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Quercus Cerris. TBKEY OAK. 



A leaf-shedder. Eaised exactly like the common Oak. 

 It may do better in the colder districts ; but, so far, in the 

 forest nurseries and plantations near the coast it has not 

 answered expectations. It seems to succeed well at 

 Queenstown ; and, perhaps, to stand frost and drought 

 better than the common Oak. 



Quercus pedunculata. COMMON OAK. 



A leaf-shedder. Indigenous over the whole of Europe 

 from Norway and St. Petersburg to Spain, Italy aod 

 Greece, but not in Algeria or N. Africa. A tree of the plains 

 and valleys in Northern and Central Europe, and ascending 

 the mountains to 4,000 feet in the south. In S. Africa the 

 Oak is found at its .best on well- watered mountains or within 

 the region of winter rains. In the western and southern 

 districts as far as Knysna, and elsewhere on well- 

 watered mountains, the Cape Oak grows with a vigour 

 probably equal to that of the Oak of S. Europe, und 

 surpassing that of the Oak of N. Europe. The Cape 

 Oak differs from the same tree in Europe (1), In its 

 dense thick foliage : the covert of the Cape Oak is 

 probably double that of the English Oak. (2) In its 

 larger and more abundant acorns. There is nothing to 

 prove that the Cape Oak in its timber or bark is inferior 

 to the European Oak. Ninety-nine per cent, of the Oaks 

 in the Colony are pollards, and therefore, of a necessity, 

 unsound and misshapen. 



The Oak exists as a hardy forest tree only on the wettest 

 slopes of Table Mountain, on the cold Bokveld, in the 

 Cedarberg country, and similar localities elsewhere. When 

 planted in the open dry country round farms it is best 

 treated as a fruit tree, i.e., put into a deep rich soil and 

 irrigated in the dry weather. The leaf droppings from 

 Oak trees rapidly cause a rich forest soil, and the dense 

 shade of the Oak usually kills down all vegetation beneath 

 it. For this reason it has been proposed to plant lines of 

 Oaks as fire breaks, but at Knysna and elsewhere it has 

 been found to be not generally hardy enough for this 

 purpose. 



