Several interesting particulars of the effect of lightning on oaks are given by Loudon, who also states that the oak, owing to its roots not being so liable to rot in the ground as those of most trees, is not often blown down. He describes the effect of a hurricane in October 1831, on the splendid oaks growing in Lord Petre's park at Thorndon Hall in Essex, which reminds me of a similar case in April 1890, when I saw, at Narford, in Norfolk, oaks of 2 to 3 feet in diameter broken off at 4 to 10 feet from the ground by the force of the wind, which tore up many plantations of spruce and other shallow-rooting trees by the roots.
Sir Charles Strickland tells me that a very tall young oak tree 54 feet to the first branch, and quite straight, growing at Housham in Yorkshire, nearly on a level with the river Derwent, was, in the severe winter of 1860-61, completely killed by a frost which was the severest in his recollection. Though he has no record of the temperature at Housham, yet he believes that at Appleby, in Lincolnshire, it was as low as 154 below zero,[1] and generally in the northern counties the thermometer went below zero. Many other oaks were killed in the woods and in the hedgerows between Malton and Pickering by the same frost.
The various insects which attack the oak are too numerous to be mentioned in detail, but are described at length by Loudon and by many other authors.
The galls, which are so common on the leaves, are produced by several species of Cynips, and the so-called oak-apples are the result of an injury by an insect of the same family.[2]
Mistletoe on the Oak
Since the time of Pliny, who describes the worship of the oak, and especially of the mistletoe-bearing oak by the Druids, the occurrence of this parasite on the oak has always been looked on as a rarity. Loudon only mentions two trees known to him, of which one near Ledbury was cut down in 1831, and another at Eastnor Castle is still living; but we have now been able to collect many more authentic records. A paper on the subject by the late Dr. Bull of Hereford[3] gives particulars of several, and states that it is considered a dangerous practice to interfere with a mistletoe-bearing oak. One at St. Diels, near Monmouth, was cut down by the bailiff about 1853, and the owner of the estate immediately dismissed him. A woodman who climbed the Eastnor tree to get some mistletoe, fell down and broke his leg, and other similar stories are quoted. The finest mistletoe oak I have seen was shown me by Sir George Cornewall, at Bredwardine, in 1902. When described by Dr. Bull, mistletoe was growing on it in no less than fifteen different places, and it measured 78 feet by 11 feet 6 inches in girth. Sir George has lately found another in his park, and has a third on his estate in Woodbury Wood.
This part of England seems to be, for some reason, the most prolific in England
- ↑ This is a little lower than any temperature recorded by the Meteorological Office, but the subject of meteorology as affecting trees will be discussed fully later.
- ↑ An article in the Kew Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, Additional Series, v. 1906, on Oak Galls, by R.A. Rolfe, gives much information on the subject, but is too long to quote. Nearly one hundred different kinds have been described which occur on the roots, buds, leaves, stamens, ovaries, and fruit.
- ↑ Trans. Woolhope Nat. Field Club, 1870, p. 68.
