68 ENGLISH ESTATE FORESTRY 



the same conditions of locality and treatment, a forester 

 quickly recognises important distinctions which affect the 

 value of each for different soils and situations. Professor 

 Fisher, of Cooper's Hill, has done much to call attention 

 to these differences from a purely sylvicultural point of 

 view, and in various articles in the Gardener's Chronicle, 

 and elsewhere, has emphasised the importance of the 

 question in practical forestry. 



It is patent to all observers that sessiliflora will grow 

 faster and to a larger size on fairly dry or sandy soils than 

 pedunculata, and is therefore a profitable tree to plant 

 where the latter would prove a failure. Many of the gravel 

 soils in low-lying districts in the south of England might 

 be used for growing this tree in company with the beech 

 or Spanish chestnut with advantage, and when once 

 established its reproduction would be an easy matter for 

 all future time. Such soils as those found on the London 

 Clay, which consist of alternating beds of gravel, sand, and 

 clay, are peculiarly fitted for this tree, and many examples 

 of it may be seen on them in Bucks and Berks, although it 

 is supposed to be more common in the north of England 

 than the south. The great difficulty, so far, has been to 

 obtain either acorns or seedling trees. Nurserymen do not 

 take the trouble to keep the two species distinct, although 

 they may quote them in their catalogues, and the seed they 

 get from their collectors may be either one or the other, 

 as the case may be. The only way to make sure of it 

 is for the forester to collect his own seed from selected 

 trees and grow it himself, and, although the trouble of 

 doing so may receive no recognition in his own lifetime, 

 there is little doubt that the extra production of timber 

 from such seed will repay the estate some day. 



The sessile-flowered oak has a rounder and more leafy 

 crown than the pedunculate, the leaves are larger and more 

 polished, and the general appearance of the tree when in 

 leaf is sufficiently distinct for the practical forester to 

 recognise it at a glance. The bark is usually darker and 

 the fissures deeper, the branches are more thickly set, and 

 are often set at an acute angle in the upper part of the 

 crown and at right angles lower down, so as to invest the 



