Four men were three weeks and two days in felling and stripping the tree. There were 85 pieces of square or hewn timber: the squarers were three weeks and four days in squaring it. One pair of sawyers had been five months in sawing the tree, and had not finished when this account was sent. (Mar. 6th, 1811.)

The tree was purchased by Mr. Thomas Harrison for one hundred guineas.

Part of an oak-tree, twenty-feet in circumference, was drawn out of the Thames in September, 1815, near the Ferry at Twickenham, with great difficulty, by twenty-four horses: it is known to have laid in the river one hundred and fifty years.

The timber of the oak-tree is so well known, and so justly esteemed, for a variety of purposes, that it would be superfluous to state the whole of them.

In building ships of war, one great advantage is, that it seldom splinters, which caused foreigners to attribute our naval vic

tories to the excellency of our timber; but the late war has given so many proofs of our defeating our enemies with ships of their own building, that they must now acknowledge that the bravery of a British sailor is as firm as the heart of an English oak.

It was not until we had manufactured into furniture all the curious woods of the New World, that the transcendent splendor of the English oak was brought to any degree of perfection by the late Mr. Bullock, of Tenterden-street, and other eminent cabinetmakers. Mr. Penning, of Holles-street, Cavendish-square, who I am informed has been the most successful in the choice of this wood, has lately wrought up some old oaktrees of such matchless beauty, that one set of dining-tables brought him the unheard-of price of six hundred pounds. This far exceeds any thing of the kind we read of, even in the luxurious days of the Romans, although Pliny says, "Our wives at home twit us, their husbands, for our expensive tables, when we seem to find fault with their costly pearls."

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"There is at this day to be seen, "says this author, a board of citron wood, belonging formerly to M. Tullius Cicero, which cost him ten thousand sesterces; a strange cir

cumstance, as he was not rich." He also mentions a table that belonged to Gallus Asinius, which sold for eleven thousand ses→ terces, which is about equal to £70 of our money; and he particularizes a table of citron-wood that came from Ptolemæus, king of Mauritania, which was made in two demirounds, or half circles, joined together so cleverly, that the joints could not be discovered the diameter of it was four feet and a half, and three inches in thickness. It is related that they set great store on woods of curious grains: some there are mentioned with curling veins, which were called tigrina (tiger tables); others, pantherne (panther); and some are described waved like the sea, and spotted like the peacock's tail. But those of the highest value were of the colour of honey-wine, with shining and glittering veins, or lamprey-veined, running across.

I have ventured to make this digression, having seen within these last few years oak of such various grains, that out of them the whole of the above-mentioned, and many other curious representations, might have been selected.

The bark of the oak-tree is a most valuable article for the purpose of tanning; and it is by the aid of this bark, that our English

gardeners are able to supply us with pineapples, and other fruits peculiar to the hottest climates.

The oak principally used for wainscot, &c., is brought from Dantzic and Norway.

The evergreen oak (ilex) is a native of the south of Europe, and is planted merely to ornament our gardens and plantations: this variety was introduced into England in 1581, and is found to grow in great perfection on the banks of the Thames, west of London. There is an oak of this description in the grounds belonging to the Bishop of London's palace at Fulham, more than fifty feet high, and eight feet in circumference. I conclude it was planted by Bishop Compton, who introduced many new plants and forest trees from North America and other parts of the world.

APRICOT.--ARMENIACA;

Or, PRÆCOCIA MALA.

In Botany, of the Class Icosandria Monogynia.

THE

HE apricot has long been considered, and in most botanical works stated, to be a native of Epirus; and the name of pruneus Armeniaca having been given to it in mistake, and which I shall shew belonged to another fruit, it has been transmitted down from one author to another, without particular inquiry. Theophrastus, one of the oldest authors, never mentions the apricot-tree as being cultivated in Greece, at the time when he lived: on the contrary, he alludes to it as an exotic, from an account transmitted to him he also mentions the almond, as being the only tree in his country which produced the flowers before the leaves. (Theoph. Hist. Plant. lib. vii. c. 12.)