100 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



qualities to most of our American species ; but for ship-build- 

 ing-, the Live oak of the southern states is not exceeded by any 

 timber in the world. 



Different species of Oak. This country is peculiarly rich 

 in various kinds of oak ; Michaux enumerating no less than 

 forty species, indigenous to North America. Of these, the 

 most useful are the Live oak, ( Quercus viretis,) of such ines- 

 timable value for ship-building ; the Spanish oak, ( Q. fal- 

 cata) ; the Red oak, ( Q. rubra), etc., the bark of which is ex- 

 tensively used in tanning; the Quercitron or Black oak, which 

 is highly valuable, as affording a fine yellow or brown dye 

 for wool, silks, paper-hangings, etc. ; and the White oak, which 

 is chiefly used for timber. We shall here describe only a few 

 of those which are most entitled to the consideration of the 

 planter, either for their valuable properties, or as ornamental 

 trees, and calculated for planting in woods or single masses. 



The White oak. [Quercus alba.) This is one of the most 

 common of the American oaks, being very generally distri- 

 buted over the country, from Canada to the southern states. 

 In good strong soils, it forms a tree 70 or 80 feet high, with 

 wide extending branches: but its growth depends much upon 

 this circumstance. It may readily be known, even in winter, 

 by its whitish bark, and by the dry and withered leaves which 

 often hang upon this species through the whole of that season. 

 The leaves are about four inches wide, and six in length, 

 divided uniformly into rounded lobes without points ; these 

 lobes are deeper in damp soils. When the leaves first unfold 

 in the spring, they are downy beneath, but when fully grown, 

 they are quite smooth, and pale green on the upper surface, 

 and whitish or glaucous below. The acorn is oval, and the 

 cup somewhat flattened at the base. This is the most valua- 

 ble of all our native oaks ; immense quantities of the timber 



in his curious Amenitales Qwemnea observes, that many of the stakes driven into 

 the Thames, by the ancient Britons, to impede the process of Julius Caesar, are 

 in a good slate of preservation, " having withstood the destroyer time, nearly 

 2000 years. 



