of the bark, Τραχυς, asperous, or smooth, brown
or bright, &c. Tho’ most (if not all of them) may rather be imputed to
the genius and nature of the soil, situation, or goodness of the seed,
than either to the pretended sex or species. And these observations may
serve to discover many accidental varieties in other trees, without
nicer distinctions; such as are fetch’d from profess’d botanists; who
make it not so much their study, to plant and propagate trees, as to
skill in their medicinal virtues, and other uses; always excepting our
learned countryman, Mr. Ray, whose incomparable work omits nothing
useful or desirable on this subject; wanting only the accomplishments of
well-design’d sculps. There is likewise a kind of _hemeris_ or dwarf-oak
(like the _robur_ VII. _clusii_) frequent in New-England; and the white
one of _Virginia_, a most stately tree, which (bearing acorns) might
easily be propagated here, if it were worth the while.
3. I shall not need to repeat what has already been said Cap. 2.
concerning the raising of this tree from the acorn; they will also
endure the laying, but never to advantage of bulk or stature: It is in
the mean time the propagation of these large spreading oaks, which is
especially recommended for the excellency of the timber, and that his
Majesties forests were well and plentifully stor’d with them; because
they require room, and space to amplifie and expand themselves, and
would therefore be planted at more remote distances, and free from all
encumbrances: And this upon consideration how slowly a full-grown oak
mounts upwards, and how speedily they spread, and dilate themselves to
all quarters, by dressing and due culture; so as above forty years
advance is to be gain’d by this only industry: And, if thus his
Majesties forests and chases were stor’d, _viz._ with this spreading
tree at handsom intervals, by which grazing might be improv’d for the
feeding of deer and cattel under them, (for such was the old _Saltus_)
benignly visited with the gleams of the sun, and adorn’d with the
distant land-skips appearing through the glades, and frequent vallies;
(..............................betwixt
Whose rows the azure sky is seen immix’d,
With hillocks, vales, and fields, as now we see
Distinguish’d in a sweet variety;
Such places which wild apple-trees throughout
Adorn, and happy shrubs grow all about,){35:1}
As the poet describes his olive-groves, nothing could be more ravishing;
for so we might also sprinkle fruit-trees amongst them (of which
hereafter) for cyder, and many singular uses, and should find such
goodly plantations the boast of our rangers, and forests infinitely
preferable to any thing we have yet beheld, rude, and neglected as they
are: I say, when his Majesty shall proceed (as he hath design’d) to
animate this laudable pride into fashion, forests and woods (as well as
fields and inclosures) will present us with another face than now they
do. And here I cannot but applaud the worthy industry of old Sir
Harbotle Grimstone, who (I am told) from a very small nursery of acorns,
which he sow’d in the neglected corners of his ground, did draw forth
such numbers of oaks of competent growth; as being planted about his
fields in even, and uniform rows, about one hundred foot from the
hedges; bush’d, and well water’d till they had sufficiently fix’d
themselves, did wonderfully improve both the beauty, and the value of
his demeasnes. But I proceed.
4. Both these kinds would be taken up very young, and transplanted about
October; some yet for these hardy, and late springing trees, defer it
till the winter be well over; but the earth had need be moist; and
though they will grow tolerably in most grounds, yet do they generally
affect the sound, black, deep, and fast mould, rather warm than over-wet
and cold, and a little rising; for this produces the firmest timber;
though my L. Bacon prefers that which grows in the moister grounds for
ship-timber, as the most tough, and less subject to rift. But let us
hear Pliny:
This is a general rule, saith he; “What trees soever they be which
grow tolerably, either on hills, or valleys, arise to greater
stature, and spread more amply in the lower ground: But the timber
is far better, and of a finer grain, which grows upon the
mountains, excepting only apple and pear-trees.” And in the 39 cap.
lib. 16. “The timber of those trees which grow in moist and shady
places is not so good as that which comes from a more expos’d
situation, nor is it so close, substantial and durable”:
Upon which he much prefers the timber growing in _Tuscany_, before that
towards the _Venetian_ side, and upper part of the _Gulph_: And that
timber so grown, was in greatest esteem long before Pliny, we have the
Spear of _Agamemnon_........... ἔχων ἀνεμοτρεφὲς ἔγχος. Ιλ. λ.{37:1}
from a tree so expos’d; and _Didymus_ gives the reason, Τὰ γὰρ ἐν ἀνέμῳ
(says he) πλεῖον γυμναζόμενα δένδρα οτερέα &c. _For that
being continually weather-beaten, they become hardier and tougher_:
Otherwise, that which is wind-shaken, never comes to good; and
therefore, when we speak of the climate, ’tis to be understood of
valleys rather than hills, and in calm places, than exposed, because
they shoot streight and upright. The result of all is, that upon
occasion of special timber, there is a very great and considerable
difference; so as some oaken-timber proves manifestly weaker, more
spungy, and sooner decaying than other. The like may be affirm’d of ash,
and other kinds; and generally speaking, the close-grain’d is the
stoutest, and most permanent: But of this, let the industrious consult
that whole tenth chapter in the second book of Vitruvius, where he
expresly treats of this argument, _De Abiete supernate & infernate, cum
Apennini descriptione_: Where we note concerning oak, that it neither
prospers in very hot, nor excessive cold countries; and therefore there
is little good of it to be found in _Africa_; or indeed, the lower and
most southern parts of _Italy_ (but the _Venetians_ have excellent
timber) nor in _Denmark_, or _Norway_ comparable to ours; it chiefly
affecting a temperate climate, and where they grow naturally in
abundance, ’tis a promising mark of it. If I were to make choice of the
place, or the tree, it should be such as grows in the best cow-pasture,
or up-land meadow, where the mould is rich, and sweet, (Suffolk affords
an admirable instance) and in such places you may also transplant large
trees with extraordinary success: And therefore it were not amiss to
bore and search the ground where you intend to plant or sow, before you
fall to work; since earth too shallow, or rocky is not so proper for
this timber; the roots fix not kindly, and though for a time they may
seem to flourish, yet they will dwindle: In the mean time, ’tis
wonderful to consider how strangely the oak will penetrate to come to a
marly bottom; so as where we find this tree to prosper, the indication
of a fruitful and excellent soil is certain even by the token of this
natural augury only; so as by the plantation of this tree and some
others, we have the advantage of profit rais’d from the pregnancy,
substance and depth of our land; whilst by the grass and corn, (whose
roots are but a few inches deep), we have the benefit of the crust only.
5. But to discourage none, oaks prosper exceedingly even in gravel and
moist clays, which most other trees abhor; yea, even the coldest
clay-grounds that will hardly graze: But these trees will frequently
make stands, as they encounter variety of footing, and sometimes proceed
again vigorously, as they either penetrate beyond, or out-grow their
obstructions, and meet better earth; which is of that consequence, that
I dare boldly affirm, more than an hundred years advance is clearly
gain’d by soil and husbandry. I have yet read, that there grow oaks,
(some of which have contain’d ten loads apiece) out of the very walls
of _Silcester_ in Hantshire, which seem to strike root in the very
stones; and even in our renowned Forest of Dean itself, some goodly oaks
have been noted to grow upon ground, which has been as it were a rock of
ancient cinders, buried there many ages since. It is indeed obser’d,
that oaks which grow in rough stony grounds, and obstinate clays, are
long before they come to any considerable stature, (for such places, and
all sort of clay, is held but a step-mother to trees) but in time they
afford the most excellent timber, having stood long, and got good
footing. The same may we affirm of the lightest sands, which produces a
smoother-grain’d timber, of all other the most useful for the joyner;
but that which grows in gravel is subject to be frow (as they term it)
and brittle. What improvement the stirring of the ground about the roots
of oaks is to the trees, I have already hinted; and yet in copses where
they stand warm, and so thicken’d with the underwood, as this culture
cannot be practis’d, they prove in time to be goodly trees. I have of
late tried the graffing of oaks, but as yet with slender success:
Ruellius indeed affirms it will take the pear and other fruit; and if we
may credit the poet,
The sturdy oak does golden apples bear.{39:1}
And under elms swine do the mast devour.{39:2}
Which I conceive to be the more probable, for that the sap of the oak
is of an unkind tincture to most trees. But for this improvement, I
would rather advise inoculation, as the ordinary elm upon the
witch-hazel, for those large leaves we shall anon mention, and which are
so familiar in France.
6. That the transplanting of young oaks gains them ten years advance,
some happy persons have affirmed: From this belief, if in a former
impression I have desired to be excused, and produc’d my reasons for it,
I shall not persist against any sober man’s experience; and therefore
leave this article to their choice; since (as the butchers phrase is)
change of pasture makes fat calves; and so transplantations of these
hard-wood-trees, when young, may possibly, by an happy hand, in fit
season, and other circumstances of soil, sun, and room for growth, be an
improvement: But as for those who advise us to plant oaks of too great a
stature, they hardly make any considerable progress in an age; and
therefore I cannot encourage it, unless the ground be extraordinarily
qualify’d, or that the oak you would transplant, be not above 6 or 7
foot growth in height: Yet if any be desirous to make tryal of it, let
their stems be of the smoothest and tenderest bark; for that is ever an
indication of youth, as well as the paucity of their circles, which in
disbranching and cutting the head off, at five or six foot height (a
thing, by the way, which the French usually spare when they transplant
this tree) may (before you stir their roots) serve for the more certain
guide; and then plant them immediately, with as much earth as will
adhere to them, in the place destin’d for their station; abating only
the{41:1} tap-root, which is that down-right, and stubby part of the
roots (which all trees rais’d of seeds do universally produce) and
quickning some of the rest with a sharp knife (but sparing the fibrous,
which are the main suckers and mouths of all trees) spread them in the
foss or pit which hath been prepar’d to receive them. I say, in the
foss, unless you will rather trench the whole field, which is
incomparably the best; and infinitely to be preferr’d before narrow pits
and holes (as the manner is) in case you plant any number considerable,
the earth being hereby made loose, easier and penetrable for the roots,
about which you are to cast that mould, which (in opening of the trench)
you took from the surface, and purposely laid apart; because it is
sweet, mellow, and better impregnated: But in this work, be circumspect
never to inter your stem deeper than you found it standing; for profound
burying very frequently destroys a tree, though an error seldom
observed: If therefore the roots be sufficiently covered to keep the
body steady and erect, it is enough; and the not minding of this
trifling circumstance, does very much deceive our ordinary wood-men, as
well as gardiners; for most roots covet the air (though that of the
_Quercus urbano_ least of any); for like the _Esculus_
How much to heaven her towring head ascends,
So much towards hell her piercing root extends.{41:2}
And the perfection of that, does almost as much concern the prosperity
of a tree, as of man himself, since _homo_ is but _arbor inversa_; which
prompts me to this curious, but important advertisement, that the
position be likewise sedulously observed.
7. For, the southern parts being more dilated, and the pores expos’d (as
evidently appears in their horizontal sections) by the constant
excentricity of the hyperbolical circles of all trees, (save just under
Æquator, where the circles concentre, as we find in those hard woods
which grow there) ours, being now on the sudden, and at such a season
converted to the north, does starve and destroy more trees (how careful
soever men have been in ordering the roots, and preparing the ground,)
than any other accident whatsoever (neglect of staking, and defending
from cattle excepted); the importance whereof caused the best of poets,
and most experienc’d in this _Argument_, giving advice concerning this
article, to add.
The card’nal points upon the bark they sign,
And as before it stood, in the same line
Place to warm south, or the obverted pole;
Such force has custom, in each tender soul.{42:1}
Which monition, though Pliny, and some others think good to neglect, or
esteem indifferent, I can confirm from frequent losses of my own, and by
particular tryals; having sometimes transplanted great trees at
mid-summer with success (the earth adhering to the roots) and miscarried
in others, where this circumstance only was omitted.
To observe therefore the coast, and side of the stock (especially of
fruit-trees) is not such a trifle as by some pretended: For if the air
be as much the mother or nurse, as water and earth, (as more than
probable it is) such blossoming plants as court the motion of the
meridian sun, do as ’t were evidently point out the advantage they
receive by their position, by the clearness, politure, and comparative
splendor of the southside: And the frequent mossiness of trees on the
opposite side, does sufficiently note the unkindness of that aspect;
most evident in the bark of oaks white and smooth; the trees growing
more kindly on the south side of an hill, than those which are expos’d
to the north, with an hard, dark, rougher and more mossie integument, as
I can now demonstrate in a prodigious coat of it, investing some
pyracanths which I have removed to a northern dripping shade. I have
seen (writes a worthy friend to me on this occasion) whole hedge-rows of
apples and pears that quite perished after that shelter was removed: The
good husbands expected the contrary, and that the fruit should improve,
as freed from the prœdations of the hedge; but use and custom made that
shelter necessary; and therefore (saith he) a stock for a time is the
weaker, taken out of a thicket, if it be not well protected from all
sudden and fierce invasions, either of crude air or winds. Nor let any
be deterr’d, if being to remove any trees, he shall esteem it too
consumptive of time; for with a brush dipped in any white colour, or
oaker, a thousand may be marked as they stand, in a moment; and that
once done, the difficulty is over. I have been the larger upon these two
remarks, because I find them so material, and yet so much neglected.
8. There are other rules concerning the situation of trees; the former
author commending the north-east-wind both for the flourishing of the
tree, and advantage of the timber; but to my observation in our
climates, where those sharp winds do rather flanker than blow fully
opposite upon our plantations, they thrive best; and there are as well
other circumstances to be considered, as they respect rivers and marshes
obnoxious to unwholsom and poysonous fogs, hills and seas, which expose
them to the weather; and those _silvifragi venti_, our cruel and tedious
western-winds; all which I leave to observation, because these accidents
do so universally govern, that it is not easie to determine farther than
that the timber is commonly better qualified which hath endur’d the
colder aspects without these prejudices. And hence it is that Seneca
observes, wood most expos’d to the winds to be the most strong and
solid, and that therefore _Chiron_ made _Achilles’s_ spear of a
mountain-tree; and of those the best, which grow thin, not much
shelter’d from the north. Again, Theophrastus seems to have special
regard to places; exemplifying in many of Greece, which exceeded others
for good timber, as doubtless do our oaks in the Forest of Dean all
others of England: And much certainly there may reasonably be attributed
to these advantages for the growth of timber, and of almost all other
trees, as we daily see by their general improsperity, where the ground
is a hot gravel, and a loose earth: An oak, or elm in such a place shall
not in an hundred years, overtake one of fifty, planted in its proper
soil; though next to this, and (haply) before it, I prefer the good air.
But thus have they such vast junipers in Spain; and the ash in some
parts of the Levant (as of old near Troy) so excellent, as it was after
mistaken for cedar, so great was the difference; as now the Cantabrian,
or Spanish exceeds any we have elsewhere in Europe. And we shall
sometimes in our own country see woods within a little of each other,
and to all appearance, growing on the same soil, where oaks of twenty
years growth, or forty, will in the same bulk, contain their double in
heart and timber; and that in one, the heart will not be so big as a
man’s arm, when the trunk exceeds a man’s body: This ought therefore to
be weighed in the first plantation of copses, and a good eye may discern
it in the first shoot; the difference proceeding doubtless from the
variety of the seed, and therefore great care should be had of its
goodness, and that it be gather’d from the best sort of trees, as was
formerly hinted, Chap. 1.
9. _Veterem arborem transplantare_ was said of a difficult enterprize;
yet before we take leave of this paragraph, concerning the transplanting
of great trees, and to shew what is possible to be effected in this
kind, with cost and industry; Count Maurice (the late Governor of Brasil
for the Hollanders) planted a grove near his delicious paradise of
Friburgh, containing six hundred coco-trees of eighty years growth, and
fifty foot high to the nearest bough: These he wafted upon floats and
engines, four long miles; and planted them so luckily, that they bare
abundantly the very first year; as Gasper Barlœus hath related in his
Elegant Description of that Prince’s Expedition. Nor hath this only
succeeded in the Indies alone; Monsieur de Fiat (one of the Mareschals
of France) hath with huge oaks done the like at Fiat. Shall I yet bring
you nearer home? A great person in Devon, planted oaks as big as twelve
oxen could draw, to supply some defect in an avenue to one of his
houses; as the Right Honourable the Lord Fitz-Harding, late Treasurer of
His Majesty’s Household, assur’d me; who had himself likewise practis’d
the removing of great oaks by a particular address extreamly ingenious,
and worthy the communication.
10. Chuse a tree as big as your thigh, remove the earth from about him;
cut through all the collateral roots, till with a competent strength you
can enforce him down upon one side, so as to come with your ax at the
top-root; cut that off, redress your tree, and so let it stand cover’d
about with the mould you loosen’d from it, till the next year, or longer
if you think good; then take it up at a fit season; it will likely have
drawn new tender roots apt to take, and sufficient for the tree,
wheresoever you shall transplant him. Some are for laying bare the whole
roots, and then dividing it into 4 parts, in form of a cross, to cut
away the interjacent rootlings, leaving only the cross and master-roots,
that were spared to support the tree; and then covering the pit with
fresh mould (as above) after a year or two, when it has put forth, and
furnish’d the interstices you left between the cross-roots, with plenty
of new fibers and tender shoots, you may safely remove the tree itself,
so soon as you have loosened and reduc’d the 4 decusseted roots, and
shortned the top-roots: And this operation is done without stooping or
bending the tree at all: And if in removing it with as much of the clod
about the new roots, as possible, it would be much the better.
Pliny notes it as a common thing, to re-establish huge trees which have
been blown down, part of their roots torn up, and the body prostrate;
and, in particular, of a firr, that when it was to be transplanted, had
a top-root which went no less than eight cubits perpendicular; and to
these I could superadd (by woful experience) where some oaks, and other
old trees of mine, tore up with their fall and ruin, portions of earth
(in which their former spreading roots were ingag’d) little less in bulk
and height than some ordinary cottages and houses, built on the common:
Such havock, was the effect of the late prodigious hurricane. But to
proceed. To facilitate the removal of such monstrous trees, for the
adornment of some particular place, or the rarity of the plant, there is
this farther expedient: A little before the hardest frosts surprise you,
make a square trench about your tree, at such distance from the stem as
you judge sufficient for the root; dig this of competent depth, so as
almost quite to undermine it; by placing blocks and quarters of wood, to
sustain the earth; this done, cast in as much water as may fill the
trench, or at least sufficiently wet it, unless the ground were very
moist before. Thus let it stand, till some very hard frost do bind it
firmly to the roots, and then convey it to the pit prepar’d for its new
station, which you may preserve from freezing, by laying store of warm
litter in it, and so close the mould the better to the stragling fibers,
placing what you take out about your new guest, to preserve it in
temper: But in case the mould about it be so ponderous as not to be
remov’d by an ordinary force; you may then raise it with a crane or
pully, hanging between a triangle (or like machine) which is made of
three strong and tall limbs united at the top, where a pully is fastned,
as the cables are to be under the quarters which bear the earth about
the roots: For by this means you may weigh up, and place the whole
weighty clod upon a trundle, sledge, or other carriage, to be convey’d
and replanted where you please, being let down perpendicularly into the
place by the help of the foresaid engine. And by this address you may
transplant trees of a wonderful stature, without the least disorder; and
many times without topping, or diminution of the head, which is of great
importance, where this is practis’d to supply a defect, or remove a
curiosity.
11. Some advise, that in planting of oaks, &c. four or five be suffer’d
to stand very near to one another, and then to leave the most
prosperous, when they find the rest to disturb his growth; but I
conceive it were better to plant them at such distances, as they may
least incommode one another: For timber-trees, I would have none nearer
than forty foot where they stand closest; especially of the spreading
kind.
12. Lastly, trees of ordinary stature transplanted (being first well
water’d) must be sufficiently staked, and bush’d about with thorns, or
with something better, to protect them from the concussions of the
winds, and from the casual rubbing, and poysonous brutting of cattle and
sheep, the oyliness of whose wooll is also very noxious to them; till
being well grown and fixed (which by seven years will be to some
competent degree) they shall be able to withstand all accidental
invasions, but the axe; for I am now come to their pruning and cutting,
in which work the seasons are of main importance.
13. Therefore, if you would propagate trees for timber, cut not off
their heads at all, nor be too busie with lopping: But if you desire
shade and fuel, or bearing of mast alone, lop off their tops, sear, and
unthriving branches only: If you intend an outright felling, expect till
November; for this prœmature cutting down of trees before the sap is
perfectly at rest, will be to your exceeding prejudice, by reason of the
worm, which will certainly breed in timber which is felled before that
period: But in case you cut only for the chimney, you need not be so
punctual as to the time; yet for the benefit of what you let stand,
observe the moon’s increase if you please. The reason of these
differences, is; because this is the best season for the growth of the
tree which you do not fell, the other for the durableness of the timber
which you do: Now that which is to be burnt is not so material for
lasting, as the growth of the tree is considerable for the timber: But
of these particulars more at large in cap. 3. book III.
14. The very stumps of oak, especially that part which is dry, and above
ground, being well grubb’d, is many times worth the pains and charge,
for sundry rare and hard works; and where timber is dear. I could name
some who abandoning this to workmen for their pains only, when they
perceiv’d the great advantage, repented of their bargain, and
undertaking it themselves, were gainers above half: I wish only for the
expedition of this knotty work, some effectual engine were devised; such
as I have been told a worthy person of this nation made use of, by which
he was able with one man, to perform more than with twelve oxen; and
surely, there might be much done by fastning of iron-hooks and fangs
about one root, to extract another; the hook chain’d to some portable
screw or winch: I say, such an invention might effect wonders, not only
for the extirpation of roots, but the prostrating of huge trees: That
small engine, which by some is call’d the _german-devil_, reform’d after
this manner, and duly applied, might be very expedient for this purpose,
and therefore we have exhibited the following figure, and submit it to
improvement and tryal.
But this is to be practis’d only where you design a final extirpation;
for some have drawn suckers even from an old stub-root; but they
certainly perish by the moss which invades them, and are very subject to
grow rotten. Pliny speaks of one root, which took up an entire acre of
ground, and Theophrastus describes the _Lycean Platanus_ to have spread
an hundred foot; if so, the argument may hold good for their growth
after the tree is come to its period. They made cups of the roots of
oaks heretofore, and such a curiosity Athenæus tells us was carv’d by
Thericleus himself; and there is a way so to tinge oak after long
burying and soaking in water, (which gives it a wonderful politure) as
that it has frequently been taken for a course ebony: Hence even by
floating, comes the Bohemian oak, Polish, and other northern timber, to
be of such excellent use for some parts of shipping: But the blackness
which we find in oaks, that have long lain under ground, (and may be
call’d subterranean timber) proceeds from some vitriolic juice of the
bed in which they lie, which makes it very weighty; but (as the
excellent naturalist and learned physician Dr. Sloane observes) it
dries, splits, and becomes light, and much impairs.
15. There is not in nature a thing more obnoxious to deceit, than the
buying of trees standing, upon the reputation of their appearance to
the eye, unless the chapman be extraordinarily judicious; so various are
their hidden and conceal’d infirmities, till they be fell’d and sawn
out: So as if to any thing applicable, certainly there is nothing which
does more perfectly confirm it, than the most flourishing out-side of
trees, _fronti nulla fides_. A timber-tree is a merchant-adventurer, you
shall never know what he is worth till he be dead.
16. Oaks are in some places (where the soil is especially qualified)
ready to be cut for cops in fourteen years and sooner; I compute from
the first semination; though it be told as an instance of high
encouragement (and as indeed it merits) that a lady in Northamptonshire
sowed acorns, and liv’d to cut the trees produc’d from them, twice in
two and twenty years; and both as well grown as most are in sixteen or
eighteen. This yet is certain, that acorns set in hedg-rows, have in
thirty years born a stem of a foot diameter. Generally, cops-wood should
be cut close, and at such intervals as the growth requires; which being
seldom constant, depends much on the places and the kinds, the mould and
the air, and for which there are extant particular statutes to direct
us; of all which more at large hereafter. Oak for tan-bark may be fell’d
from April to the last of June, by a Statute in the 1 _Jacobi_. And here
some are for the disbarking of oaks, and so to let them stand, before
they fell.
17. To enumerate now the incomparable uses of this wood, were needless;
but so precious was the esteem of it, that of old there was an express
law amongst the Twelve Tables, concerning the very gathering of the
acorns, though they should be found fallen into another man’s ground:
The land and the sea do sufficiently speak for the improvement of this
excellent material; houses and ships, cities and navies are built with
it; and there is a kind of it so tough, and extreamly compact, that our
sharpest tools will hardly enter it, and scarcely the very fire it self,
in which it consumes but slowly, as seeming to partake of a ferruginous
and metallin shining nature, proper for sundry robust uses. It is
doubtless of all timber hitherto known, the most universally useful and
strong; for though some trees be harder, as box, cornus, ebony, and
divers of the Indian woods; yet we find them more fragil, and not so
well qualify’d to support great incumbencies and weights, nor is there
any timber more lasting, which way soever us’d. There has (we know) been
no little stir amongst learned men, of what material the Cross was made,
on which our Blessed Saviour suffer’d: Venerable Bede in _Collectaneis_,
affirms it to have been fram’d of several woods, namely cypress, cedar,
pine, and box; and to confirm it S. Hierom has cited the 6th of _Isaiah_
13. _Gloria libani ad te veniet, & buxus & pinus simul ad ornandum locum
sanctificationis meæ, & locum pedum meorum significabo_; but following
the version of the LXX. he reads _in cupresso, pinu & cedro_, &c. Others
insert the palm, and so compose the gibbet of no less than four
different timbers, according to the old verse:
Nail’d were his feet to cedar, to palm his hands;
Cypress his Body bore, title on olive stands:{52:1}
And for this of the palm, they fetch it from that of 7 _Cant._ 8. where
’tis said, _ascendam in palmam, & apprehendam fructus ejus_, and from
other allegorical and mysterious expressions of the Sacred Text, without
any manner of probability; whilst by Alphonsus Ciacconius, Lipsius,
Angelus Rocca, Falconius, and divers other learned men (writing on this
subject) and upon accurate examination of the many fragments pretended
to be parcels of it, ’tis generally concluded to have been the oak; and
I do verily believe it; since those who have described those countries,
assure us there is no tree more frequent; which (with relation to
several celebrations and mysteries under oaks in the Old Testament) has
been the subject of many fine discourses. Nor is it likely they should
chuse, or assemble so many sorts of woods with that curiosity, to
execute one upon, whom they esteemed a malefactor; besides, we read how
heavy it was, which cypress, cedar and palm are not in comparison with
oak; whilst Gretser denies all this, _lib._ 1. _cap._ 6. and concludes
upon his accurate examination of several fragments yet extant, that ’tis
not discernible of what timber it was fram’d. We might add to these, the
furious zeal of the bloody and malicious Jews (to see our B. Lord
inhumanly executed) could not possibly allow leisure to frame a gibbet
of so many rare and curious materials: Let this therefore pass for an
errant legend.
That which is twin’d and a little wreathed (easily to be discern’d by
the texture of the bark) is best to support burthens for posts, columns,
summers, &c. for all which our English oak is infinitely preferable to
the French, which is nothing so useful, nor comparably so strong;
insomuch as I have frequently admir’d at the sudden failing of most
goodly timber to the eye, which being employ’d to these uses, does many
times most dangerously fly in sunder, as wanting that native spring and
toughness which our English oak is indu’d withal. And here we forget not
the stress which Sir H. Wotton, and other architects put even in the
very position of their growth, their native streightness and loftiness,
for columns, supporters, cross-beams, &c. and ’tis found that the
rough-grain’d body of a stubbed oak, is the fittest timber for the case
of a cyder-mill, and such like engines, as best enduring the unquietness
of a ponderous rolling-stone. For shingles, pales, lathes, coopers ware,
clap-board for wainscot, (the ancient{54:1} _intestina opera_ and works
within doors) and some pannells are curiously vein’d, of much esteem in
former times, till the finer grain’d Spanish and Norway timber came
amongst us, which is likewise of a whiter colour. There is in
New-England a certain red-oak, which being fell’d, they season in some
moist and muddy place, which branches into very curious works. It is
observ’d that oak will not easily glue to other wood; no not very well
with its own kind; and some sorts will never cohere tolerably, as the
box and horn-beam, tho’ both hard woods; so nor service with cornell,
&c. Oak is excellent for wheel-spokes, pins and pegs for tyling, &c. Mr.
Blith makes spars and small building-timber of oaks of eleven years
growth, which is a prodigious advance, &c. The smallest and streightest
is best, discover’d by the upright tenor of the bark, as being the most
proper for cleaving: The knottiest for water-works, piles, and the like,
because ’twill drive best, and last longest; the crooked, yet firm, for
knee-timber in shipping, millwheels, &c. In a word, how absolutely
necessary the oak is above all the trees of the forest in
naval-architecture, &c. consult Whitson, lib. 1. cap. 13.
Were planting of these woods more in use, we should banish our hoops of
hazel, &c. for those of good copse-oak, which being made of the younger
shoots, are exceeding tough and strong: One of them being of ground-oak,
will outlast six of the best ash; but this our coopers love not to hear
of, who work by the great for sale, and for others. The smaller
trunchions and spray, make billet, bavine and coals; and the bark is of
price with the tanner and dyer, to whom the very saw-dust is of use, as
are the ashes and lee for bucking linnen; and to cure the roapishness of
wine: And ’tis probable the cups of our acorns would tan leather as well
as the bark, I wonder no body makes the experiment, as it is done in
Turky with the _valonia_, which is a kind of acorn growing on the oaks.
The ground-oak, while young, is us’d for poles, cudgels and
walking-staffs, much come into mode of late, but to the wast of many a
hopeful plant which might have prov’d 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 glean’d their copses for such trifling uses. Here I am
again to give a general notice of the peculiar excellency of the roots
of most trees, for fair, beautiful, chamleted and lasting timber,
applicable to many purposes; such as formerly made hafts for daggers,
hangers, knives, handles for staves, tabacco-boxes, and elegant
joyners-work, and even for some mathematical instruments of the larger
size, to be had either in, or near the roots of many trees; however ’tis
a kindness to premonish stewards and surveyors, that they do not
negligently wast those materials: Nor may we here omit to mention tables
for painters, which heretofore were us’d by the most famous artists,
especially the curious pieces of Raphael, Durer, and Holbin, and before
that of canvass, and much more lasting: To these add the galls,
misletoe, polypod, agaric (us’d in antidotes) uvæ, fungus’s to make
tinder, and many other useful excrescencies, to the number of above
twenty, which doubtless discover the variety of transudations,
percolations and contextures of this admirable tree; but of the several
fruits, and animals generated of them, and other trees, Francisco Redi
promises an express Treatise, in his _Esperienze intorno alla
Generatione de gl’ Insetti_, already publish’d. Pliny affirms, that the
galls break out all together in one night, about the beginning of June,
and arrive to their full growth in one day; this I should recommend to
the experience of some extraordinary vigilant wood-man, had we any of
our oaks that produc’d them, Italy and Spain being the nearest that do:
Galls are of several kinds, but grow upon a different species of _robur_
from any of ours, which never arrive to any maturity; the white and
imperforated are the best; of all which, and their several species, see
Jasp. Bauhinus, and the excellent Malpighius, in his Discourse _de
Gallis_, and other morbous tumors, raised by, and producing insects,
infecting the leaves, stalks and branches of this tree with a venomous
liquor or froth, wherein they lay and deposite their eggs, which bore
and perforate these excrescences, when the worms are hatch’d, so as we
see them in galls.
What benefit the mast does universally yield (once in two years at
least) for the fatting of hogs and deer, I shall shew upon another
occasion, before the conclusion of this Discourse. A peck of acorns a
day, with a little bran, will make an hog (’tis said) increase a
pound-weight _per diem_ for two months together. They give them also to
oxen mingled with bran, chop’d or broken; otherwise they are apt to
sprout and grow in their bellies. Others say, they should first be
macerated in water, to extract their malignity; cattle many times
perishing without this preparation. Cato advises the husband-man to
reserve 240 bushels of acorns for his oxen, mingled with a like quantity
of beans and lupines, and to drench them well. But in truth they are
more proper for swine, and being so made small, will fatten pidgeons,
peacocks, turkeys, pheasants and poultry; nay ’tis reported, that some
fishes feed on them, especially the tunny, in such places of the coast
where trees hang over arms of the sea. Acorns, _esculus ab esca_ (before
the use of wheat-corn was found out) were heretofore the food of men,
nay of Jupiter himself, (as well as other productions of the earth) till
their luxurious palats were debauched: And even in the Romans time, the
custom was in Spain to make a second service of acorns and mast, (as the
French now do of marrons and chesnuts) which they likewise used to rost
under the embers.
........Fed with the oaken mast
The aged trees themselves in years surpass’d.{57:1}
And men had indeed hearts of oak; I mean, not so hard, but health, and
strength, and liv’d naturally, and with things easily parable and plain.
Blest age o’th’ world, just nymph, when man did dwell
Under thy shade, whence his provision fell;
Sallads the meal, wildings were the dissert:
No tree yet learn’d by ill-example, art,
With insititious fruit to symbolize,
As in an emblem, our adulteries.{58:1}
As the sweet poet bespeaks the dryad; and therefore it was not call’d
_Quercus_, (as some etymologists fancy’d) because the Pagans
(_quæribantur responsa_) had their oracles under it, but because they
sought for acorns: But ’tis in another{58:2} place where I shew you what
this acorn was; and even now I am told, that those small young acorns
which we find in the stock-doves craws, are a delicious fare, as well as
those incomparable salads of young herbs taken out of the maws of
partridges at a certain season of the year, which gives them a
preparation far exceeding all the art of cookery. Oaks bear also a knur,
full of a cottony matter, of which they anciently made wick for their
lamps and candles; and among the _Selectiora Remedia_ of Jo. Prævotius,
there is mention of an oil _e querna glande_ chymically extracted, which
he affirms to be of the longest continuance, and least consumptive of
any other whatsoever for such lights, _ita ut uncia singulis mensibus
vix ab sumatur continuo igne_: The ingenious author of the Description
of the Western Islands of Scotland, tells us, that (upon his own
experience) a rod of oak of 4, 5, 6 or 8 inches about, being twisted
like a with, boil’d in wort, well dry’d, and kept in a little bundle of
barley-straw, and then steep’d again in wort, causes it to ferment, and
procures yest: The rod should be cut before mid-May, and is frequently
us’d in this manner to furnish yest, and being preserv’d, will serve,
and produce the same effect many years together; and (as the historian
affirms) that he was shew’d a piece of a thick wyth, which had been kept
for making ale with for above 20 years, &c. In the mean time, the leaves
of oaks abundantly congested on snow, preserve it as well for wine, as a
deep pit, or the most artificial refrigeratory. Nor must we pass by the
sweet mel-dews, so much more copiously found on the leaves of this tree,
than any other; whence the industrious bees gather such abundance of
honey, as that instead of carrying it to their hives, they glut
themselves to death: But from this ill report (hastily taken up by
Euricius Cordus) our learned Mr. Ray has vindicated this temperat and
abstemious useful creature. Varro affirms, they made salt of oak ashes,
with which they sometimes seasoned meat, but more frequently made use of
it to sprinkle among, and fertilize their seed-corn: Which minds me of a
certain oak found buried somewhere in Transilvania, near the Salt-pits,
that was entirely converted into an hard salt, when they came to examine
it by cutting. This experiment (if true) may possibly encourage some
other attempts for the multiplying of salt: Nor less strange is that
which some report of a certain water somewhere in Hungary, which
transmutes the leaves of this tree into brass, and iron into copper. Of
the galls is made trial of spaw-water, and the ground and basis of
several dies, especially sadder colours, and are a great revenue to
those who have quantities of them: Nor must I forget ink, compos’d of
galls ℥iiij, coppras ℥ij, gum-arabic ℥i: Beat the galls grossly, and put
them into a quart of claret, or French-wine, and let them soak for eight
or nine days, setting the vessel (an earthen glaz’d pitcher is best) in
the hot sun, if made in summer; in winter near the fire, stirring it
frequently with a wooden spatula: Then add the coppras and gum, and
after it has stood a day or two, it will be fit to use. There are a
world of receipts more, of which see _Caneparius de Atramentis_. Of the
very moss of the oak, that which is white, composes the choicest
cypress-powder, which is esteemed good for the head; but impostors
familiarly vend other mosses under that name, as they do the fungi
(excellent in hemorages and fluxes) for the true agaric, to the great
scandal of physick. Young red oaken leaves decocted in wine, make an
excellent gargle for a sore mouth; and almost every part of this tree is
soveraign against fluxes in general, and where astringents are proper.
The dew that impearls the leaves in May, insolated, meteorizes and sends
up a liquor, which is of admirable effect in ruptures: The liquor
issuing out between the bark, (which looks like treakle) has many
soveraign vertues; and some affirm, the water stagnate in the hollow
stump of a newly fell’d oak, is as effectual as _lignum sanctum_ in the
foul disease, and also stops a diarrhæa: And a water distill’d from the
acorns is good against the pthisick, stitch in the side, and heals
inward ulcers, breaks the stone, and refrigerates inflammations, being
applied with linnen dipp’d therein: nay, the acorns themselves eaten
fasting, kill the worms, provoke urine, and (some affirm) break even the
stone it self. The coals of oak beaten and mingled with honey, cures the
carbuncle; to say nothing of the viscus’s, polypods, and other
excrescences, of which innumerable remedies are composed, noble
antidotes, syrups, &c. Nay, ’tis reported, that the very shade of this
tree is so wholesome, that the sleeping, or lying under it becomes a
present remedy to paralyticks, and recovers those whom the mistaken
malign influence of the walnut-tree has smitten: But what is still more
strange, I read in one Paulus a Physician of Denmark, that an handful or
two of small oak buttons, mingled with oats, given to horses which are
black of colour, will in few days eating alter it to a fine dapple-grey,
which he attributes to the vitriol abounding in this tree. To conclude;
and upon serious meditation of the various uses of this and other trees,
we cannot but take notice of the admirable mechanism of vegetables in
general, as in particular in this species; that by the diversity of
percolations and strainers, and by mixtures, as it were of divine
chymistry, various concoctions, &c. the sap should be so green on the
indented leaves, so lustily esculent for our hardier and rustick
constitutions in the fruit; so flat and pallid in the atramental galls;
and haply, so prognostick in the apple; so suberous in the bark (for
even the cork-tree is but a courser oak) so oozie in the tanners pit;
and in that subduction so wonderfully specifick in corroborating the
entrails, and bladder, reins, loins, back, &c. which are all but the
gifts and qualities, with many more, that these robust sons of the earth
afford us; and that in other specifics, even the most despicable and
vulgar elder imparts to us in its rind, leaves, buds, blossoms, berries,
ears, pith, bark, &c. Which hint may also carry our remarks upon all the
varieties of shape, leaf, seed, fruit, timber, grain, colour, and all
those other forms {62:1} that philosophers have enumerated; but which
were here too many for us to repeat. In a word, so great and universal
is the benefit and use of this poly-crest, that they have prohibited the
transporting it out of Norway, where there grows abundance. Let us end
with the poet:
When ships for bloody combat we prepare,
Oak affords plank, and arms our men of war;
Maintains our fires, makes ploughs to till the ground,
For use no timber like the oak is found.{62:2}
FOOTNOTES:
{31:1} _Saturn._ lib. II. cap. 16.
{35:1}
(Cærula distinguens inter plaga currere posset
Per tumulos, & convalles, camposque profusa:
Ut nunc esse vides vario distincta lepôre
Omnia, que pomis intersita dulcibus ornant
Arbustisque tenent felicibus obsita circum).
_Lucret. l. 5._
{37:1} See what Vossius has written in his Observations on Catullus, p.
204. _Indomitus turbo contorquens flamine_......
{39:1}
.....Aurea duræ
Mala ferant quercus.
_Ecl. 8._
{39:2}
Glandemque sues fregere sub Ulmo.
_Geor._
{41:1} Which yet some, upon good experience will not allow in
transplanting young Oaks; affirming the taking them up without any
abatement, or the least wound, does exceedingly advance the growth of
this tree above such as are depriv’d of it.
{41:2}
.......Quæ quantum vertice ad auras
Æthereas, tantum radice in Tartara tendit.
_Geo._ l. 2.
{42:1}
Quinetiam Cœli regionem in cortice signant,
Ut quo quæque modo steterit, quâ parte calores
Austrinos tulerit, quæ terga obverterit axi,
Restituant: Adeo in teneris consuescere multum est.
_Geor._ li. 1.
{52:1}
Quatuor ex lignis domini crux dicitur esse, &c.
Pes crucis est cedrus, corpus tenet alta cupressus;
Palma manus retinet, titulo lætatur oliva.
{54:1} And therefore were joyners called intestinary. See Leg. 2. _Cod.
Theodos._
{57:1}
.........Et quernâ glande repasta
Æquâsse annosas vivendo corpora Quercus.
{58:1}
Fœlix illa ætas mundi, justissima nymphe,
Cùm dabat umbra domum vivam tua, cùm domus ipsa
Deciduâ dominos pascebat fruge quietos,
Soláque præbebant sylvestria poma secundas
Gramineis epulas mensis; nondum arte magistra
Arbor adulteriis præluserat insita nostris, &c.
_Couleii_ Pl. _l._ 6.
{58:2} Cap. I. Book III.
{62:1} Of the ilex and cork (reckon’d among the glandiferus) see Book
II. cap. V. and of the sacred and mysterious Missalto, Book III. cap.
I.; see also more of _quercus_, Mr. Ray’s _Hist. Plan._ tom. III. cap.
_De Quercus_, tom. II. p. 1390.
{62:2}
Si quando armandæ naves, & bella paranda,
Det quercus nautis tabulata, det arma furori
Bellantum; det ligna foco, det aratra colono,
Aut aliis alios porro sumatur in usus.
_Rapinus._