Sylva Part 10

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 s.h.i.+ps, 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 s.h.i.+ning 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 inc.u.mbencies 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 loc.u.m sanctificationis meae, & loc.u.m 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, t.i.tle 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, a.s.sure 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 a.s.semble 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 b.l.o.o.d.y 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 pa.s.s 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 s.h.i.+ngles, 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 s.h.i.+pping, 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 canva.s.s, and much more lasting: To these add the galls, misletoe, polypod, agaric (us'd in antidotes) uvae, 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 peris.h.i.+ng without this preparation. Cato advises the husband-man to reserve 240 bushels of acorns for his oxen, mingled with a like quant.i.ty 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, peac.o.c.ks, 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 surpa.s.s'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 insit.i.tious 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 (_quaeribantur 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. Praevotius, 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 pa.s.s 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 trans.m.u.tes the leaves of this tree into bra.s.s, 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 quant.i.ties 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 diarrhaea: And a water distill'd from the acorns is good against the pthisick, st.i.tch 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, n.o.ble 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 b.u.t.tons, 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 l.u.s.tily esculent for our hardier and rustick const.i.tutions 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 s.h.i.+ps for b.l.o.o.d.y 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}

(Caerula distinguens inter plaga currere posset Per tumulos, & convalles, camposque profusa: Ut nunc esse vides vario distincta lepore Omnia, que pomis intersita dulcibus ornant Arbustisque tenent felicibus obsita circ.u.m).

_Lucret. l. 5._

{37:1} See what Vossius has written in his Observations on Catullus, p.

204. _Indomitus turbo contorquens flamine_......

{39:1}

.....Aurea durae 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}

.......Quae quantum vertice ad auras aethereas, tantum radice in Tartara tendit.

_Geo._ l. 2.

{42:1}

Quinetiam Cli regionem in cortice signant, Ut quo quaeque modo steterit, qua parte calores Austrinos tulerit, quae terga obverterit axi, Rest.i.tuant: 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 ma.n.u.s retinet, t.i.tulo laetatur oliva.

{54:1} And therefore were joyners called intestinary. See Leg. 2. _Cod.

Theodos._

{57:1}

.........Et querna glande repasta aequa.s.se annosas vivendo corpora Quercus.

{58:1}

Flix illa aetas mundi, justissima nymphe, c.u.m dabat umbra domum vivam tua, c.u.m domus ipsa Decidua dominos pascebat fruge quietos, Solaque praebebant sylvestria poma secundas Gramineis epulas mensis; nondum arte magistra Arbor adulteriis praeluserat 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 armandae 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._

CHAPTER IV.