CHAP. CV.

CORYLA'CEA:’. QUE'RCUS.

1867

between the Alleghany Mountains and the Ohio, in a yellow soil, composedof clay with a mixture of calcareous stones, which produces excellent wheat.

History. The white oak, according to the elder Michaux (Hist, des Chimes),was the first American oak known in Europe; and it is not only mentioned,but a figure of a single leaf of it is given, in Parkinson’s Herbal, printed in1640. Parkinson having just described Q. if'sculus, adds, “ They have inVirginia, a goodly tall oke, which they calle the white oke, because the barkeis whiter then others; whose leafe, because it so neerely resembleth thissweet oke, I have joyned with it. The ackorne, likewise, is not only sweeterthen others, but, by boyling it long, it giveth out an oyle, with which theykeep supple their joynts.” (p. 1387.) The leaf figured bears a very close re-semblance to those of the Q. alba given by the two Michaux. Catesby, writ-ing, probably, about 1728, says that the Q. alba virginiiina of Parkinson closelyresembles the common British oak. He adds that the bark is white, and thatthe grain of the wood is very fine; also, that there is a variety of it called the scalywhite oak, which is found in Virginia. ( Catesb. Carol., i. p. 21.) Kalm, in hisTravels, about the year 1740, says that the white oak is the kind of treewhich is found in greatest abundance in good ground near Philadelphia. Itis stated in the Hortus Kewensis to have been introduced in 1724; and it isnot only included in the list published by the Society of Gardeners, in 1730(see p. 77.), but is one of the oaks enumerated by Catesb}', as being “ thengrowing at Mr. Fairchild’s.” ( Catesb. Carol., p. 22.) The tree has never beenmuch planted in Britain, from the difficulty of bringing over the acorns.About the year 1820, when Cobbett returned from America, and commencednurseryman, he strongly recommended the tree, and raised and sold severalthousand plants of it, though he acknowledged that he had great difficulty inbringing the acorns in a sound state to England.

Properties and Uses. Pursh calls the white oak one of the most abundantand useful of its genus in America. The elder Michaux states that it is pre-ferred to all other oaks, both for house and ship building, in that country; andMichaux the younger informs us that, in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and nearlyall the towns in the middle states, the framework of all the well-built houses,whether of wood or brick, is of the timber of this tree. It is seldom, however,he adds, used for the floors or outer covering of wooden houses, from its lia-bility to warp and split. The wood of young trees is very elastic, and capableof such minute division, that it is used for many of the purposes of the willowor the bamboo, or even whalebone; such as basket-making, carpet-brooms,seats and backs for chairs, the rims of sieves, the bottoms of riddles, andcarter’s whips, which are made in the following manner :—“ A tapering pieceof the wood is cleft in nine, from the small end to within 1 ft. of the other end,which is left solid for the hand. These nine spleets are then twisted by threes,and the threes again twisted together; the whole is then sewed in a case of hlackleather, and a silken thong added, which completes the whip.” ( Birkbeck’sNotes, &c.,p. 71.) The wood is also used, in America,for milk-pails, the handlesof axes, and numerous other rural purposes. “ Of all the species,” says theyounger Michaux, “ that grow east of the Mississippi, the white oak alonefurnishes staves for casks, proper for containing wines and spirituous liquors.The domestic consumption for this purpose is immense; and vast quantities areexported to the West Indies, Great Britain, and the Islands of Madeira andTeneriffe.” (N. Amer. Syl., i. p. 22.) The bark is employed for tanning theleather for saddles, and other articles which require to be of a fine texture;but the bark of the white oak is so much thinner than that of the red, that itis rarely used for the purposes of ordinary tanning. The acorns are sweet,and are eaten by the Indians.

Propagation and Culture. (See p. 1727.) We may here repeat, as applicableto all the oaks of this and the succeeding sections, that the acorns may bebrought over with perfect safety, if bedded in moist live moss (Sphagnum).They will require no attention during the voyage; but, as they will have ger-minated by the time of their arrival in Britain, they should be immediatelyplanted, with or without pinching off the extremities of such of the radicles as