1302 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



in the Carolinas, and on the western slopes of the Alleghanies in Tennessee, rarely- 

 ascending above 2000 ft. in the extreme south. 



Prof Mohr states that in the forests where the white oak originally formed 

 one-fourth to one-half of the timber growth, it is associated with black and Spanish 

 oaks, hickories, beech, black walnut, and tulip tree ; towards the north and at high 

 levels in the south, its companions are red oak, scarlet oak, and chestnut ; and in 

 the extreme south it is mixed with the Carolina hickory, Q. Phellos, Q. Schneckii, 

 and Magnolia acuminata. The undergrowth is mostly Cornus, Ostrya, Carpinus, 

 Amelanchier, and Cercis. Where the original forest has been cut down, white oak 

 is scarcely seen in the second growth, the more aggressive species of the red oak 

 group occupying almost exclusively its place. Owing to the difficulty and scarcity 

 of its natural regeneration, together with the fact that forest land suitable for its 

 growth is occupied by the farmer, Prof. Mohr considers that so far as economic 

 interests are concerned, the final extinction of the white oak will take place at no 

 distant date. Even the immense forests of Kentucky and Tennessee are becoming 

 exhausted. Future supplies of white oak must come from the forests south of 

 the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and the sawmills are being moved 

 southwards. Nashville, until a few years ago, was the most important market. At 

 present Memphis, Mobile, and New Orleans are becoming the main centres, where 

 white oak is sawn and marketed. (A. H.) 



Ridgway gives many details of the size of white oak in the bottoms of southern 

 Indiana and Illinois, the largest measured by Dr. J. Schneck in Wabash Co. 

 being 150 ft. by 6 ft. in diameter with a clean bole 60 ft. long. The average of 

 ten trees here was about 125 ft. in height by 4 ft. in diameter, whilst on the 

 uplands in the same district the average height was only 100 ft. by 2*40 ft. in 

 diameter. 



In an article ^ on this tree by Sargent, good illustrations are given of the white 

 oak in summer and winter from a tree growing in the grounds of Mr. Fearing, near 

 Jobstown, New Jersey, which shows the form the tree assumes when grown in the 

 open, like the park oaks of Great Britain ; but though he says that the white oak in 

 girth of stem and stoutness of branches is not second to its Old- World relative, the 

 dimensions given by various writers do not show that any trees now exist which can 

 rival our big English oaks. The tree in question is of no great height, and has a very 

 short bole, 18 ft. in girth at 3 ft. from the ground. It is remarkable for its very 

 wide-spreading and well-shaped crown, which covers a space 120 ft. in diameter. 



Sargent also gives ^ a picture of a very beautiful and well-shaped tree at Shandy 

 Hall, Maryland, which is 36 ft. in girth at the ground and 22 ft. just below the first 

 limb at about 10 ft. The spread of the branches covers a circle 122! ft. in diameter. 

 In size, shape, and appearance, this tree is very similar to the Bourton Oak 

 (Vol. II. Plate 93). In Gard. Chron. xxxiv. 51, figs. 19 and 20 (1903), some 

 very large and old white oaks growing in the State reservation at Waverley, 

 near Belmont, Massachusetts, are described and figured. The largest is about 80 ft. 

 by 25 ft. in girth at 5 ft., and its age is estimated at 800 years, though there is no 



1 Garden and Forest, iv. i, figs, i, 2 (1891). » Hid. v. 254, fig. 50 (1892). 



