gether they are
repeatedly thinned out, and, eventually, only those left which are
intended to come to maturity. Under this artificial, though necessary
system, the trees lose all individuality, and they never regain it
because they are all more or less controlled when growing, and so
become uninteresting copies of each other.

The motto of the natural oak is _festina lente_, mindful of the
proverb, "early maturity means early decay." It is well known that
oak, slowly and naturally grown on poor soil, is far more durable than
that which is run up artificially or produced on rich land. The
branches of oaks rarely cross or damage each other by friction, like
those of the beech, they are obstinate and will sooner break in a
gale, than give way. Where an oak and a beech grow side by side, close
together, the oak suffers more than the beech, from the dense shade of
the latter; and if they are so near as to touch and rub together in
the wind, the oak will throw out a plaster or protection of bark, to
act as a styptic to the wound in the first place, and eventually as a
solid barrier against further aggression.

Paintings of landscape in which trees occur are rarely satisfactory;
if you look at children playing beneath timber trees, or passers-by,
the first thing that strikes you is the majesty and the height of the
tree, as compared with the human figure. In paintings this is not as a
rule expressed; the trees are too insignificant, and the figures too
important, so that the range and wealth of tree-life is lost.
Gainsborough's _Market Cart_ is a notable exception, but the cart is a
clumsy affair, and the shafts are much too low both on it and the
horse. Constable's _Valley Farm_, _The Haywain_, _The Cornfield_, and
_Dedham Mill_ are all striking examples of his sense of tree
proportion, lending no little to the nobility of his pictures, and
speaking eloquently of the reverence man should feel in the presence
of Nature, untainted by his own fancied importance.

What is known as "heart of oak" in Worcestershire is called
"spine-oak" in the New Forest, and the latter is perhaps the better
name of the two as expressive of greater durability. The outer part of
the trunk is called "the sap," and whilst the heart or spine is almost
indestructible, the sap-wood quickly decays, and is rejected in using
the timber for any important purpose. Pieces of the sap adhering to
the heart-wood of which the old oak coffers were made, may oft