118 FAMILIAR TREES 



tree, it is said, being more difficult to transplant ; 

 so that it is best to plant the acorns where it is 

 wished to have the trees ; failing which, they can 

 be raised in. pots. The difficulty arises from the 

 long tap-roots, which, in suitable soil, will descend 

 to a very great depth, altogether disproportionate 

 to the height of the trunk, sending out no more 

 lateral branches or fibres than a carrot. As the 

 tree is peculiarly intolerant of cold wet subsoil, 

 it will accordingly thrive best in a deep loam, 

 which should be sandy or calcareous, rather than 

 clayey. If, however, in the nursery-garden young- 

 plants are grown in a stiffish soil, and trans- 

 planted every other year, they can be compelled 

 to throw out lateral roots, though they will not 

 make the same rapid growth of stem as in 

 warmer and drier soil. The acorns sown in England 

 are generally imported, although in favourable 

 seasons they may be well matured and ripened 

 in this country. 



The bark is black, thin, hard, and even, or 

 slightly cracked on old stems, but never corky. It 

 contains, like our common Oaks, a considerable 

 quantity of tannin, and could be, but seldom is, 

 used in that remarkable chemical process of the 

 tanyard with which man seems to have been 

 empirically acquainted from a remote antiquity. 



The sap-wood is whitish ; but the heart is, as 

 has been already stated, very close-grained, hard, 

 and heavy, and of a brown colour. It is sus- 

 ceptible of a fine polish ; but like most other hard 

 and heavy woods, it is very liable to twist and 



