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The Oak in Cape Colony i subject to a black canker that 

 attacks the bark and cambium layer, and as soon as it has 

 crept round the tree kills it. It is best treated by cutting 

 out the diseased tissue as soon as it is observed and tarring, 

 repeating the operation wherever the canker seems to be 

 extending. 



In Cape Colony the fall of the leaf is in the Oak short 

 and somewhat uncertain. It has been remarked tha.t those 

 trees that are longest leafless usually bear the best crop of 

 acorns. Care is necessary in collecting acorns for seed 

 purposes. Eejecting the first that fall, seed acorns should 

 be picked off the ground as soon as possible, mixed with 

 sandy soil and stored in a dry place till Spring, or else 

 sown at once. The latter plan is the best. Make a 

 nursery ready, by digging and (in almost every case) 

 manuring a piece of ground. Lay out drills about ten 

 inches apart and sow the acorns close (about touching), in 

 single lines. Weed between the lines by hand or with the 

 American single-wheel cultivator (Messrs. Lloyds & Co., 

 Burg Street, Cape Town). A simple method, and one that 

 often succeeds quite as well, is to sow close and broadcast 

 in small beds and trust to the young Oaks keeping down 

 the weeds. In either case transplant out into lines during 

 the first winter after sowing, spacing the young Oaks 5 

 inches in the lines and setting the lines 12 inches apart. 

 They may stand thus for three or four years according to size 

 of transplant required. Specially large and strong transplants 

 are made by transplanting once or twice in the nursery 

 and spacing the trees then 8" x IS". It takes 5 or 6 years 

 to produce a full-grown Oak transplant 7 or 8 feet high. 

 Transplants that are obtained by digging out young 

 trees from existing woods are, as may be observed 

 any day, of doubtful success. And the pollard tree 

 produced by this method is never a sound tree. 

 Such a tree after a lifetime of unskilful treatment at 

 the hands of persons ignorant of the elements of forestry 

 does not produce timber equal to that which is imported. 

 But under skilful treatment there seems no reason to 

 apprehend that the wood of the Cape oak would be inferior 

 to the imported oak. Oak timber from different parts of 

 Europe differs considerably and serves different purposes. 



