ON BRITISH OAKS. 25 
The above examples show that the length of the bole affects 
the circumference, that is to say, the longer the bole is the less the 
girth, and wice versa, and this leads me to remark that in Sir 
James Campbell’s paper the length of the bole is not given, an 
important omission. 
Another objection to this experiment has been stated, namely, 
that the plants left in the “acorn patch” were in exhausted soil, 
whereas the transplanted ones were put in comparatively maiden 
soil. 
An argument put forward in favour of transplanting is, that the 
tap root only serves a temporary purpose, and is of no consequence 
to the future growth of the tree. This opinion is founded on 
observations taken of uprooted trees, which have no appearance 
of tap roots. In answer to this it may be stated, first, that the 
absence of a tap root may have been the cause of the uprooting, 
because whether self-sown or planted, there may have been cir- 
cumstances in the subsoil unfavourable to its growth. 
Another omission in Sir James Campbell’s paper is that the 
variety of the oak is not given. Now I find that pedwneulata 
does not increase so fast as sess¢liflora. I found this opinion on 
the measurement, for ten years, of two trees which, so far as can 
be seen, are growing under precisely similar circumstances. 
No. 1. Quercus pedunculata, measured in 1878, had 
a circumference of . : “ 5 ED ft. 
The bole 9 ft. 
» Im 1888 the circumference was : : 12 ft. 
This gives an average increase per annum of : 1-2 in, 
No. 2. Quercus sessiliflora, measured in 1878, had 
a circumference of . : : 9 £6 Sm 
The bole also 9 ft. 
» In 1888 the circumference was ; - 10 ft. Pili 
Or an average increase per annum of : : 2 in. 
nearly double that of No. 1, The soil in which they grow is 
clayey loam. Another Q. sessli/lora is increasing at the rate of 
875 in. per annum ; but this is evidently an older tree than 
No, 2, and is growing on stiff clay. 
PLANTS AND PLANTING. 
Whether the foregoing statements as to the growth of the two 
oaks, which are natives of Britain, will bear out the theory that 
