1860 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



is only about a century since the tree was introduced into this country, very 

 few specimens have attained a sufficient size to be cut down for timber, and 

 very little experience has been obtained on the subject. One of considerable 

 dimensions, felled, a few years ago, in a part of the Mile End Nursery which 

 was given up for building on, and employed as posts and boarding in a stable, 

 is said to have decayed with extraordinary rapidity. Mr. Atkinson, who has 

 made several experiments with the wood of the common oak (see p. 1787.), 

 wished to try some with that of Q. Cerris, but was only able to obtain one 

 specimen of sufficient age grown in England. This was about 1826, when 

 two trees were cut down at East Ilampstead, in Berkshire, a seat belonging 

 to the Marquess of Downshire ; and the wood was made into doors for the 

 principal rooms of the mansion. The wood of this tree, Mr. Atkinson says, " is 

 much finer in the grain than that of our British oak, or foreign wainscot : it 

 takes a better polish, and is more beautiful, than any other oak that I have 

 ever seen. From only a single specimen, which I had broken, it was not so 

 strong as our native oak, but equal in toughness ; but my specimen being 

 rather cross-grained, it was not a correct experiment, and I suspect it is 

 equal in strength to our oak. For all ornamental purposes, where the 

 wood has to be polished, it is superior ; and must be a profitable tree to 

 plant, as it grows much quicker than our common oaks ; and I have seen it 

 thrive rapidly in poor land." (Hort. Trans., 2d series, vol. i. p. 338.) On 

 application to the Marquess of Downshire, in March, 1837, to ascertain the 

 present opinion entertained at East Hampstead respecting the wood of the 

 Turkey oak, we have been informed that the wood is not much inferior to 

 that of the English oak if kept quite in the dry ; but that it will not stand in 

 water, or in situations where it is alternately wet and dry, so well as that spe- 

 cies : that if the tree is allowed to grow to the ordinary age at which the 

 British oak is felled, the wood is very apt to get shaky at the heart : and 

 that Turkey oaks require to be felled as soon as any dead twigs are seen in 

 the topmost boughs ; or in about 60 or 80 years after planting. Mr. Richard- 

 son, who has witnessed the rapid growth of the Q. Cerris at Lady Tankerville's 

 villa at Walton on Thames, where he has been gardener for upwards of 40 

 years, says that, in deep sandy soil, it grows much faster, and makes a taller 

 straighter tree, with more timber in the trunk in comparison to what is con- 

 tained in the branches, than either the common oak, or any other species of 

 the genus. ( See Gard. Mag. y vol. x. p. 336.) In the Dictionnaire des Eaux 

 ct Forets, the wood is said to be very solid, and very good both for civil and 

 naval purposes ; more especially that which is grown in the south of France ; 

 which, from the warmth of the climate, is found to be harder and more durable 

 than that grown in the north. Bosc, and also the writers of the article on 

 (^uercus in the Nouveau Du Hamel, say that the wood is preferred for ship- 

 building in the south of France ; and also that the tree attains a larger size on 

 poor sandy soil than the common oak. In Olivier's Travels, it is stated that 

 the wood of Q. Cerris is brought to Constantinople from the southern shores 

 of the Black Sea, and employed both in ship-building and in the framework 

 of houses. Whatever may be the properties of the wood of the Turkey oak 

 in the south of Europe or the Levant, the experience of it in Britain, hitherto, 

 can hardly justify our recommending it for other purposes than those of 

 cabinet-making and joinery, The tree, however, is one of very great beauty, 

 both in point of form and foliage ; and, being of great rapidity of growth, it is 

 equalled by few for ornamental plantations. The foliage of some varieties is 

 persistent, like that of the beech and the hornbeam : and of others, supposed, 

 as we have seen (p. 1855.), to be hybrids, it is subevergreen, or so near being 

 completely evergreen, as to be retained on the trees till May. 



Promulgation and Culture. The species, and most of the varieties, ripen 

 acorns in England, from which plants are raised with great facility; but the 

 varieties, like those of every qtfa er oak, being very liable to sport, can only 

 be continued by grafting or by layers. The stocks employed may be either 

 those of Q. Cerris, or of the common British oak j and the grafting may be 



