THE BEECH, CHESTNUT, AND OAKS 



rough at the base of the trunk, and this rough- 

 ness extends upwards in old trees. 



The round, thin, brittle balls found on black 

 oaks and known as oak-apples are produced by 

 an insect which injures the leaf by puncturing 

 it and depositing an egg. This causes irritation 

 and an abnormal growth, from which the apple 

 is formed. The grub which lives inside this 

 excrescence becomes a chrysalis in the autumn, 

 and changes to a fly in the spring, when it 

 gnaws its way out by making a little hole 

 through the shell. 



The wood of the black oak is heavy, hard, 

 and strong, but not tough, and it is liable to 

 check in drying. The bark is rich in tannin, 

 and it makes a yellow dye, quercitron, 

 obtained from the inner bark. Used medici- 

 nally the bark is an astringent. 



The specific name, velutina, was taken origi- 

 nally from the Latin word vellus, meaning shorn 

 wool, and was applied by botanists to this tree 

 on account of the fleecy character of the recent 

 stems and leaves. The black oak is found grow- 

 ing throughout New England and in the South 

 and West. 



Red Oak ^ large tree, 60 to 1 50 feet high, 

 Quercus rubra The bark is fissured in long clefts, 

 with broad, smooth places between, giving the 

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