DENDROLOGY. 285 



The rock chesnut oak is sometimes 3 feet in diameter, and 

 more than 60 feet high ; but as its growth is usually repressed by 

 the poverty of the soil, it rarely attains these dimensions. In 

 open, elevated situations it spreads widely, and forms a head 

 like that of the apple tree. The beautiful appearance of this tree 

 when growing in a fertile soil, is owing equally to the symmetry 

 of its form and to the luxuriance of its foliage. The leaves are 

 five or six inches long, and three or four broad, oval and 

 uniformly denticulated, with the teeth more regular but less acute 

 than those of the chesnut oak. When beginning to open in the 

 spring, they are covered with a thick down ; but, when fully 

 expanded, they are perfectly smooth, whitish beneath, and of a 

 delicate texture. The petiole is of a yellow color, which becomes 

 lighter towards autumn. The fructification of this tree is annual. 

 The flowers appear in the month of May, and are succeeded by 

 brown acorns of an oblong-oval shape, and sometimes an inch in 

 length, a third part of which is contained in a spreading cup 

 covered with loose scales : they are sweet-tasted and are a 

 favorite nourishment of wild and domesticated animals. 



When the trunk of this tree exceeds a foot in diameter, it is 

 covered with a thick, hard, deeply-furrowed bark, which is 

 esteemed in some parts of the United States for tanning. That 

 of the secondary branches and of stocks of less than six inches 

 thick is commonly employed. The epidermis is strongly impreg- 

 nated with the tanning principle, which in other species resides 

 only in the cellular integument. The wood is reddish like that of 

 the white oak, but its pores are more open, though its specific 

 gravity is greater : pieces of both species being thrown into 

 water, the white oak remains on the surface and the other at the 

 bottom. Its staves are not used to contain spirituous liquors. At 

 New York and on the banks of the Hudson, it holds the next 

 place to the white oak in the construction of vessels. It is 

 employed for the lower part of the frame, and oftener for the 

 knees and the ribs. For fuel this wood is next in price to the 

 hickory. 



