INTRODUCTION. 5 



structure and life-processes of the tree, we may turn to 

 the investigation of its cultivation and the diseases 

 which attack it, concluding with a necessarily brief 

 chapter on the systematic position of the British oak 

 and its immediate allies, and some remarks on its geo- 

 graphical distribution at the present time. 



Of course, many points which will turn up in the 

 course of the exposition will have to be shortly dealt 

 with, as the object of the book is to touch things with 

 a light hand ; but it is hoped that, this notwithstand- 

 ing, the reader may obtain a useful glimpse into the 

 domain of modern botanical science and the problems 

 with which forest botany is concerned, and with which 

 every properly trained forester ought to be thoroughly 

 acquainted. 



The oak, as is well known, is a slow-growing, di- 

 cotyledonous tree of peculiar spreading habit, and very 

 intolerant of shade (Plate I). It may reach a great age 

 certainly a thousand years and still remain sound and 

 capable of putting forth leafy shoots. 



The root-system consists normally of a deep princi- 

 pal or tap root and spreading lateral roots, which be- 

 come very thick and woody and retain a remarkably 

 strong hold on the soil when the latter is a suitable 

 deep, tenacious loam with rocks in it. They are intol- 

 erant of anything like stagnant water, however, and will 

 succeed better in sandy loam and more open soils than 

 in richer ones improperly drained. 



The shoot-system consists of the stem and all that it 



