guE 



injuring the trees, that it is necessary to continue 

 them ; tor, when the bark is not taken oft", they 

 seldom last longer than fifty or sixty years in 

 health ; whereas trees which are barked every 

 eight or ten years will live 150 years or more. 

 The bark of a young tree is porous and good for 

 little : however, it is necessary to take it oft" when 

 the trees are twelve or fifteen years old, for with- 

 out this the bark will never be good: after eight 

 or ten years, the bark will be fit to take oft" again ; 

 but this second peeling is of little use: at the 

 third peeling; the bark will be in perfection, and 

 will continue so for 150 years, as the best cork 

 is taken from old trees. The time for stripping 

 the bark is in Julv, when the second sap flows 

 plentifully : the operation is performed with an 

 instrument like that which is used for disbark- 

 ing the oak. 



The thirteenth is of small growth, seldom 

 rising above twelve or fourteen feet high, send- 

 ing out branches the whole length on every side, 

 so as to form a bushy shrub : the leaves are armed 

 with prickles like those of the holly ; the acorns 

 are smaller than those of the common oak. The 

 leaves resemble those of the Ilex, but are less, 

 thinner, and green on both sides. It is a na- 

 tive of the South of Europe, the Levant, Bar- 

 barv, &c., flowering in May. 



From this species they collect the Kermes or 

 scarlet grain, a little red gall, occasioned by the 

 puncture of an insect called Coccus ilicis. With 

 this the antients used to dye cloth of a beautiful 

 colour. 



Culture. — These trees are all capable of being 

 raised from the seed or acorns, which, in the 

 common oak, should be gathered in autumn 

 when quite ripe, just as they drop from the trees ; 

 but those of most of the foreign oaks are gene- 

 rally procured from abroad, and sold by the 

 seedsmen. 



All the sorts should be sown as soon after 

 they are obtained as possible, as they are apt to 

 sprout if they remain long out of the ground; 

 and for their reception a spot of light ground 

 in the nursery should be prepared by digging or 

 ploughing, dividing it into four-feet-wide beds, 

 in which the acorns should be sown, either in 

 drills, two inches deep, in five or six rows, 

 lengthwise of the bed : or rake the mould oft" the 

 bed, the depth of two inches, into the alleys; 

 then sowing the acorns all over the surface, 

 about two or three inches apart, press them down 

 with the spade, and spread the earth evenly over 

 them two inches thick. 



When they come up in the spring they should 

 have occasional waterings and weeding ; and 

 when the plants are ope or two years old, it is 

 proper to plant them out in nursery-rows : this 

 may be done in autumn, winter, or early in the 



O U E 



spring, taking them carefully up out of the seed- 

 bed, shortening their perpendicular tap-roots, 

 and trimming oft* any lateral shoots from the 

 stem, leavins; their top perfectly entire ; then 

 planting them in lines two feet and a half asun- 

 der, and fifteen or eighteen inches in the rows, 

 where they should stand, with the usual nursery 

 care, till of a proper size for final planting out 

 either as forest-trees, or for ornament, training 

 them up as full standards, with clean straight 

 stems, and with their tops still entire. 



But in raising the striped-leaved varieties of 

 the common oak, and any particular variety of 

 the other species, it should be by grafting, (as 

 they will not continue the same from seed,) 

 which should be performed upon any kind of 

 oakling stocks raised from the acorns, and train- 

 ed for standards as in the other kinds. 



With respect to the final planting out, it may 

 be performed in all the sorts of deciduous oaks 

 any time in open settled weather, from Novem- 

 ber till February or March, andm the evergreen 

 kinds in October, November, or the spring ; and 

 in a mild open season in any of the winter months. 

 When the trees of all the sorts are from about 

 three or four to six feet stature, they are 

 proper for being planted out for good, though, 

 as forest- or timber-trees, it is better to plant 

 them out finally while they are quite young, as 

 from two to three or four feet in height ; or 

 when planted immediately from the seed-bed, 

 where they are to remain, it may be advantage- 

 ous, as the very young oaks root more freely 

 than older trees, and take a freer growth. Those 

 designed as forest- or timber-trees, should be 

 planted in large open tracts of ground to form 

 woods, placing them in rows only four or five 

 to ten feet asunder, and from two or three to five 

 or six feet in the rows, to allow for a gradual 

 thinning. See Plantation and Planting. 



Sometimes large plantations of these trees, 

 for woods, are raised by sowing the acorns at 

 once in the places where they are to remain ; it 

 being generallv found that the trees raised at 

 once from the acorn, from their not being 

 checked, much outstrip the transplanted trees in 

 their growth. The method of performing it is 

 this : the ground being prepared by good plough- 

 ing and harrowing, in the. autumn, having pro- 

 cured a proper quantity of acorns, draw drills 

 across the ground four feel asunder, and two 

 inches deep, dropping the acorns into them six 

 or eisrht inches asunder, allowing for failing and 

 thinning, covering them in evenly with the earth 

 the depth of the drills ; or instead of drilling 

 them in, thev may be planted with a dibble, the 

 same depth and distance. 



The general management of these trees in 

 woods or timber plantations is the same as 



