THE WHITE OAK AND OTHER SPECIES. 



THE most important, though not the largest, of the 

 American trees of the Oak family, and the one that is 

 most like the English tree, is the American White Oak. 

 It puts forth its branches at a comparatively small height, 

 not in a horizontal direction, like the white pine, but ex- 

 tending to great length with many a crook, and present- 

 ing the same knotted and gnarled appearance for which 

 the English oak is celebrated. Individual trees of this 

 species differ so widely in their ramification that it would 

 be difficult to select any one as the true type. Some 

 are without a central shaft, being subdivided at a small 

 height into numerous large branches, diverging at rather 

 a wide angle from a common point of junction, like the 

 elm. Others send up their trunk nearly straight to the 

 very summit of the tree, giving out lateral branches from 

 all points almost horizontally. There is a third form 

 that seems to have no central shaft, because it is so 

 greatly contorted that it can only be traced among its 

 subordinate branches by the most careful inspection. 

 The stature of the White Oak, when it has grown in an 

 isolated situation, is low, and it has a wider spread than 

 any other American tree. 



The leaves of the White Oak are marked by several ob- 

 long, rounded lobes, without deep sinuosities. They turn 

 to a pale chalky red in the autumn, remain on the tree 

 all winter, and fall as the new foliage comes out in the 

 spring. The tree may be readily distinguished from 

 other oaks by the light color and scaly surface of the 



