1320 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



timber of Q. Mirbeckii in the forests of eastern Algeria is said to be about 3,500,000 



cubic feet. 



The wood is very dense and heavy, sinking in water when green, and in the 

 dry state having a specific gravity of 0-924. It is easy to rend, but is very liable 

 to warp and split when drying. In structure it differs from the wood of the common 

 oak in having smaller and fewer large pores in the zone formed in spring, these 

 being represented by one, or at most two, rows, the greater part of the annual ring, 

 that formed in autumn, being composed of fibrous tissue. The timber is valuable 

 for building purposes, and for other uses similar to those of the common oak, but up 

 to the present it has been mainly used in Algeria for railway sleepers. 



(A. H.) 



Cultivation 



This species was introduced ^ about 1844 or 1845, when King Louis Philippe 

 sent acorns, which had been procured in Algeria, to Queen Victoria, who distributed 

 them amongst the ladies of the court. Q. Mirbeckii has handsome foliage, which is 

 subevergreen, and thrives well in the warmer parts of England ; and, though we 

 have found no trees in Wales, Scotland, or Ireland, no doubt it would succeed there 

 in many localities. 



The largest tree we know of is at Bicton, where in 1902 I measured one 75 ft. high 

 and 1 2 ft. 9 in. in girth, with a spreading crown 30 paces in diameter. At Tregothnan 

 Mr. A. B. Jackson measured a tree about 60 ft. high and 6\ ft. in girth in 1908. 



At Ham Manor, near Worthing, there are two fine trees, the largest of which 

 in 1907 was 70 ft. by 8 ft. 3 in. ; the other, close to it, was about 60 ft. by 7 ft. 



On a lawn at Hursley Park, Winchester, there is a well-shaped specimen which- 

 in 1906 measured 62 ft. by 7I ft. (Plate 332). I am informed by Colonel Heathcote 

 that it is known as " The Speaker's Oak," because the late Lord Eversley, who 

 was Speaker of the House of Commons from 1837 to 1857, and an intimate friend 

 of the late Sir William Heathcote, then of Hursley, jumped over the tree when it 

 was planted. 



At Syon there is a tree 53 ft. by 5 ft. 3 in. in 1904, when it ripened a large 

 number of acorns. Some of these which were sown at Colesborne have grown well, 

 and carry their leaves until spring. An older tree, purchased under the name of 

 Q. afghanistanica, has proved quite hardy at the same place, though planted in a 

 situation very subject to spring frost, on a cold clay soil. 



At Albury there is a small tree 24 ft. high, forking near the ground into two 

 stems, each 2\ ft. in girth, which was figured in the Gardeners' Chronicle, xiv. 617 

 (1893) as Q. PHnus. At Melbury there is a tree about 40 ft. by 4 ft. in 1909. In 

 the Victoria Park, Bath, another is about 50 ft. At Blenheim, Westonbirt, 

 Tortworth, Howick in Northumberland, and in the Cambridge Botanic Garden there 

 are trees of smaller size. 



At Tockington Manor, Gloucestershire, Capt. H. Pomeroy Salmon has two trees 



' See correspondence at Kew with Mr. J. W. Ford, of Enfield Old Park, Winchmore Hill, who gives an account of the 

 origin of an old tree of this species which was cut down near Enfield in 1 900. 



