8o TREE-PLANTING. 



the latter sends its roots deep down into the earth in 

 search of sustenance, the roots of the larch ramify, and 

 draw their provision chiefly from the surface soil. On 

 this account the two trees do not interfere with each 

 other, as is the case with many other kinds. 



Almost every county in England has its historical 

 oak of large size, several of which have stood for 

 many hundreds of years, such as the Parliament 

 Oak in Clipston Park, the property of the Duke of 

 Portland, which takes its name from the fact of a 

 Parliament having been held under its umbrageous 

 shade, by Edward I., in 1290. 



It has been recorded of an oak forest in Scotland 

 that of Darn away in Morayshire that between the 

 years 1830 and 1840, the sales of timber and bark 

 averaged from ,4,000 to ^"5,000 per annum. The 

 oak timber usually sold from two shillings, to 

 three shillings per cubical foot, its age varying from 

 thirty to eighty years. After paying every expense 

 during the growth of the timber, the revenue of the 

 forest per acre amounted to double that of the finest 

 arable land in the county. 



The Mossy-cupped or Turkey Oak (Q. cerris). 

 The seed of this species is remarkable for producing 

 a great number of different varieties, which vary con- 

 siderably in the size and shape of their leaves, being 

 much inclined to hybridise with the evergreen oak, so 

 that frequently, in a seed-bed of young oak plants of 

 this description, a considerable number of sub-ever- 

 green specimens may be selected. The leaves are of a 

 glossy green above, inclining to a whitish hue beneath ; 

 being lobed and serrated. They die in autumn, 

 but, like those of the young beech, they hang on 



