ORNAMENTAL PLANTING. 131 



The ornamental qualities of the ilex are universally appreciated ; the cork- 

 tree, whose singular beauty of form and foliage are the admiration of all 

 travellers in southern Spain, too tender to thrive except in a few favoured 

 spots in our southern counties, is sufficiently described in the list of forest- 

 trees, (page 111.) But the oaks of North America claim the deepest 

 attention from the ornamental planter. Ranging through many degrees 

 of latitude, and growing at very different elevations, consequently under 

 much variety of climate, some of them are hardy with us, some tender ; 

 but all abhorrent of wet or clayey soils. Deprived of the cloudless sun. 

 and high temperature of an American summer and autumn, they cannot 

 ripen their shoots sufficiently to be frost-proof, except upon soils of a light 

 and warm nature. Their foliage is beautiful, frequently singular : with the 

 effect of their autumnal tints of crimson every British tree fails in compa- 

 rison. We shall only advert to such of those described by Michaux and 

 Pursh, as we believe to be calculated to succeed in this country. In the 

 garden of the Petit Trianon, at Versailles, the favourite retreat of the ill- 

 fated Marie Antoinette, a fine specimen of the willow-leaved oak, (Q. phellos,) 

 is very ornamental ; it is not unusual in sheltered villa gardens in the neigh- 

 bourhood of London, but in an inland situation in Hampshire, elevated 

 about 600 feet above the sea, its shoots have been killed every winter. 

 Q. humilis, maritimu, sericea, cinerea, (Pursh,) are all related to Quercus 

 phellos, and probably tender. Q. imbricaria is hardy and very de- 

 serving of notice, on account of its beautiful, shining, almost entire leaves, 

 little resembling the familiar appearance of the oak. Q. tinctoria, 

 discolor, coccinea, alba, rubra, montana, olivaeformis, all hardy upon light 

 soils, all attaining to large size, all beautiful in their perfect foliage, are 

 superb during its decay. Q. tinctoria, one of the largest and finest trees 

 of the North American forests, produces the valuable material so well 

 known in commerce as quercitron bark. An oak of great size and pro- 

 mise, with fine broad leaves, and immense acorns, (Q. macrocarpa,) was 

 introduced by the late Mr. Lyon, from the state of Tenessee. We have 

 seen it only in the high situation in Hampshire before mentioned, where 

 it has been unable to ripen its shoots. Most of the oaks enumerated by 

 Michaux, as varieties of Q. prinos, but by Pursh as distinct species, 

 must be tender in England, except under very favourable circumstances ; 

 perhaps by grafting them upon the Turkey oak, thus furnishing them with 

 roots of hardier constitution than their own, their shoots may be ripened 

 with greater certainty. The oaks of Spain, upper Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, 

 and Turkey, are very imperfectly known ; some of them are allied to 

 Q. cerris, but are sufficiently distinct to make it desirable that we 

 should possess them. Mr. Walsh, in the Transactions of the Horticultural 

 Society of London, vol. vi., describes an oak growing near Constan- 

 tinople, (Q. pubescens,) as a fine and beautiful tree ; its leaves covered 

 with down beneath, and its branches when young, pendulous, like those 

 of weeping willows. It is probable that interesting species exist in 

 the unexplored and classical regions of Asia Minor, now by the advancing 

 civilization of the Ottomans, and the improvement in their government, 

 laid open to the researches of travellers. But by far the most curious 

 additions to our oaks, perhaps to the arboretum generally, are to be derived 

 from the mountains of the Himalaya. We earnestly invite the attention 

 of individuals connected with India, to the vegetable treasures of this 

 region ; whose valleys, more elevated above the sea than the top of Mont 

 Blanc, contain within their bosoms most interesting species of oak, birch, 

 walnut, fir, cedar, and other genera of cold climates, calculated by 

 their beauty to adorn our parks and gardens in the highest degree. Some 



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