442 



QUE 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



QUE 



feet distant in the rows, they will have room enough to grow 

 three or four years longer; by which time, if the plants have 

 made good progress, their roots will be spread over the 

 ground, and render it proper to take up every other tree in 

 the rows. The best plants should, however, be allowed to 

 stand, whichever row they may be in, or if they should 

 not stand exactly at the distance here assigned ; all that is 

 designed here being to lay down general rules, which should 

 be as nearly complied with as the plants will permit : hence 

 every one should be guided by the growth and appearance 

 of the young trees. When they have been reduced to the 

 distance of about eight feet, they will not require any more 

 thinning. But in two or three years those which are not 

 finally to remain, will be fit to cut down to make stools for 

 underwood ; and those which are to remain, will make such 

 progress as to become a shelter to each other ; for (his is 

 what should be particularly attended to whenever the trees 

 are thinned. Hence, in all places much exposed to the wind, 

 the trees should be thinned with great caution, and by slow 

 degrees ; for if the air be let too much at once into the 

 plantation, it will give a sudden check to the trees, and 

 greatly retard their growth ; but in sheltered situations there 

 need not be so great caution used as in open places. The 

 proper distance at which trees designed to furnish timber 

 should remain, is from twenty-five to about thirty feet; this 

 will not be too near where they thrive well, in which case their 

 heads will spread so as to meet in about thirty or thirty-five 

 years; nor will this distance be too great, so as to impede 

 the upright growth of the trees. This distance is intended, 

 that the trees should enjoy t'he whole benefit of the soil ; 

 therefore, after one crop of the underwood, or at most two 

 crops, are cut, the stools should be stubbed up, that the 

 ground may be entirely clear for the advantage of growing 

 timber, which is what should be principally regarded : but 

 in general most people have more regard for the immediate 

 profit of the underwood than the future good of the timber, 

 and by so doing frequently spoil both ; for if the underwood 

 be left after the trees are spread so far as that their heads 

 meet, the underwood will not be of much worth, and yet 

 by their stools being left they will retard the progress of the 

 timber-trees by absorbing their nourishment. The soil in 

 which the Oak makes the greatest progress, is a deep rich 

 loam, in which the trees grow to the largest size ; and the 

 timber of those trees which grow upon this land is generally 

 more pliable than that which grows on a shallower or drier 

 ground ; but the wood of the latter is compact and hard. 

 Indeed there are few soils in England in which the Oak will 

 not grow, provided there be due care taken in their cultiva- 

 tion, though this tree will not thrive equally in all soils ; 

 but yet it might be cultivated to a national advantage upon 

 many large wastes in several parts, as well as to the improve- 

 ment of the estates, part of which lie uncultivated, and pro- 

 duce nothing to the owner. The cutting down Oaks in the 

 spring of the year, at the time when the sap is flowing, is very 

 injurious : it is done merely for the sake of the bark, which 

 will then easily peel off. But the timber is not half so durabl'e 

 as that felled in the winter; so that ships built of this spring- 

 cut timber have decayed more in seven or eight years, than 

 others, built with timber cut in winter, have done in twenty 

 or thirty. In raising Oaks for timber, draining should be 

 well attended to, nothing contributing more to their growth 

 and health than keeping the land dry, if it be in the least 

 degree swampy. The Oak flourishes best, and grows quick- 

 est, in a rich deep loam; it will also grow exceedingly well 

 on clays and sandy soils ; and on the last kind of soil the 

 finest-grained timber is produced. There can certainly be 



no harm in taking the acorns from flourishing healthy trees, 

 if taken when they are full ripe, and beginning to fall : if a 

 small quantity only be required, those which may be easily 

 shaken from the trees should be preferred. Evelyn says, that 

 six bushels of acorns will plant an acre, at the distance of 

 one foot from each other. Two bushels, therefore, which 

 some recommend as sufficient, must be much under the mark, 

 unless sown with the seeds of other trees for a mixt wood or 

 coppice. One of the most essential things to be observed in 

 the management of Oak-woods, is the judicious thinning of 

 them, as before directed. The striped variety of the Oak is 

 propagated by budding or grafting on the common sort; it is 

 a beautiful variegation, and may be improved by joining it to 

 the Scarlet, Virginian, or Chestnut-leaved. The more tender 

 sorts will become hardier, and the dwarfs improve in size, 

 by grafting or budding on the Common Oak. For further 

 particulars on this interesting and most important subject, 

 see the articles Timber and Woods. 



25. Quercus Infectoria ; Oriental Gall Oak Tree. Leaves 

 ovate-oblong, very smooth on both sides, deeply toothed, 

 deciduous; fruit sessile; calix tessallated ; nut oblong, nearly 

 cylindrical. This Oak is scattered throughout all Asia Minor: 

 it seldom attains the height of six feet, and the stem is crook- 

 ed, with the habit of a shrub, rather than a tree. The galls 

 produced on the young branches, from the puncture of a 

 species of Diplolepis, are preferred to all others for dyeing, 

 and are a great article in the Levant trade. 



26. Quercus jEgilops ; Great Prickly-cupped Oak Tree. 

 Leaves ovate-oblong, tomentose underneath, sinuate, repand; 

 segments acuminate : calices very large, scaly, squarrose. 

 This is one of the handsomest species of Oak, but is not so 

 lofty as some species; the branches extend very wide on 

 every sjde, and are covered with a grayish bark intermixed 

 with brown spots. Native of the Levant, whence the acorns 

 are annually brought to Europe for dyeing. 



27. Quercus Cerris ; Turkey Oak Tree. Leaves sinuate, 

 piunatifid, pubescent underneath; segments sharpish; raments 

 axillary, filiform ; calices echinate ramentaceous. A tall hand- 

 some tree. Native of the south of Europe. 



28. Quercus Heterophylla. Leaves petioled at consi- 

 derable length, ovate-lanceolate, oblong or entire, or une- 

 qually large-toothed ; acorn-cup hemispherical; gland stib- 

 globose. Grows on the banks of the Delaware, Pennsylva- 

 nia. Pursh observes, that there is only one individual of 

 this singular species known, which grows on the plantation' 

 of the Messrs. Bartrams, near Philadelphia. Michaux con- 

 siders this tree to be a distinct species; but Pursh is inclined 

 to rank it among the hybrid plants. 



29. Quercus Ambigua. Leaves sinuate, glabrous, acute 

 at the base ; sinuses subacute ; acorn-cup subscutellated ; 

 gland turgidly ovate. Grows on Hudson's Bay, and in Nova 

 Scotia. This tree is called Gray Oak by Michaux. 



30. Quercus Olivteformis. Leaves oblong, glabrous, 

 glaucous on the under side, deeply and unequally sinuate- 

 pinnatifid; fruit elliptic-ovate ; acorn-cup deeply craterated, 

 crinited on the upper side ; gland elliptic-oval. Grows on 

 the banks of Hudson's river, and the western parts of New 

 York. It is also found in Pennsylvania and Virginia, on 

 iron-ore hills. 



Queria; a genus of the class Triandria, order Trigynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth five-leaved, erect ; 

 leaflets oblong, acute, permanent; the outer ones recurved. 

 Corolla: none. Stamina: filamenta three, capillary, short; 

 antherse roundish. Pistil: germen ovate; styles three, the 

 length of the stamina; stigmas simple. Pericarp: capsule 

 roundish, one-celled, three-valved, (the second species valve- 



