CHAP. CV. 



CORYl.A'CE^, QUE'RCUS. 



1863 



statistics. In the environs of London, at Syon, it is 22 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 1 ft., and of 

 the head 24 ft. : in Denbighshire, at Llanbede Hall, 2U years planted, it is 35 (t. high, the girt of 

 the trunk 2 ft. 8in., and the diameter of the head 14 ft. : in Suffolk, at Finborough Hall, 30 years 

 planted, it is 40 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 8 in., and of the head 30 ft. In Ireland, in 

 Louth, at Oriel Temple, 60 years planted, it is 55 ft. high. In France, at Toulon, in the Botanic 

 Garden, 10 years old, it is 19 ft. high. In Bavaria, at Munich, in the EngUsh Garden, .30 years old, 

 it is 10 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 3 in., and of the head 4 ft. In Italy, at Monza, 24 years old, 

 it is 23 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 6 in., and of the head 18 ft. 



Commercial Statistics. Plants, in the London nurseries, are 7s. 6d. each ; of 

 the pendulous-branched variety, 3*. 6d. each : at BoUw} Her, plants are 3 francs 

 each. 



Q. Ti'irneri, Q. aiistralis, and some other sorts, may possibly belong to the 

 section Cerris; but, as there are great doubts on the subject, we have thought 

 it better to include them in an Appendi.v. 



§ iii. AlbcE. White American Oaks. 



Sect. Char. Leaves lobed, and sinuated, not mucronated; broadest at the 

 upper extremity; dying oif more or less shaded with a violet colour. Bark 

 white, or whitish brown, cracking and scaling off in thin laminee. Fructifi- 

 cation annual. Cups imbricate or echinate. Nut oblong, generally large. 

 The American oaks being generally propagated in Europe by acorns im- 

 ported from America, we shall here give a comparative view of the acorns of 

 some of the common kinds. Fig. 1722. represents acorns of the natural size, 



of all the kinds that were imported by Mr. Charlwood, seedsman, of London, 

 in the year 1836 ; but that year being unfavourable for the ripening of acorns 

 in America, fewer sorts were imported than usual, and the nuts of these few 

 are under the average size. In this figure, a is the acorn of Quercus alba; 

 b, that of Q. macrocarpa, with the cup on ; c, that of Q. obtuslloba ; d, Q. 

 Prinus tomentosa ; e, Q. P. pumila ; /, Q. tinctoria ; g, Q. nigra; /^ Q. Phellos; 

 and /, Q. palustris. 



We may here observe that most sorts of the American oak in Messrs. 

 Loddiges's collection (the most complete in Europe) can be propagated by 

 grafting on the common oak, close to the ground ; and largely earthing up 

 the grafts afterwards, so as to leave only the points of the scions exposed to 

 the air. This earthing up not only preserves a uniform degree of moisture 

 round the graft; but the earth employed being taken from the adjoining sur- 

 face, and consequently having been heated by the sun, produces an imme- 

 diate increase of temperature round the graft, which gives an impulse to the 

 rising sap, and so accelerates vegetation. 



It may be proper to notice that the specimens of American oaks in the 

 Horticultural Society's Garden are in general stunted, and by no means ex- 

 hibit the average growth of such trees in the climate of London. The reason 



