145 



considered this a reason for beUeving tlie former to be the fastest gi-owing tree 

 of the two, while he acknowledged at the same time that the roots of the 

 Sessilijiom were the stronger and the whole plant stiudier. But to di-aw con- 

 clusions as to the rapidity of gi-owth and formation of timber in the giown tree 

 from its habit while a seedling is, I cannot help thinking, very Ukely to mislead. 

 For instance, no forest tree, while young, is more rapid in gi-owth than the 

 ash, which throws up shoots eight and ten feet long in one season, while as a 

 gi-own tree, scai-cely any is slower in the fomiation of timber. 



I wiU conclude with the mention of a circumstance which I was not 

 awai-e of at the time I wrote my paper, viz., that in the year 1853 this very 

 siibject engaged the attention of no less a body than the Horticultural Society of 

 London. The questions they desii-ed to have settled were these : (1) Of what 

 wood was thereof of Westminster HaU really built? and (2) "Wniich was the 

 most desirable species of oak to plant for timber ? They accordingly appomted 

 certain persons, believed by evei-y one to be the fittest for the pui-pese, to examine 

 these questions minutely and to report. Among these names we find those of 

 Mr. Atkinson, the eminent ai-chitect, and a great authority on timber for building 

 purposes ; Blr. Tredgold, the renowned engineer, an umivalled authority on 

 timber ; Donald Beaton, the great gardener, a man often consulted by Mr. 

 Darwin and mentioned by him with the gieatcst respect in his last work, "The 

 Variations of Animals and Plants under Domestication"; Dr. LiniUey, the 

 eminent botanist, and others. The result of this enquiiy was that the roof of 

 Westminster Hall was proved to be indisputably of scssilijlora oak, and the final 

 impression of the society, after hearing all the evidence as to strength of 

 timber, durability, quickness of growth, &c., &c., was that the sessilijlora oak 

 was the tree which ought in future to be planted in all the Eoyal Forests. 



Mr. Edwin Lees rose at the call of the President, and said that Mr. Key 

 had not noticed a remai-k he had made last year when the subject was so fully 

 debated. Much had been said as to the relative qualities of the timber of 

 Qua-cus pcduncidata and Q. scssiliflom, but nothing as to that of a variety 

 interposed between them that bore the name of Q. inttrmcdm. Ho was satisfied 

 that, botanically speaking, there was but one species of oak in this country, 

 and vaiieties had arisen from it. Acorns from Q. peduncidaia might produce 

 Q. scssilijiora or intermedia, or even other varieties, and all the acorns of scssili- 

 jlora would not produce the precise tree from which it sprang. If acorns were 

 sown in a soil adapted to the growth of the oak, then it little mattereil whether 

 Q. pcduncidata or sessilijlora was selected, the timber would be good and sound. 

 Geologists had named a stratum of the Oolite in Oxfordslm-e, the "Oak-tree 

 clay," from its speciality in producing magnificent oaks of sound timber, and this 

 was truly the old oak of the country, the rohur of Linuitus, for the botanists 

 and foresters of former times made no distinction. Only find out the soil and 

 aspect suited to the growth of the oak, and whatever varieties anight be produced 



