Even when death predominates. The spring
Finds thee not less alive to her sweet form,
Than yonder upstarts of the neighbouring wood,
So much thy juniors, who their birth received
Half a millennium since the date of thine.
The leaves of the common Oak are deeply sinuated, and without footstalks, but those of Quercus Robur sessiliflora, another British Oak, are upon short footstalks, though the acorns are sessile. This last species predominated in the oak forest which formerly surrounded London; and many examples are still to be found at Lord Mansfield’s beautiful seat at Hampstead, the name of which, Ken wood, alludes to them, Ken being Saxon for an acorn. The wood of this tree was also used for the roof of Westminster Hall, and many other ancient buildings which till lately were supposed to be of Chestnut. Oak wood may always easily be tested by wetting a knife and then cutting it, when the astringent property in the Oak will turn the knife black, a result that will not take place with Chestnut.
There are nearly fifty species of Oaks which may be obtained in the British nurseries; the most remarkable of which are the Cork tree (Quercus Suber), the cork being the bark; the Evergreen Oak (Q. Ilex); the American Oaks, particularly the scarlet Oaks (Q. coccinea and Q. rubra), the Live Oak (Q. virens), and the Willow Oak, with long narrow entire leaves
(Q. Phellos); and the Turkey, Fulham, and Lucombe Oaks (Q. Cerris and its varieties). All Oak trees are very liable to be attacked by a species of gnat, and which produces excrescences on the branches. The oak apples of the British Oak, and the galls of Quercus infectoria, which are used in making ink, are of this nature. The Kermes, an excrescence found on Quercus coccifera, is the work of a kind of Coccus, similar to that which produces the cochineal on the Opuntia.
The timber of all the European Oaks is remarkably durable; but that of nearly all the American Oaks, except Quercus virens, is coarse grained, and so porous that it cannot be used for wine casks. The cork trees are generally grown in Spain; and as the cork when taken off the tree, curves round, it is laid upon the ground and kept flat with heavy stones; while a fire is made upon it with the branches, so as to heat it through, after which it remains flat when the stones are removed.