®|e Caimbmn 



VOL. IV.] NOVEMBER, 1881. [No. 11. 



THE OAKS. 



Perhaps it will be interesting to the readers of our monthly to 

 refresh their memories, and take a glance once more at the rich pro- 

 fusion displayed in the many varieties of this most useful tree, probably 

 the most useful of all the trees, when we take into consideration the 

 various purposes to which it is applied. 



We are indebted to the elder Michaux for tlie first history of our 

 North American oaks, who under the auspices of the French govern- 

 ment explored the Continent from Florida to Hudson's Bay, during 

 the years from 1785 to 1796. Subsequently the younger Micliaux in 

 1807 visited this Continent, and traversing tlie country, corrected and 

 enlarged his father's work. Mr. Nuttall arrived the same year that 

 the younger Michaux left, and in 1834 crossed the Rocky Mountains 

 and extended these observations to Oregon and Upper California, 

 which were published in 1849. From these sources mainly do we 

 derive our knof%vledge of the several species of American oaks. 



All the oaks are monecious, that is, the flowers are unisexual, the 

 male or pollen-bearing organs appearing in one flower, and the female 

 or pistillate organs in another, but both flowers — those that have the 

 stamens and those bearing the pistil— being borne upon the same tree. 

 Usually after fructification the female blossom advances through its 

 several stages and perfects its fruit during the same season, but in 

 some of the oaks this is not the case. The female flower seems to 

 remain stationary during the whole of the first summer, and develops 

 its fruit during the second season, so that there is an interval of some 

 eighteen months between the first appearance of the flower and the 

 ripening of the fruit. Botanists have made this peculiarity a basis of 

 classification, and have arranged the oaks under two divisions, those 

 of annual fructification, and those of biennial fructification. It is 

 claimed as a matter of observation that those species which are of 



