t ever satisfactory this test may be for this important object, it is but too seldom employed, if we are to judge by the few records of the ages of valuable trees, not only of the oak, but of all others of the first class of timber that are to be found. Were records of planting kept in the family archives of those who plant; containing the facts of the age of the plants, when transplanted to their timber sites, the nature and preparation of the soil at the period of planting, and the after culture until the trees attained to a timber size, the benefit to science and to practice would be great. (See note, *p. 11.) our own native species, Quercus robur. The white oak before noted approximates nearer in valuable properties to the British oak than any other. In favourable situations it rises to seventy or eighty feet in height, and six or seven feet in diameter. To inquiries made to English, French, and American shipwrights, this intelligent author learnt that the general opinion agreed in the conclusion, that European oak was tougher and more durable from the superior closeness of its grain, but that the American species was more elastic, and required a shorter time, and only half the weight to bend it; and he judiciously adds, that this advantage, though important in ship-building, does not compensate for the openness of its pores. In America it is much used in the construction of mills and dams, where it is exposed to be alternately wet and dry. The wooden bridge-nearly three thousand feet long, that unites Boston and Cambridge is supported by posts of white oak, from sixteen to twenty feet in length, which have replaced those of white pine, on which it originally stood. The Turkey oak, Quércus cérris, was The American mossy-cup oak has the Live oak. ..virens ..súber. Willow-leaved.. .phellos. Laurel...............imbricária vel laurifólia. .púmila. Post oak Over-cup oak .obtusilóbā. ..lyráta. Bear oak.............Banistéri. ...quercus Catésbæi. Third section-leaves multifid, or many cleft:- Scarlet oak...........coccinea. Grey oak • • • • . . . . . . . . . ambigua. Pin oak ............ ..palústris. the United States they are found to measure frequently fifteen inches long and eight broad. The acorns are large, and the lips of the cup are frequently fringed with a series of flexible filaments. This tree is also deserving of a place in British plantations. The lobed-leaved, or post oak, is a tree of a secondary size. Michaux states, that the preference given in the West Indies to the staves from Baltimore and Norfolk is due, in a great measure, to their being made of the wood of this species. It is an ornamental tree, but its merits for the produce of timber have not yet been proved in England. The over-cup oak, or lyre-leaved, affects a moist soil, and is of a large habit of growth. The shape of the leaves and general habit of the tree render it interesting. It has not yet received in England the requisite time and culture to prove its properties for the produce of timber. In America Michaux states its height to be eighty feet, and its circumference eight to twelve feet. The swamp oak, Quercus discolor, is much less common in America than many of the other oaks. We have seen only one plant of it in England. Michaux describes it as a beautiful tree, more than seventy feet high; the leaves six or eight inches long and four broad, smooth and of a dark green above, and downy underneath. We believe this species to be nearly allied to the British durmast oak, Quercus pubescens. The chestnut white, or marsh oak, Quércus Michaúxii, is considered to be one of the most majestic trees of the American forests. It is described, according to the above, as rising to ninety feet in stature, with a straight clear stem of fifty feet, crowned with an expansive summit. The timber of it is considered inferior to the white oak, though superior to some other species. We have seen young trees only of it in England. The rock chestnut leaved yellow oaks are as yet only distinguished for the shape of their leaves, which more or less resemble those of the sweet chestnut. The last mentioned is considered the most interesting. The acorns are of an inferior size, but of a sweeter quality than those of the other species mentioned. The small chestnut oak rarely exceeds thirty inches in height, and ought perhaps to have been passed over here without notice; however, it is very prolific, and where acorns are in request for the food of game, pheasants for instance, this dwarf oak may be planted with advantage. The acorns are very sweet. 'Of its habits in its native soil,' Michaux remarks, that Nature seems to have sought a compensation for the diminutive size of this shrub in the abundance of its fruit; the stem, which is sometimes no bigger than a quill, is stretched at full length upon the ground by the weight of its thickly clustering acorns.' The live oak, Quércus virens, was mentioned at p. 45,* as highly deserving of a trial in situations on the southern coast. Michaux remarks, that it is never found farther than from fifteen to twenty miles from the shore. The eminent success of Mr. Lucas in transplanting trees of large growth of this species selected from the woods, on his estate at Middleburg, prove clearly its vivacious habits. It appears to be confined to the southern states of North America, viz. the Floridas and Louisiana, as its natural soil and climate, extending no farther north than Norfolk in Virginia. He further mentions, that in the course of four or five hundred miles between Cape Canaveral in East Florida, to Savannah in Georgia, he frequently saw it on the beach, or half buried in the movable sands on the downs, where it had preserved its freshness and vigour, though exposed during a long lapse of time to the fury of the wintry tempest, and to the ardour of the summer's sun. Its usual height in its native soil is from forty to forty-five feet, and one foot in diameter. The leaves are evergreen. The wood is extremely hard, tough, and very lasting. It is used for ship-building, screws, cogs for mill wheels, and other purposes, for all which it is preferred to the white oak. The cork-tree, or cork oak, is a native of the south of Europe; it was introduced into England about ninety or a * We here beg to correct a passage by inserting an omission at page 45, line 18 from the top; after add, in elevated exposed situations,' the words, the live oak will not exist in England,' ་ ple dye of the name, which supplanted the substitute obtained from a species of the murex, shell-fish, and used for the anciently celebrated Phoenician purple dye, is afforded by this oakshrub (for the plant seldom rises above five feet, and often does not exceed two,) in the form of small red galls, caused by the puncture and subsequent deposition of the eggs of an insect, called coccus ilicis. This dye, in its turn, however, has been supplanted by the cochineal cóccus cácti, an insect itself, found on one or more species of the cáctus, or Indian fig, but more particularly the Cactus cochinillifer or the Opuntia cochinillifera. The kermes oak is a native of the south of Europe, and was introduced into England about 1683. is considered to be less durable than the common oak, although it is compact and heavy. Its growth in England is confined to warm sheltered situations. In exposed situations it cannot be reared. The largest we have seen in England is in the Royal Gardens, Kew, where its characteristic property, that of producing in perfection cork-bark, was, when we saw it a few years since, very evident and interesting. Abroad the cork is considered fit to be first taken from the tree when it reaches twenty-five years of growth, but this product is not of a quality Of the other species of oak enumerated to be used for better purposes. In below, the dyers' oak, Quercus tinctoten years it is renewed, but it is not ria, demands notice, on account of until the tree has attained to the age its bark furnishing the yellow dye, querof forty-five or fifty years that the citron, a substance much used in bark possesses all the requisite pro- dyeing wool, silk, and paper-hangings perty for good corks. July and Au- It is the cellular integument of the gust are the seasons for taking it from bark that supplies the colouring matthe trees, which is carefully done, so ter. Doctor Barncroft states, that as not to wound the alburnum; for one part of quercitron is equal to ten should this happen (it may be unne- parts of woad. It is stated, that to cessary here to state), the cork bark dye wool it is sufficient to boil the is not again renewed on that part. quercitron with an equal weight of The acorns should be sown as soon alum; in dipping the stuff the deepest as received from abroad in small sin- shade is given at first, and afterwards gle pots, and shifted into larger as the straw-colour*. This species of oak the roots increase, until the plants are appears to have been introduced into from one to two feet high, when they England as early as 1739; but its may be transplanted for good; they useful property now alluded to seems may, however, be kept until they are not to have been proved, or, in fact, six feet or more in height, provided tested in this climate. Its wood is care be taken to prevent the tapconsidered inferior to that of the comroot from passing down below the pot mon oak. to any great length. The ilex, or evergreen oak, may be reared with advantage in the same manner as Common.. that now described. It is more hardy than the preceding tree. Its merits Sitting acorned for ornament and shelter are well Woolly-petioled, known; it appears to have been introduced into England from the south of France in 1581. The kermes oak, Quercus coccifera, is worthy of remark here, although of so humble a habit of growth as not to attain the size which constitutes a timber tree. The scarlet, or red pur * The Hortus Kewensis states it to have been introduced into England in 1699, by the Duchess of Beaufort. Timber or Forest Species. OAK-TREE. .... QUERCUS. róbur pe-l Britain dunculáta sessiliflóra.. Native of Ft. ..60 40 or Durmast pubescens..England..Var. Rough-lvd do.bulláta... Turkey-mossy-cupscérris ... .....S. Europe.50 رو .... Nar.-lvd. do..sinuáta دو Long-leaved .oblónga. ... *North American Sylva., i. p. 93. Species for Ornament, or whose value for ascertained. OAK TREE. [ QUERCUS. Timber of British growth has not yet been Subdeciduous....castellána..S. Europe Glossy-leaved ....lezermiána. Spreading expánsa. Native of Ft. Calycine. .calycina. .lusitánica..Portugal .crenáta....S. Europe OAK-TREE. White*.. QUERCUS. .álba...... N.Amer...70 Portugal Willow-leaved....phéllos .... virens Ash-coloured ....cinérea Laurel-leaved....laurifólia... Live .... Var. Blunt do. .obtúsa Tile-cupped......imbricáta... ....50 Crenated. -40 to 45 Running -18..20 Sea... ....40 ...40 .súber......S. Europe .... 2 to 15 ....80 Broad chestnut-lvd.prínus.... ....20 ..30 ...90 ..80 .90 Jágilops ...S. Europe ..ésculus .... Bear-oak. .......banistéri ... ...... 80 50 3, 4 •fagínea....S. Europe Hisped-cupped...haliphléos..France Soft-jagged-leaved Tauzin ..S. Europe Austrian.. ....Austríaca ..Austria Amer.-mossy-cup .ovalæfórmis N. Amer. Clustred ...... ... ...... ... conglomeráta Europe fastigiata. Pyrenees .repánda....N. Amer. .pseudo-súber Spain Over-cup-white...macrocarpa .N.Amer..60 10, 20 Barren-scrub .cutesbai .... Dwarf..........nána ...... Spiny-leaved.....agrifólia Dwarf-chestnut...prinoides.. Swamp-white....micháuxii. Rock-chestnut... .montána... Two-coloured ....bicolor.. ...70 ..80 40, 60 70 Monacia Polyandria, Linn. MALE FLOWER-calyx, bell-shaped, five-cleft; corolla, none; stamina, five to twelve. FEMALE FLOWER-calyx, four-cleft; corolla, none; styles, two or three, three-cleft; seeds, an angular or three-corner shaped nut, one or two contained in each muricate capsule, which opens with four valves, and emits the seeds or nuts. Time of sowing the seeds-from October to February: they require particular protection from field-mice and other vermin. Soil-Siliceous, sandy soils are well adapted for the growth of the beech; or it will attain a great size in elevated clayey loams incumbent on sand: it will prosper on chalky, stony, barren soils. Uses It is used by cabinet-makers, turners, mill and wheel-wrights, for cogs, spokes, and felloes. In the dockyards it is used for wedges, &c. It is also used by musical-instrument-makers for sounding-boards, &c.; by coopers for clapboards. Near large towns it is in great demand for billet-wood. It affords a large quantity of potash and good charcoal. In Devonshire, where the severity of the western winds is great, the beech appears to withstand the bad effects better than most other kinds of trees, and this hardy habit of it renders it valuable for planting in high chalky and gravelly soils, where shelter is of so much importance to the surrounding lands. According to Vancouvert, the beech and sycamore are found most powerful to resist the rigour of the westerly gales. The nuts, or mast, of *The white oak is in high estimation in North the beech afford an oil by expression, America. Michaux states that the value of staves made of this species of oak received by England * Michaux, in his North American Sylva,' in 1808 amounted to 146,000 dollars, and the num-states, that there are found forty-four species of ber of staves sent to the West Indies exceeded oak between the 20th and 48th degrees of north 53,000,000. The price has varied greatly within latitude of that continent. the last hundred years: 1720, three dollars a thousand; in 1798, eighteen dollars; and in 1808, thirty dollars. In 1807, before the American embargo, they were advertised at fifty-five dollars, and in 1808, after that municipal regulation, at one hundred dollars! . Turnerii ..infectória..Levant Species for Ornament, &c. BEECH-TREE. FAGUS. Native of Ft. Var. Purple.. purpúrea..Germany .30 leaved.... which the poorer inhabitants of Silesia of chalk hills which run from Dorset- The bark of the American white beech Timber or Forest Species. Broad-leaved. MALE ... .. ferruginea .N.Amer...40 .sylvestris... Cupuliferæ. Nat. Sys. Eng. Name. Bot. Name. CASTANEA. Monacia Polyandria. Linn. ....30 FLOWER-ament, naked; calyx, naked; corolla, five petals; stamina, ten to twenty. FEMALE FLOWER-calyx, five or six-leaved, muricate, or covered with soft spines; corolla, none; stigma, pencil-shaped; seeds, nuts, three, ovate, three-sided, enclosed in a roundish capsule, covered with soft spines. Time of sowing the seeds-February. Soil-A rich sandy loam raises the chestnut to the greatest perfection as a timber-tree; but it appears to come to great maturity in clayey soils, if free from stagnant moisture. It will thrive also in gravel or sand, if not in too bleak or exposed a situation. Uses The timber of the castanea vesca, or sweet chestnut (see page 9, fig. e), is said to be equal to that of the oak. For underwood or shelter, in a favourable climate, there can be no doubt of its great value, affording a fall in every ten or twelve years for hop-poles, hoops, &c. The chestnut, if not originally a native of Britain, has at least been long naturalized in the climate. The most ancient tree of this species on record is probably that mentioned by Bradley* in Lord Ducie's park, at Totworth, Gloucestershire. He states that, in 1150, it was styled the great chestnut of Totworth; and that, in 1720, it measured fifty-one feet in circumference at six feet from the ground. The same tree is mentioned, in 1791, by Lysons, who etched two views of it. This chestnut, it is highly probable, had lived a thousand years, and hence we may conclude its long duration in the soil. At Buckland, the seat of Robert Throckmorton, Esq., M.P., are to be seen some remarkably fine specimens of this tree; in several places in Kent, and on the banks of the Tamer, Gentleman's Magazine for 1766, p. 321. See also Martyn's Miller's Gard. Dict. |