tained 95 feet of timber; the girt at five feet from the ground being eight feet; the increase of girt in the last two years, was four inches and a half. The noble oaks at Dunham Massey, the seat of the Earl of Stamford and Warrington, attest the magnitude to which this tree arrives. Every art practised in England is indebted to the oak; and its firmness and toughness, combined with the elas ticity it possesses, render it by far the most proper timber to bear heavy burdens; the quality it has of not splintering, like the fir, in naval actions, preserves many valuable lives to the community.

An oak, called the Lucombe, is successfully cultivated in the counties of Somerset, Cornwall, and Devon. Its growth is straight, like a fir, evergreen, and attains to the same size as the common oak, but will grow as large in twenty or thirty years as the other in an hundred, and, with wood, it is said, little inferior in hardness. The bark of oak, now so valuable, as to reach, in strong timber, nearly half the value of the tree, used to be highly re commended for agricultural purposes. Mr. Mills, in his treatise upon husbandry, asserts, that one load of oak bark, after the tanner has made what

use of it he chuses, will do more good to cold stiff land, and its effects last longer, than two loads of the best dung. This is, however, disputed. I cannot leave this tree without lamenting how little it is cultivated. When the owner of an estate falls, without remorse, the old woods of his ancestors, to expend upon, perhaps, fanciful improvements; why should he so generally omit, amidst his gay decorations, why should he exile from his modern plantations, the saviour-tree of his country? because it is too slow of growth, and the willow and spiring poplar will sooner reimburse the expenditure. Surely he may at least, out of gratitude, fence off those woods that have afforded him so many noble trees, and no doubt, without further trouble, a new wood will arise; but the timber from shoots is considered by no means equal to that produced from the acorn; it is more subject to false sap and shakes, and seldom boasts so valuable a bark. Shakes in general proceed from frost. It must be allowed, that the sap which increases in volume when it freezes, as all liquids do, may produce many of these cracks; but we may suppose there are some which are independent of the frost, and

which have been occasioned by a too great abundance of sap; and it is well known that a shoot contains more sap than the native plant. Firs do not crack like the oak. Their sap being resinous, like oils, does not freeze perfectly, and if frozen partially, instead of augmenting like water, it diminishes as it congeals. It is now pretty generally understood, that the best mode of raising an oak wood, is from the acorn. Our ancient druidical forests owed their origin to the seed scattered by the winds of heaven; and trifling, indeed, would be the expence attending this method. The owners of estates, may surely find sufficient room for their groves of spruce, silver fir, Weymouth pines, balm of Gilead, and other more ornamental than useful trees; but neglect not, as you value the consequence the British navy has secured to your country, your own tree-the Oak.

THE ash, from the multifarious purposes it is useful for, from its quick growth, and little difficulty in choice of situation, not to speak of its great beauty, from the airy gracefulness of the branches, and the elegance of the foilage, deserves a high rank in the forest. This tree flourishes the best in groves, but will grow well in rich soil, in the open fields; indeed, it will vegetate in almost any situation, except too stiff a clay. In high and exposed situations, the wood, though not so pro ductive, is more valuable. The ash increases most rapidly in size, when planted on a knowl, near the side of a stream, where first penetrating dry loose soil, it can strike into a more moist stratum; thus enjoying warmth at the roots, and deeper, not a stagnant moisture, from which every virtue must have been extracted, but a continual succession of moisture replete with nourish

ment. A mistaken idea is prevalent, that ash, alder, and willow, flourish the most in a very damp situation. No tree can flourish in a bog, the osier itself prefers partial inundation; and in a wood, whose bottom is very spungy, the trees are overgrown with a green moss, and in general wear an unhealthy appearance. From the horizontal

direction the roots of the ash take, it will not be prudent to plant it in the hedge row, and from the fondness deer entertain to its bark, plantations of ash in parks, should be carefully protected. The ash has the singular property of being as good when young as old; its toughness is proverbial; and as formerly it furnished the spear for war, it is now the great friend to agriculture; and as coal-pit timber, none is more valuable. The ashes of this wood, when burnt, afford a good potash; the bark is used in tanning calf-skin. The magnitude this tree arrives to, the following statement of Dr. Walker will tend to illustrate. In the churchyard at Lochaber, in Scotland, the trunk of a dead ash tree remains, which measures, at five feet from the ground, fify-eight feet in circumference. The seed of the ash, called keys, may be sown like the acorn, but in dry situations a plant will thrive