1866 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



FART III. 



abundant; and sometimes not above a handful of 

 acorns can be found in a large forest. The acorns 

 have a very thin and brittle shell: they ripen 

 early, and, according to Cobbett, germinate so 

 easily, that, " if warm rains come on in the month 

 of November, which they very frequently do in 

 America, the acorns still clinging to the trees 

 actually begin to sprout before they are shaken 

 down by the winds." (Woodlands, 542.) Some 

 trees produce acorns of a deep blue colour ; but 

 Michaux had seen only two specimens of this 

 variety ; one in the grounds of Mr. Hamilton, _ 

 near Philadelphia, and the other in Virginia. The 

 bark of this tree is white (whence the species de- 

 rives its name) ; and, though it is often variegated 

 with large black spots, it has such a silvery hue, 

 that the tree may be easily distinguished by it 

 even in winter. The bark is scaly ; and, on young 



trees, it appears divided into squares, but, on old trees, into plates laterally 

 attached. The wood is reddish, somewhat resembling that of the British oak, 

 but lighter, and less compact. The rate of growth of this tree, in British gar- 

 dens, where the soil is good and the situation sheltered, may be considered as 

 nearly equal to that of the common oak ; but without shelter, even in a good 

 soil, the tree has a stunted appearance for many years, as is evident from a 

 tree of 20 years' growth in the Hackney arboretum, and several in the Horticul- 

 tural Society's Garden, of two of which/g. 1727. presents portraits. The largest 



1727 



1726 



trees that we know of are between 60 ft. and 70 ft. high ; and, both at York 

 House near Twickenham, and at Muswell Hill, they have ripened acorns. 



Geography. Q. alba is found as far north as Canada, N. L. 46 30'; and 

 thence it was traced by the two Michaux, as far as Cape Canaveral, N. L. 28 ; 

 and westward, from the ocean to the country of Illinois; a distance of above 

 1200 miles from north to south, and nearly as much from east to west. It 

 is not, however, equally distributed over this extensive tract of country, being 

 found either in very dry and sandy, or in very rich, soils. The white oak is 

 in the greatest abundance in those parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia that lie 



