THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX.
91
a tall conical tree. Other authorities contend that there is no
difference in the "habit" or growth of the two supposed species.
It was suggested that I should ascertain the variety of each tree
which I propose to describe, but it appeared to me that while it
would be interesting to take a census of the oaks of our county to
determine which variety predominated, and was presumably most
suited to local circumstances, the question of the variety to which the
comparatively few isolated oak trees which had grown to a great age
should be referred, was not of sufficient importance to compensate
for the considerable amount of trouble it would have entailed to have
visited or secured branches from each tree at the time it was
flowering.
One other variety, or rather sub-variety, I must also mention,
viz., Quercus pedunculata var. pendula, the "Weeping Oak." My
readers will probably be rather incredulous as to the existence of
such a form, as I was when I first heard of it ; the very term "pendula"
indicating an amount of variation from the ordinary character of the
tree which almost surpasses belief. Nevertheless, a large tree of this
variety occurs at "Moccas Court," Herefordshire, some of its
branches being thirty feet long, and no thicker than a cart-rope, and
moreover all trees raised from acorns of this variety after the age of
twenty years, if not earlier, partake of the weeping character of their
parents. It is possible that our Essex specimens of "Weeping
Oaks," which I shall describe later, are descendants of this Moccas
Court tree.
It is extremely difficult to decide at all accurately upon the age of
an oak tree. It is not possible to ascertain the exact date when an
ancient oak tree was a seedling, for, unlike a building, our tree
probably was not sufficiently remarkable to attract notice until it had
reached a venerable age. It is stated that oak trees add one ring of
wood to their growth each year. These rings can readily be dis-
tinguished by reason of the wood being less compact and having
more vessels in the early part of the year, when the growth is more
vigorous, the later slower growth producing more compact wood.
Even this basis for calculation would only give the approximate age,
because exceptionally long seasons, like that of 1893, do occasionally
occur, in which trees will put forth fresh leaves and may even
blossom a second time and form a second ring of wood as the
autumn advances. Moreover it would not be a wise thing to cut
down our oak trees to discover their age. There are however