8 TREE PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



oak and in its fruit to the scarlet oak. Leaf large and smooth. Acorns 

 middle size, the ends round, cups scaly. Wood, coarse and open, fit only 

 for dry wares, but is strong and durable, employed for the knees of vessels 

 and wheelwright's work. Otherwise it has no special interest to commend it. 



swamp, Spanish or pin oak, Quercus palustris. 



A tall tree, found in moist places; hugs to the swamps to find protection 

 of other trees; and on the upper Mississippi, in rich soil, towers eighty feet 

 or more with a base of three or four feet in diameter. Its secondary 

 branches are numerous, slender and quite closely intermingled. 



Leaves similar to those of the scarlet oak, differing principally in propor- 

 tions. Acorns, small, round and contained in flat saucer-shaped cups that 

 have short scales. 



The bark is adhesive, scarcely cracked; cellular tissue very thick. Wood, 

 coarse; pores, open. When young, its pyramidal shape and elegant foliage 

 recommend it for parks. 



red oak, Quercus rubra. 



The habitat of the Red Oak is in the north where it is cool. If so un- 

 lucky as to get into poor soil, it by no means is diminutive, compared with 

 its congeners like situated. Prof. Gray speaks in its praise, so does every 

 other botanist. Large tree ; dark gray, smoothish bark ; coarse, reddish 

 wood. The pores are often large enough to pass a hair; strong, used for 

 staves and furniture; excellent for dry wares. 



Leaves smooth, shiny on both sides, large, deeply laciniated (slashed), 

 roundish at the base, of a dull red in autumn, turning yellow before they fall. 

 Acorns, abundant and large, voraciously devoured by bears and other wild 

 animals; even horses and cows like them, and hogs fatten on them. "Cups, 

 saucer-shape, on a narrow neck, of fine, close scales, very much shorter 

 than the nearly oblong acorn." It is the first of American oaks introduced 

 into Europe. It is found as far north as Saskatchewan and the rocks of 

 Lake Namakeen. Its beauty is unsurpassed. 



The author has thus described the native oaks of Minnesota, as reported 

 by Prof. Warren Upham. There are others introduced into some of our 

 parks and lawns, some of these from the eastern continent, and when fully 

 tested as to hardiness, will be sought more extensively ; but the mania to 

 look abroad for our trees is not recommendable. We are amply supplied 

 with what are already acclimated, being indigenous. 



hop-hornbean, Ostrya Virginica. 



The American, or Hop-Hornbean, is known also as Iron wood, Lever wood, 

 without other distinctions; common in Minnesota, except close to Lake 

 Superior. It is usually found in cool, shaded, fertile localities. Farther 

 south it sometimes grows twelve or fifteen inches in diameter, and from 

 thirty to forty feet in height, but commonly half that size in our state. 



Its leaves are alternate, oval-shaped, taper-pointed, fine-toothed. They 

 are quite birch-like. The flowers appearing with them in the spring, are 

 borne at the extremities of the branches, and the fruit is in clusters like 



