THE EVERGREEN OAK. 83 



a height of eighty feet. The tree is a slow grower, 

 but it is of great duration. Although tender while 

 young, when it is once firmly established in the soil 

 it stands the severest weather without injury, provided 

 the land be well drained. Its strong tap-root has 

 doubtless much to do with this result ; and as when a 

 seedling plant its tendency is to form a bare tap-root, 

 which renders transplantation difficult to perform with 

 safety, this species of oak is generally grown by 

 nurserymen in pots. An acorn is put into a small 

 flowerpot first, and then changed into a larger pot, 

 according to its growth. Thus treated, they take to 

 the ground naturally upon being planted out, and 

 grow freely wherever they are placed, in almost any 

 kind of common soil. They are benefited by a slight 

 protection from frost during the first four winters of 

 their lives. 



The tree forms a very handsome evergreen, and 

 blossoms in May and June. Its male flowers or cat- 

 kins, which are produced on the shoots of the former 

 year, are from one to two inches long, while the 

 female flowers, on the contrary, are produced on the 

 newly-formed twigs, the acorns coming to maturity 

 during the second year. 



There is no tree perhaps which differs so much in 

 its growth and progress in different situations ; soil 

 and position, without doubt, have much to do with this ; 

 but a good deal also depends upon variety, for some 

 kinds are known to vary as much in luxuriance of 

 growth as they do in the appearance of the foliage, 

 and all the varieties are not equally hardy. 



When space enough is allowed to the tree it com- 

 monly forms a gigantic trunk, which it conceals with 



G 2 



