1864' ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



is, tliey have for the most part been planted in clumps along with elms ; which, 

 being vigorous, rapid-growing trees, have robbed the soil of moisture, and 

 overshadowed and stunted the oaks. In any of the London nurseries where 

 tlie American oaks have been allowed to stand G or 8 years in the same place, 

 they will be found of twice the height of tliose in the Chiswick Garden ; 

 and, instead of being crooked, stunted, and unhealthy, they are straight and 

 vigorous. We may refer to a few which are generally to be found in the 

 Hammersmith andFulham nurseries; but we wish, in a particular manner, to 

 direct attention to the specimen trees of American oaks in Loddiges's arbo- 

 retum, and to some hundreds of plants which they have for sale in their 

 adjoining nursery ground. Among the latter, we observed on May 3th, 1837, 

 above 100 plants of <^uercus palustris, the hardiest, the most rapid-growing, 

 and, in our opinion, the most beautiful, of all the Americanoaks ; which, at 

 7 years from the acorn, were from 15 ft. to 20 ft. in height. In the Leyton 

 Nursery, near Stratford-le-Bow, there were, till the sale of the stock of that 

 nursery in the autumn of 1836, a great variety of American oaks, selected by 

 the late Mr. Hill from seed-beds, and planted across the nursery in rows in 

 different directions, for shelter. The variety and beauty of these oaks ex- 

 ceeded anything of the kind we ever before saw : in spring, when they were 

 coming into leaf; in summer, when they were in full foliage; and in autumn, 

 when they were dying off of every shade of brilliant scarlet, yellow, red, and 

 purple. The plants were mostly from 10 to 12 years from the acorn ; were 

 transplanted into these rows, after making 2 years' growth in the seed-beds ; 

 and, with the exception of Q. Banisteri, and two or three other low-growing 

 kinds, they were all from 20 ft. to 30 ft. in height. The portrait of Q. palustris 

 in our last Volume, taken from a tree in the Leyton Nursery, will give an idea 

 of the progress made by that species there. In the London Horticultural 

 Society's Garden, though about the same age, it is not half that height. (See 

 Q. palustris.) 



i 8. Q. a'lba Lin. The Amaican white Oak. 



Identification. Lin. Sp. PI., 1414; Banist. Cat. Stirp. Virg. ; Willd. Sp. PL, 4. p. 449. ; Pursh, vol. 2. 



p. (J3.J. ; Michx. Quer., No. 4. i. 5. ; N. Du Ham., 7. p. 17.5. ; Smith in Rees's Cycl., No. 69. 

 Si/noni/mes. Q. &lba virginiana Park. Thcat. Bot., Cat. Carol., 1. t. 21. f. 2. ; Q. a. pinnatffida 



n-ait.\Carol.,\>. 2.30., No. 10., Mich.T. Ft. Bor. Amer.,i. p. 195. ; Q. paHistris Marsh., p. 120. No. 3.; 



Chene blanc de I'Amerique, Fr. ; weisse Eiche, Ger. 

 Engravings. Cat. Carol. ,:i. t. 21. f. 2. ; Michx. N. Amer. Syl., vol. 1. 1. 1.; our^gs. 1723. and 1726.; 



and the plate of this tree in our last Volume. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Lpaves oblong, pinnatifidly serrated ; pubescent underneath ; 

 lobes linear-lanceolate, obtuse, entire, attenuated at the base. Fruit pedun- 

 culated. Calyx somewhat cup-shaped, warty, and flattened at the base, 

 Acorn oval. (IVil/d.) A native of North America, where it grows to the 

 height of GO ft., or upwards, and flowers in April. Introduced in 1724. 



Varieties. The elder Michaux gives the two following forms of this species, 

 the leaves of both of which are shown in Jig. 1723. copied from Michau.x's 

 Histoire dcs Chcnes Anicri(jues : — 



3f Q. a. 1 pimint'ifda Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., ii. p. ^ '^'^ 



195., Hijit.de.'! C/iene.i Amer., t. 3. f. 1., and our 



fg. 1723. a; Q. lilba Batt. Cat. Stirp. Virg.; Q. 



virgmnma. Catesh. Carol., i. p. 21. t. 21.; and 



Q. a. palustris Marsh., p. 120. No. 3. — This is 



the usual form of the species, and is coumion 



in North America, from Canada to Florida. 



Fig. 172G. is a sprig and acorn of Q. alba pin- 



natifida, taken from Michaux's North Ameriean 



Sylva, vol. i. t. I.; and the acorn without its 



calyx is shown \nfig. 1722. at «. 

 1 Q. a. 2 repdnda Michx. 1. c. Hist, des Chcnes, t.5. f. 2., Du Roi, t.3. f.5., 



and ouv Jig. 1723. /», which is found wild in the forests of Carolina, 



and wiiich sometimes occurs in seed-beds of Q. alba in Europe. Fig. 



