THE OAKS 59 



grained, hard, difficult to work, and chiefly employed as 

 fuel. 



A distinguishing trait of the bare tree is the large fuzzy 

 winter bud. The unfolding leaves in spring are bright red 

 above, with a silvery lining. 



The autumn acorn crop may be heavy or light. Trees 

 have their "off years," for various reasons. But always, 

 as leaves and fruit fall and bare the twigs, one sees, among 

 the winter buds, the half -grown acorns waiting for their 

 second season of growth. 



The pointed nut soon loosens, for the cup though deep 

 has straight sides. The kernel is yellow and bitter. 



The Scarlet Oak 



Q. coccinea, Moench. 



The scarlet oak is like a flaming torch set among the dull 

 browns and yellows in our autumnal woods. In spring the 

 opening leaves are red ; so are the tasselled catkins and the 

 forked pistils, that turn into the acorns later on. This is a 

 favorite ornamental tree in Europe and our own country. 

 Its points of beauty are not all in its colors. 



The tree is slender, delicate in branch, twig, and leaf — 

 quite out of the sturdy, picturesque class in which most 

 oaks belong. The leaf is thin, silky smooth, its lobes sep- 

 arated by sinuses so deep that it is a mere skeleton com- 

 pared with the black oak's. The trimness of the leaf is 

 matched by the neat acorn, whose scaly cup has none of 

 the looseness seen in the burly black oak. The scales are 

 smooth, tight-fitting, and they curl in at the rim. 



There is lightness and grace in a scarlet oak, for its twigs 

 are slim and supple as a willow's, and the leaves flutter on 



