754 QUERCUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



QUERCUS. 



sea-shore districts, and many places, 

 both in England and Ireland, have fine 

 trees. Old trees give excellent shade, 

 and it is a very pretty shelter for the flower 

 garden. 



With such a great shore-line, the op- 

 portunities for growing the evergreen 

 oaks well are vastly greater than they 

 would be in a Continental country of 

 like temperature to ours. They are 

 lovely shelter trees as groups or groves 

 for gardens swept by sea winds, as 

 we may see at St. Ann's, near Dublin, 

 Holkar, in Norfolk, and Tregothnan, and 

 they are just as good in inland places 

 wanting shelter. Sometimes after very 

 hard winters the trees look as if they 

 were killed, but afterwards throw off 

 the injured leaves and grow happily 

 again. They should be transplanted 

 with the greatest care when young, 

 and the best way is often to raise 

 plants from acorns, common where the 

 tree grows well, and which may be often 

 gathered in Italy and at home. They 

 should be sown as soon as possible after 

 ripening. 



The following excludes kinds not likely, j 

 from their inhabiting warmer regions or i 

 other reasons, to be hardy and vigorous \ 

 in our country : 



SUMMER-LEAFING OAKS. 



Q. ACUMINATA (Chestnut Oak}. A tall 

 tree with a maximum height of over 150 ft., 

 with grey flaky bark, and chestnut-like leaves, 

 shiny on the upper surface and greyish beneath. 

 This should be a very useful Oak in certain 

 soils in Britain supposed to be inimical to our 

 own Oak. Eastern States and Canada, and 

 westwards, in dry limestone soil. 



Q. ALBA (White Oak}. A fine forest tree, 

 sometimes 150 ft. high with deeply lobed but j 

 not sharp-pointed leaves, and grey bark scaling 

 off in plates. A native of Canada and the j 

 more northern United States, its hardiness 

 need not be doubted, and the wood is hard | 

 and tough and good. 



Q. CERRIS (Turkey Oak}. This is a valu- 

 able tree for garden and park. Though not 

 unlike the common Oak in growth and branch- 

 ing, it is readily distinguished by its deeper 

 green and finely cut foliage and by its mossy- 

 cupped acorns. It is also much more rapid in 

 growth and will flourish in light and varied 

 soils. It retains its foliage longer than most 

 other trees and some of its varieties are almost 

 evergreen. The chief of these is the Lucombe 

 Oak a tree of graceful growth which rapidly 

 ascends into a tall cone of foliage and 

 retains its leaves through mild winters. The 

 Fulham Oak is a similar tree of hybrid origin. 

 It is also partially evergreen and differs from 

 the Lucombe Oak chiefly in its habit of growth 

 being more spreading. Other varieties of the 



Turkey Oak are the Weeping, a decidedly 

 pendulous branched variety and most desirable 

 for a lawn, a variegated form, one of the best 

 of these kinds as the leaves are clearly mar- 

 1 gined with creamy white, and the cutleaved, 

 in which the leaves are finely cut, giving the 

 tree an elegant feathery appearance. The 

 variety known as Q. aitstriaca semfervircns is 

 a form of the Turkey Oak sub-evergreen in 

 character and of medium growth and useful for 

 small gardens. It is easy to attach too much 

 importance to these varieties which rarely 

 equal the wild tree in beauty or character, and 

 which have the disadvantage of being increased 

 by grafting, which is against their ever attain- 

 1 ing the stature and dignity of the wild tree. 



Q. COCCINEA (77^ Scarlet Oak). A forest 

 I tree, in its native country growing to 160 ft. 

 high, and one of the best North American Oaks 

 i worthy of planting for ornament in this country. 

 It is a beautiful tree at all seasons, but particu- 

 larly so in the autumn when the rich scarlet 

 and crimson hues of its foliage are very hand- 

 some. There are varieties of it in nurseries 

 called uiacrophylla with larger leaves than the 

 type, and pendula which has a drooping habit 

 of growth. There is a variety known as 

 tinctoria. 



Q. CONFERTA (Hungarian Oak}. This is a 

 noble tree in its own country and one of the 

 quickest growing Oaks in cultivation. It has 

 much larger leaves than the common Oak and 

 they are cut in much the same way. Its growth 

 is denser and less spreading as we see it here at 

 present than in Hungary, but there are as yet no 

 large trees of it. It is without question a good 

 Oak to plant as a tree of the future, as it is very 

 hardy and grows well in almost all kinds of 

 soil except the lightest and the heaviest. Syn. 

 Q. pannonica. 



Q. MACROCARPA (Bur Oak}. A large forest 

 tree of a maximum height of 160 ft. with a 

 trunk as much as 8 ft. in diameter, and rather 

 large, thin, deeply incised, but blunt lobed 

 leaves shiny on the upper side, but whitish 

 below. The timber is good and tough. A : . 

 native of rich soils from Nova Scotia to M anitoba, 

 and also southwards. Syn. Q. olivaeformis. 



Q. MINOR (Post Oak). A tall tree, some- 

 times in its best state 100 ft. high, with rough 

 grey bark and deeply incised but blunt pointed 

 leaves. The wood is very hard and durable. 

 North America, in the eastern states, and \\ esl 

 wards and southwards. 



Q. NIGRA (Water Oak).\ forest tree- 

 though not so tall as other Oaks 80 ft. There 

 is a variety of it in cultivation named iwhilis 

 which has leaves 9 ins. ormore in length of a rich 

 green. It makes a handsome small tree. In 

 wet and swampy ground, Eastern and \\ estern 

 United States, also southwards. Syn. o. 

 aquatica. 



Q. PALUSTRIS (Pin Oak}.^ forest tre 

 with a maximum height of 120 ft, and i> so 

 hardy and so handsome that it is quite an 

 established tree in English nurseries. It is one 

 of the quickest growing Oaks and its chief 

 beauty is the tender green, almost yellow, of 



