Trees, Shrubs and Vines 



leaves the first season, enough to keep life in the root, 

 which will drill deeper and deeper. When age or acci- 

 dent removes the tree which has overshadowed it, then 

 it will assert itself. Fires may run over the land, destroy- 

 ing almost everything else ; the oak will be killed to 

 the ground ; but it will throw up a new shoot the next 

 spring." What indomitable will ! Those who accept 

 the Darwinian theory will have no difficulty, in the case 

 of some men, in finding the oak in their direct line of 

 ancestry. 



No other genus of trees shows such varieties of leaf- 

 type as are found in the numerous species of oak ; yet 

 bring together a leaf from each from all over the world, 

 and there is something in every one that plainly asserts 

 its common origin. 



Out of eight or ten common species, the white oak is 

 probably the most satisfactory for cultivation for its very 

 healthy foliage, which is more free from insect attack 

 than any other ; yet the pin oak ( Quercus paliistris) is 

 sometimes as thrifty and of handsomer foliage j the red 

 and scarlet oaks are also more showy, with large glossy 

 leaves, and the swamp white {^Quercus bicolof) rivals 

 them all with a leaf that is both leathery and lustrous. 

 The post oak {^Q. minor) is less pretentious in size, but its 

 glossy, thick and almost evergreen leaf is one of the 

 handsomest in the family. In our third excursion we 

 shall encounter the most imposing oak specimen in the 

 park — a mossy-cup-oak (^Q. macrocarpa). What magnifi- 

 cence of color in October from all the various sorts, 

 robing the forests in such deep rich tones as send a 

 thrill through all the landscape ; here is the oak-fibre 



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