86 TREE-PLANTING. 



their eggs, around which the gall accumulates, the 

 most remarkable being those formed in the male 

 blossoms of the English oak. These ordinarily drop 

 from the tree in June, but if they have been fastened 

 on by the insects while in a growing state, and prema- 

 ture, they remain attached to the tree until the galls 

 are perfected. 



The red, white, and black American oaks each com- 

 prehends several species, some of which become large 

 spreading trees, but they are not profitably cultivated 

 for timber, the wood being generally soft and porous. 

 The red kinds are exceedingly ornamental, Q. coccinea, 

 or scarlet oak, being especially so. It is a native of 

 Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Georgia, and was intro- 

 duced into Britain about the end of the seventeenth 

 century, and grows very often quicker than the com- 

 mon oak in certain situations. The treatment of these 

 varieties is similar to that of other oaks, a principal 

 point to be borne in mind, being that the tree 

 has a tendency to make a strong main tap-root, 

 which occasions a stunted growth when removed, 

 unless counteracting precautions are taken ; these con- 

 sisting in removing them early into nursery lines, and 

 planting them in their ultimate situations, before the 

 roots, which have a tendency to get bare, acquire 

 great strength. The leaves are oblong, deeply sinuated, 

 and of a beautiful shining green, varying very much 

 in size and shape on different trees, and even on the 

 same tree, at different stages of its growth. They are 

 all produced on long leaf-stalks, and are remarkably 

 handsome, some luxuriant trees yielding leaves of a 

 foot in length, and six inches broad, which the first 

 frost of autumn or winter mostly changes into yellow 



