CHAP. CV.

CORYLA'CEiE. QUe'rCUS.

1797

green velvet moss, which, in a still greater degree, commonly occupies the holeof the beech, though the beauty and brilliancy of it lose much when in decay.As the trunk rises, you see the brimstone colour taking possession in patches.Of this there are two principal kinds; a smooth sort, which spreads like ascurf over the bark ; and a rough sort, which hangs in little rich knots andfringes. I call it a brimstone hue, by way of general distinction ; but it some-times inclines to an olive, and sometimes to a light green. Intermixed witlithese mosses you often find a species almost perfectly white. Before I wasacquainted with it, I have sometimes thought the tree whitewashed, Hereand there, a touch of it gives a lustre to the trunk, and has its effect: yet, onthe whole, it is a nuisance; for, as it generally begins to thrive when the othermosses begin to wither (as if the decaying bark were its proper nutriment), itis rarely accompanied with any of the more beautiful species of its kind ; and,when thus unsupported, it always disgusts. This white moss, by the way, isesteemed a certain mark of age, and, when it prevails in any degree, is a clearindication that the vigour of the tree is declining. We find, also, anotherspecies of moss, of a dark brown colour, inclining nearly to black; another ofan ashy colour ; and another of a dingy yellow. We may observe, also, touchesof red, and sometimes, but rarely, a bright yellow, which is like a gleam ofsunshine; and in many trees you will see one species growing upon another,the knotted brimstone-coloured fringe clinging to a lighter species, or theblack softening into red. All these excrescences, under whatever name dis-tinguished, add a great richness to trees; and, when they are blended harmo-niously, as is generally the case, the rough and furrowed trunk of an old oak,adorned with these pleasing appendages, is an object which will long detainthe picturesque eye.’ ” (Strutt in Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. i. p. 246.)

The beauty of oak foliage is universally allowed; but that of Q. sessilifloramay be said to be most admired in single leaves, and that of the other speciesin tufts of leaves. The difference between the two species, in this respect,was first pointed out by the Rev. W. T. Bree. “ The leaves of Q. pedunculata,”he says, “ are of a dark deep green; and, though rather small (and small leavescombine better than large ones), they are numerous, and grow close to thespray, clustered together in dense masses, forming those lovely tufts, or ro-settes, which constitute one of the characteristic beauties of oak foliage. Whenthe wind blows gently, it partially turns up, and displays their glaucous undersurfaces in harmonious contrast with the deeper tints of those above, and pre-sents a study worthy of the pencil of Gainsborough. The leaves of Q. sessili-flora, being of a large size, are fewer in number, and less thickly set; consequentlythey do not mass so well. One of the specific distinctions of Q. sessiliflorais, that it bears its leaves on footstalks; and this circumstance gives to thefoliage a loose and straggling appearance, and a want of depth and solidity,which greatly detract from its general effect. For the same reason it is thatmany of the fine American species of oak, beautiful as they are, must yield thepalm, in point of foliage, to the monarch of our British forests, Q. pedunculata.”( Gard. Mag., vol. xii. p. 534.)

Soil, Sfc. Oaks, according to Nichols, “ flourish best, and grow the quickest,in a rich deep loamy soil; and I have found by experiments and generalobservations, for more than 30 years, that the wood of such trees is of thefirmest and best texture, and I believe it will be so found in all the differentspecies of trees that grow the fastest.” He agrees with Buffon in ascribingthis to the increased thickness of the annual layers of fast-growing trees, incomparison with those that grow slower. (Obs.,& c., p. 41.) Monteath, in hisForester’s Guide, 2d edit., has “ observed that the oak grows fastest, andmakes the best hearted-timber, in strong good clay soils.” In proof of this,he refers to oak trees on the estates of Alloa, Airthrey, and Alva, the twolatter on the face of the Ochil Hills. The trees on these estates, he says,although “ very rapid in growth,” produce “ most excellent timber. In atree from 2 ft. to 3 ft. in diameter, there will not be above three quarters ofan inch of white or sap wood ; and in the very heart of the topmost branch