74 TREE-PLANTING. 



air, and light ; nor is it adapted to situations of great 

 exposure, as its branches being brittle are apt to 

 be broken by the wind. Its timber is remarkably 

 durable, being especially valuable as posts, bearing a 

 high reputation for strength and solidity, possessing a 

 great power in resisting fracture, which is said to 

 exceed that of the oak, being extensively manufac- 

 tured into tree-nails in America, where it is used for 

 ship-building. 



Cobbett was the means of giving a great impetus 

 to the cultivation of this tree in England, which he 

 ^praised extravagantly, describing the timber as being 

 " absolutely indestructible by the power of earth, air, 

 and water, so the time will come when the locust tree 

 will be more common in England than the oak." The 

 locust tree being the popular name in America, many 

 bought it under the impression they were obtaining 

 something different in the form of a recent importa- 

 tion, but in reality it was one of the first American 

 trees which was introduced into Britain, and was 

 not thought to be identical with the Robinia Psettd- 

 acacia. 



It is never now planted for the sake of its timber, 

 which Cobbett said would one day supersede the oak 

 in this country. 



The Oak (Quercus}. There are about one hundred 

 and fifty different species of oak indigenous to the 

 temperate portions of the northern hemisphere, and 

 about a hundred of them have been introduced into 

 Britain, the leading varieties of which it will be only 

 necessary for us to name. The oak has been classed 

 as belonging to the genus Quercus of Moncecia poly an- 

 dria in the Linnsean system, and to Corylacece or 



