The Oaks 



The leaves are deeply cut into five or seven spiny-toothed 

 blades that point forward. The leaves of scarlet oak, cut with 

 about the same "waste of cloth," point outward and have more 

 rounded sinuses than those of the pin oak. 



The leaf might confuse us, but the pin-oak tree tells its name 

 before one is near enough to see the leaf distinctly. The tree has 

 a broad pyramidal form, with slender branches stretched out hori- 

 zontally as far as they can reach. The spur-like little twigs that 

 cluster on the branches throughout the treetop are choked to 

 death by being crowded, but they remain, the "pins" that char- 

 acterise this species of oak. When it gets old the pin oak loses 

 some of its symmetry and beauty. 1 1 holds on to its dead branches, 

 but there is a dignity in its bearing that is admirable, even in its 

 decline. 



The. village of Flushing, Long Island, has proved through 

 many years that the pin oak is an admirable street and shade tree. 

 It is as easily transplanted as a box elder, so there is scarcely an 

 excuse for not planting it. The flush on its opening leaves, the 

 red flame that lights the tree in the autumn, and the dainty striped 

 acorns in their scaly saucers — all combine to make an ornamental 

 tree with scarcely a fault to set off its many horticultural virtues. 

 The Europeans have cherished this tree for over a century. We 

 Americans are just discovering it, and should make up for lost 

 time. 



Red Oak (Quercus rubra, Linn.) — A large, stately tree, 50 to 

 1 50 feet high, with columnar trunk and round, symmetrical head 

 of stout, spreading branches. Bark greyish brown with red tinge, 

 with wide furrows between ridges; twigs reddish. fVood red- 

 brown, with darker sap wood, coarse grained, with well-marked 

 annual rings and medullary rays; heavy, hard, strong. Buds 

 reddish, pointed, I inch long. Leaves alternate, 7 to 9-lobed, 

 5 to 9 inches long, 4 to 6 inches wide; lobes and sinuses both 

 triangular in form; second pair from apex always largest; lobes 

 irregularly toothed and bristly pointed; leaves variable in size 

 and form; lining paler green, smooth at maturity; autumn colour 

 deep red. Flowers, May, with half-grown leaves; staminate 

 catkins, yellow, hairy, 4 to 5 inches long; pistillate, on short 

 2 to 3-flowered stems; stigmas, long, bright green. Acorns ripe 

 second autumn; large, f to i J inches long; broad at base, in close- 

 scaled, shallow saucer; kernel white, extremely bitter. Preferred 



213 



