CHAP. CV.

CORYLA'CETE. QUE'RCUS.

1863

Statistics. In the environs of London, at Syon, it is 22 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 1 ft., and ofthe head 24 ft.: in Denbighshire, at Llanbede Hall, 20 years planted, it is 35 ft. high, the girt ofthe trunk 2 ft. 8 in., and the diameter of the head 14 ft.: in Suffolk, at Finborough Hall, 30 yearsplanted, it is 40 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 8 in., and of the head 30 ft. In Ireland, inLouth, at Oriel Temple, 60 years planted, it is 55 ft. high. In France, at Toulon, in the BotanicGarden, 10 years old, it is 19 ft. high. In Bavaria, at Munich, in the English Garden, 30 years old,it is 10 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk Sin., and of the head 4 ft. In Italy, at Monza, 24 years old,it is 23 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 6 in., and of the head 18 ft.

Commercial Statistics, Plants, in the London nurseries, are 7s. 6d, each; ofthe pendulous-branched variety, 3«. 6d. each: at Bollwyller, plants are 3 francseach.

Q. Turner!, Q. australis, and some other sorts, may possibly belong to thesection Cerris; but, as there are great doubts on the subject, we have thoughtit better to include them in an Appendix.

§ iii. Albce. White American Oaks.

Sect. Char. Leaves lobed, and sinuated, not mucronated; broadest at theupper extremity; dying off more or less shaded with a violet colour. Barkwhite, or whitish brown, cracking and scaling off in thin lamina'. Fructifi-cation annual. Cups imbricate or echinate. Nut oblong, generally large.The American oaks being generally propagated in Europe by acorns im-ported from America, we shall here give a comparative view of the acorns ofsome of the common kinds. Fig. 1722. represents acorns of the natural size,

1722

mm

Bp*

of all the kinds that were imported by Mr. Charlwood, seedsman, of London,in the year 1836; but that year being unfavourable for the ripening of acornsin America, fewer sorts were imported than usual, and the nuts of these feware under the average size. In this figure, a is the acorn of Quercus alba;b, that of Q. macrocarpa, with the cup on; c, that of Q. obtusiloba; d, Q.I rinus tomentosa; e, Q. P. pumila ; f Q. tinctoria ; g, Q. nigra; h, Q. Phellos;and i, Q. palustris.

We may here observe that most sorts of the American oak in Messrs.Loddiges’s collection (the most complete in Europe) can be propagated bygrafting on the common oak, close to the ground; and largely earthing upthe grafts afterwards, so as to leave only the points of the scions exposed tothe air. This earthing up not only preserves a uniform degree of moistureround the graft; but the earth employed being taken from the adjoining sur-face, and consequently having been heated by the sun, produces an imme-diate increase of temperature round the graft, which gives an impulse to therising sap, and so accelerates vegetation.

It may be proper to notice that the specimens of American oaks in theHorticultural Society's Garden are in general stunted, and by no means ex-hibit the average growth of such trees in the climate of London. The reason