1864

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

is, they have for the most part been planted in clumps along with elms; which,being vigorous, rapid-growing trees, have robbed the soil of moisture, andovershadowed and stunted the oaks. In any of the London nurseries wherethe American oaks have been allowed to stand 6 or 8 years in the same place,they will be found of twice the height of those in the Chiswick Garden;and, instead of being crooked, stunted, and unhealthy, they are straight andvigorous. We may refer to a few which are generally to be found in theHammersmith and Fulham nurseries; but we wish, in a particular manner, todirect attention to the specimen trees of American oaks in Loddiges’s arbo-retum, and to some hundreds of plants which they have for sale in theiradjoining nursery ground. Among the latter, we observed on May 5th, 1837,above 100 plants of Quercus palustris, the hardiest, the most rapid-growing,and, in our opinion, the most beautiful, of all the American oaks; which, at7 years from the acorn, were from 15 ft. to 20 ft. in height. In the LeytonNursery, near Stratford-le-Bow, there were, till the sale of the stock of thatnursery in the autumn of 1836, a great variety of American oaks, selected bythe late Mr. Hill from seed-beds, and planted across the nursery in rows indifferent directions, for shelter. The variety and beauty of these oaks ex-ceeded anything of the kind we ever before saw: in spring, when they werecoming into leaf; in summer, when they were in full foliage; and in autumn,when they were dying oft' of every shade of brilliant scarlet, yellow, red, andpurple. The plants were mostly from 10 to 12 years from the acorn; weretransplanted into these rows, after making 2 years’ growth in the seed-beds;and, with the exception of Q. Banlsteri, and two or three other low-growingkinds, they were all from 20 ft. to 30 ft. in height. The portrait of Q. palustrisin our last Volume, taken from a tree in the Leyton Nursery, will give an ideaof the progress made by that species there. In the London HorticulturalSociety’s Garden, though about the same age, it is not half that height. (SeeQ. palustris.)

2 8. Q. a'lba Lin. The American white Oak.

Identification. Lin. Sp. PL, 1414; Banist. Cat. Stirp. Virg.; Willd. Sp. PL, 4. p. 449. ; Pursh, vol. 2.

p. 683.; Michx. Quer., No. 4. t. 5.; N. Du Ham., 7. P. 175.; Smith in Rees’s Cycl., No. 69.Synonymes. Q. &lba virginitlna Park. Theat. Rot., Cat. Carol., 1. t. 21. f. 2.; Q. a. pinnati fidaWalt.\Carol. , p. 230., No. 10., Michx. FI. Bor. Amer.,2. p. 195.; Q. palustris Marsh., p. 120. No. 3.;Chene blanc de I’Amerique, Fr. ; weisse Eiche, Ger.

Engravings. Cat. Carol.,;i. t. 21. f. 2.; Michx. N. Amer. Syl., vol. 1.1. l.j ovxtfigs. 1723. and 1726.;and the plate of this tree in our last Volume.

Spec. Char., fyc. Leaves oblong, pinnatifidly serrated; pubescent underneath ;lobes linear-lanceolate, obtuse, entire, attenuated at the base. Fruit pedun-culated. Calyx somewhat cup-shaped, warty, and flattened at the base,Acorn oval. (Willd.) A native of North America, where it grows to theheight of 60 ft., or upwards, and flowers in April. Introduced in 1724.Varieties. The elder Michaux gives the two following forms of this species,the leaves of both of which are shown in fig. 1723. copied from Michaux’sHistoire dcs Chenes Amei'iques: —

¥ Q. a. 1 pinnatifida Michx. FI. Bor. Amer., ii. p.

195., Hist, des Chenes Amer., t. 5. f. 1., and ourfig. 1723. a; Q. alba Ban. Cat. Stirp. Virg.; Q.virginiana Catesb. Carol., i. p. 21. t. 21.; andQ. a. palustris Marsh., p. 120. No. 3.—This isthe usual form of the species, and is commonin North America, from Canada to Florida.

Fig. 1726. is a sprig and acorn of Q. alba pin-natifida, taken from Michaux’s North AmericanSyha, vol. i. t. 1.; and the acorn without itscalyx is shown in fig. 1722. at a.

I Q.fl.2 repanda Michx. 1. c., Hist, des Chenes, t.5. f. 2., Du Roi, t.5. f.5.,and oui-yrg. 1723. h, which is found wild in the forests of Carolina,and which sometimes occurs in seed-beds of Q. alba in Europe. Fig.