THE OAKS WITH ACORNS. [63 



is also, as Ruskin would say, "deeply rent," for the 

 lobes are cut very deeply, and impart a very ragged 

 appearance to the foliage. 



The acorn has a thick, top-shaped cup, which 

 covers the third of the nut. The kernel is hitter and 

 whitish. The bark of the trunk is thick, brownish, 

 and roughly seamed. The tree grows from T<> to vl1 

 feet high, and is one of our most charmingly orna- 

 mental sylvan characters, particularly suited to the 

 landscape garden because of its beautiful autumn 

 coloring, and its vivacious leafage which fairly 

 sparkles in the sunlight. 



The scarlet oak stows beside the Androscoggin 

 River in Maine, and extends thinly through south- 

 ern New Hampshire to Vermont and central New 

 York. It also extends from Massachusetts Bay to 

 the District of Columbia and along the Alleghany 

 Mountains to North Carolina ; westward it is found 

 from Michigan and Illinois to Nebraska and Min- 

 nesota. 



Black Oak. The leaves of the black oak arc do! 

 Quercus coccmea, g0 (] ee p]y incised as those of the scar- 



var. tinctoria. 1 J 



Quercus velutina. let oak, and its trunk is much darker 

 in color; in fact, its branches often appear blackish. 

 The tree grows 70 to 80 and rarely 150 feel high. It 

 has a wide range, which extends from New Fork to 

 the Gulf States. Its limit eastward is in southern New 



