FLORA OF THE MOUNTAIN. 229 



mixed in forests of other trees of tlie noblest proportions, 

 which it ever assumes in any soil. 



QuERcus MONTANA affects the eastern slopes and sum- 

 mits, having a taste, as its common name indicates, {rock 

 chestnut -oak,) for rugged and stony surfaces. Associated 

 with the last species is the " canfanea,^^ and scattered in dif- 

 ferent localities over the mountain are the '*nigra,^'' '' tinc- 

 toria,^^ "coccinea," "rtfbra,^^ and "falcafa.^^ From the 

 size to which many of these species grow, it would seem 

 that here must be a special home of the oaks.* 



Castanea. — The chestnut has a special affinity for the 

 mountain. The Castanea vesca grows here to a pro- 

 digious size, living ages. It bears the familiar well-known 

 sweet nut, and has an extremely rugged bark, covering a 

 coarse-grained, light wood, especially prized for its inde- 

 structihility as a fencing material. The Castanea pumila 

 or chinquepin, grows here also. 



Nyssa multiflora. — The tupelo, black or sour gum, 

 grows sparsely over the mountain, presenting its ordinary 

 characters in other localities. 



Platanus occidentalis. — The American plane, S3Ta- 

 more, or buttonwood, is found on the streams at the base 

 and on the table-lands of the Alleghanies, but not on its 



* In connection with oaks, a word on the progressive instincts of 

 the Pennsylvanians may be in pLice. It has arranged itself on the 

 record that it required the lumber-men of Maine to come to Pennsyl- 

 vania to show her mountaineers the value of their forests, the 

 "Yankee stave-cutter" having been a pioneer in one of the most 

 valuable' lumber specialties of the mountain and the State. Tran- 

 scendent Yankee!! his sliarpness is past finding out; he cuts the 

 "trees that twist with the sun," saying, that those which "twist 

 against the sun will not hold molasses.'^ Curious problem in the 

 philosophy of kinka ; it seems that the refractory saccharine principle 

 of the South requires a special twist of a special Northern oak 

 to hold it level, and tins, too, by the upccial twist '^ with the sun,^^ and 

 not ''against it." When will Pennsylvanians wake up to the special 

 twists of Northern Fanatics and Soutliern Salamanders, both jcith 

 and against the sun? 



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