POPULAR SCIENCE Is now ready, containing 550 pages of Letter-press and 27 Coloured and Plain Plates, price 12s. Cloth cases for binding the volume may he had, Will contain, besides other interesting and instructive matter, V. THE MACHINERY DEPARTMENT. By William Fairbairn, Esq., VI. THE COLONIES-(deferred from No. V.). By the Editor. VII. THE INSTRUMENTS OF WAR. By Captain J. H. Donnelly, VIII. THE ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY OF THE EXHIBITION. C. Collingwood, M.B., F.L.S., &c. THE WINTER LIFE OF PLANTS. By Harland Coultas. By Professor D. T. Ansted, F.R.S., and Dr. Collingwood, F.L.S. THE POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. THE BRITISH OAK. BY PROFESSOR JAMES BUCKMAN, F.L.S. F.G.S. F.S.A. ETC. WHILST HILST the discussion is still pending, of iron against Thou rather with thy sharp and sulph'rous bolt, Selby again, in his "History of Forest Trees," a work which At the Linden, the seat of C. W. Bigge, Esq., the trunk of a magnificent VOL. II.-NO. V. B Is now ready, eintaining 550 pages of Letter-press and 27 Coloured and Na L. price 22. 6d, contains :— CURS. By Prof. James Buckman, F.L.S., THE CHOVY ANIMALCULS. By Philip Henry CAIN AND STEEL By R. Hat, F.R.S. WESTERN EQUATORIAL AFRICA. By the ARTURUTAL LIGHT. By Prof. Ansted, F.R.S. THE BREATH OF LIFE By W. Crookes, N.. II. price is 6d, verd tins 2- Carmass... Br Prof. Ansted, F.R.S. Lowest Forms of LIFE. By the Eltor. Justrated by Turflen West and G. H. Ford. , FRS. Lustrated by the Asthor. Crees. By De Lankester, F.RS. Iles- GLASSES By Prof. Buckza F.LS. Eus- Tax Rex Thapar and DR. MARSHALL SOLAR CHRISTRY. By R. Hut, F.R.S. Cilestrated with a Coloured Diagram OPAL PEENEX EXA OF THE ATMOSPHERE. No III., price 2s. 6d., contains:— THE PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA. With Plate. By A. De Quatrefages. Translated THE SUN AND SOLAR PHENOMENA. With LIGHT AND COLOUR. With a Coloured THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION BUILD- INGS. With Plate. By W. 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This oak was covered by a layer of the peat to the depth of about three feet, and was discovered by probing the moss. The trunk, with a small portion of one of the larger limbs, was with great labour and difficulty dragged from its miry bed. The contents of the portion recovered contained 545 cubic feet, although the whole of the sap-wood had perished. The timber was perfectly sound, and the tree, by whatever accident it had been overthrown, had fallen in the vigour of its growth. When sawn up, the interior planks were found of a deep rich brown colour; those nearer the exterior darker, or approaching to black. A variety of elegant furniture has been made from the wood, but it has been found necessary, for fine cabinet-work, to have it cut into veneers, for, when worked in bulk, it is apt to crack and become warped. Remains of other huge oaks have also been met with on the banks of the Tyne, the Alne, and other rivers, as well as in various bogs and morasses; and we mention these instances to show that in a district where, at the present day, nothing but recently-planted oak or dwarfish timber from stock-shoots exists, in former times the monarch of the forest grew luxuriantly, and attained a splendid development; and also as an inducement to the planter not to neglect the liberal insertion of this national tree wherever soil and situation are found congenial to its growth. In other parts of England, the oak still grows in all its native magnificence of form and dimensions, and the remains of those ancient forests, which are chronicled by our earliest writers, and which, in the time of our Saxon ancestors, spread over the greater portion of the country, are still to be traced in the venerable but living relics of enormous oaks, many of which are supposed to number more than a thousand years. Not to neglect to plant the national tree! We hope indeed that there is no possessor of broad acres who does not esteem it a duty, regardless of profit, to provide for a succession of forest kings, if only to beautify the face of the country, and to leave the people of the present some grand living object to connect them with the history of the past. In fact, planting of the "British oak" has not only been considered a duty, but followed out with the keenest pleasure by the country gentleman. In so doing, the question has scarcely until lately occurred, is the British oak always the same? or, are there not different species, or at least varieties of the genus Quercus, which have been confounded by the planter? To this question we now propose to address our inquiries. On referring to different authors, we shall find mention of the following names as applied to the British oak:-- This method of nomenclature would however be only tenable on the supposition that we considered the trees so named |