482 Our American Oaks. 



our avenues and rural residences. Thus the popular taste 

 continued, till the rapid change of woodland for pasture, and 

 country for city, by our accumulating population, sAvept away 

 the few remaining oaks from the environs of the populous 

 towns, till they became, in a degree, objects of rarity. A due 

 appreciation of their beauty then began : what was once 

 heedlessly cut down was again carefully reared, nursed and 

 protected ; the erroneous impression as regards their growth 

 disappeared before the science of cultivation ; and now, with 

 our pleasure grounds umbrageous with trees from the forests 

 of Europe, of Asia, and of Africa, our planters turn with 

 increased delight to the treasures of our own woods, and, 

 first among them, to the majestic and beautiful oak, doubly 

 aUractive from its legendary and poetical character. 



Whoever has attentively read Michaux's superb American 

 Sylva, must have felt a glow of pride at the richness of our 

 native trees. "What can vie, in all that is rich in foliage, 

 beautiful in flower, or stately in form, with the magnolias ? 

 What, in variety of leaf, elegance of fruit, and grandeur of 

 form, with the oaks ? Certainly none. The oak is, " in one 

 word," as Loudon says, "the king of forest trees." Michaux 

 figures twenty-nine species, six or eight of which are natives 

 of the Southern States; and Nuttall, in his Supplement, adds 

 fissures of six additional kinds. A brief notice of some of the 

 most ornamental, we have thought would be interesting to 

 all who do not possess that work, and who wish to become 

 familiar with them, or add them to their grounds : — 



1. The White Oak, (Quercus alba.) This is a common 

 and very beautiful species. It grows throughout New Eng- 

 land, and is very abundant in Pennsylvania and Virginia. 

 East of the mountains, says Michaux, " it is found in every 

 soil which is not extremely dry, or subject to long inunda- 

 tions." It attains at full growth the height of GO or 70 feet. 

 The leaves are four to six inches long, and two to three 

 inches wide, have short petioles, and are divided into oblong 

 rounded lobes on each side, about twelve or thirteen in num- 

 ber ; glossy green above, and pale glaucous green beneath : 

 in the autumn they change to bright violet color, and con- 



