Among the Trees at Elmridge

he young leaves and the catkins, which come out together; for the oak belo

ghed Clara at

colm re

t. I know, Miss Ha

hough our woods contain several varieties. But they do not hold the pre-eminence in our forests that the oaks do in those of England. The oak ordinarily runs more to breadth than to height, and spreads itself out to a vast distance wit

TKIN OF

E

-OAK

vided into lobes, of which there are three or four on each side. There is a great variety in the shape of oak-leaves, those of our white oak being long and slender, while the red oak has very broad ones

many stories attached to it, that it is not easy to begin an account of it. The blossoms, perhaps, will be the best st

olm, "but here at the ends of the twig

ns grow on loose scaly catkins, as you may see in this branch. Those with the pistils are also in catkins, but very small, like a bud. The bud spreads into a little branchlet and bears

little Edith, "they're

ot nice to eat

EL AND

eens, and the king himself would be glad to accept a gift or grant of acorns; and the failure of the crop would be considered as a kind of famine. In those days laws were made to protect the oaks from being felled or injured, and a man who cut down a tree under the shadow of which thirty hogs could stand was fined three pounds. The herds of swine were placed under the care of a swineherd, w

ked, Miss Harson

re sold in the markets as an article of food. They grow abundantly in the woods and forests. Once, in time of war, a foreign army subsisted almost entirely on them. Herds of swine range the forests in Spain and feed luxuriously upon acorns, and the salted meats of Malaga,

id Clara, with a wry face a

trunk and branches of the oak are often gnarled and knotted, and this helps to give the tree its appearance of great strength. It is just as strong as it looks, and for building-purposes it lasts longe

hands of various owners, and nothing remarkable was discovered about it until the king had been dead a hundred years. By that time the bedstead had come into the possession of a woman who found a fortune in it. One morning, says the story, as she was making the bed, she heard a chinking sound, and saw, to her great delight, a piece of money drop on the floor. Of course she at once set about examining the bedstead, and found that the lower part of it was hollow and contained

story, and Malcolm said that he always liked t

the best thing to find. It often brings with it so much sorrow and sin as to be a curse to its owner. The only safe treasu

adorned with representations of the head and tail of some grotesque and fabulous creature. King Alfred had many vessels that carried sixty oars and were entirely of oak.

asked Clara. "In a story that I read t

K-GALL

nip

a wound. Here she lays her eggs; and when she has done so, she flies away and we hear no more of her. But the wound she has made disturbs the circulation of the sap. It flows round and round the eggs as though it had met with some foreign body it would fain remove. Very soon the eg

-AP

at disgust, "apple is a queer nam

r of granules are seen, each containing a grub embedded in a fruit-like substance. The grub undergoes its transformation, and in due course emerges a

eat 'em?"

t 'May-apples,' which grow, you will remember, on the wild azalea and the swamp honeysuckle, are oft

rson?" asked Malcolm. "Are t

ope. All these oak-apples and nut-galls are of importance, but the latter more especially, and they form an important article of commerce. A substance called "gallic acid" resides in the oak; and when the puncture is made by the cynips, it flows in great abundance to the wound. Gallic acid is one of the ingredients used in dyeing stuffs and cloths, and therefore the supply yiel

ould plant oak trees everywhere, when they a

and for medicine. The element which has the effect of turning raw hide or skin into leather

ak trees," asked Malcolm--"peop

sacred. These Druids have left their traces in some parts of England and France in rows of huge stones set upright; and wherever an immense stone was found lying on two others, in the shape of a table

C SACR

e privacy and shut out all external objects, the place fixed upon, either for teaching their disciples or for carrying out the rites of their idolatrous worship, was in the recess of some grove or wood. An oak-grove was supposed to be the favorite of the gods whom they ignorantly worshiped, and therefore the Druids declared the oak to be a sacred tree. The Druid priest always bound a wreath of oak-leaves on hi

ow but the circles of stones that formed their temples. At a place called Stonehenge, 'cromlechs,' or altar-tables, are stil

eir horror of the Druids and rejoiced that they wer

reply; "and first you ma

ra

n their hands, and all their earrings which were in their ea

book of Joshua[2] that 'Joshua took a great stone and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord;' and in Judges[3], '

sh. xx

udg.

olm

t under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he wa

d Edith, softly. "W

ed man. In Isaiah[4] we read of the oaks of Bashan, that, like the cedars of Lebanon, were 'high and lifted up,'

sa. i

ech.

OAK, NEA

nd where the patriarch pitched his tent under the oaks of Mamre. It is an aged tree, and a grand one. Here is a picture of it, fr

e 85.(link

k to the time of King Edmund, who was slain by the robber Leolf in the year A.D. 946. The oaken church was hurriedly put together--according to report--in order to make a temporary receptacle for the body of the murdered prince on its way to buri

"that people would always build thei

he great endurance of the oak. Now brick and stone and iron are used, which outlast any wood. And now," continued Miss Harson, "I am going to tell you somet

much surprised as she was expected to be. "D

between the veins of the leaves and contains the sap, which flows in canals arranged for it in the most beautiful and wonderful manner. In one species of oak this layer--which is called the suber--assumes a peculiar character and is of remarkable thickness. When the tree is some five years old, its whole energy is directed toward the increase of the suber. A mass of c

see how they get

nd the cuts, or incisions, are made with a long knife or with an axe. Then they strip off the sheets of cork between the circles. This operation is a very delicate one, and requi

in a vessel for which it is used as a stopper cannot come through; and this is done over a brisk fire, in what is called a burning-yard. Another process, called rounding, removes every trace of the fire, unless the cork has b

of the water and bear up the person wearing the jacket and the shipwrecked people in the lifeboat. 'The shallowness of the boat and the bulk of cork within allow but little room for water; so that even when filled it is in no danger of o

e of all, but they agreed with their governess that the

nger than any of the other forest trees, is the most showy of the species. But we have no cork oaks, and no oaks that we know to be a thousand years old. There was once a fam

h devourers of stories as the little Kyles, and they e

d Miss Harson, smiling at the excited

CHART

house ready for him, came near cutting down this very oak. He was clearing away the trees around it on the hillside when a party of Indians appeared and begged him

the Assembly at Hartford and declared to belong for ever to them and their successors. A committee was appointe

le of Connecticut to give up their charter. This they refused to do; and when a third command from the king had been sent to them, they c

protracted till evening. The governor and his associates appeared to yield. The charter was brought in and laid upon the table. Sir Edmund thought that he had succeeded, when suddenly the lights were all put out, and total darkness followed. There was no noise, no conflict, but all was quiet. When the candles were again lighted, the charter was gone! Sir Edmund

't get it!" exclaimed Malcolm, de

e charter had disappeared so mysteriously, the tyrant James II. was compelled to give up his throne to his daughter and son-in-law, the prince and princess of Orange, and Governor Treat and his associates again took the government of Connecticut under the old charter, w

to its fall, because of the decay going on within, while outside all seems fair and sound. It was so with the Charter Oak; and when this monarch of the forest was unexpectedly laid low, rich and poo

stories are so nice! But I wish I had seen

," was the reply, "unless you had b