THE MIGHTY OAK 129 



For one member of the white oak group we 

 find a dozen of the black oak family, and the 

 reason is not hard to find. These trees bear 

 bitter acorns and animals do not care for them, 

 consequently the trees bid fair to crowd out the 

 sweet-kerneled white oaks, as more of the 

 acorns are allowed to germinate. Also the 

 wood of this species is not so valuable to man, 

 the trees' greatest enemy. We recognize the 

 trees of the black oak group by their black, 

 rough, deeply furrowed outer bark, and their 

 inner bark of orange tint, rich in dyestuff. 



Here, close at hand, is a red oak, one of the 

 most stately members of the black oak species. 

 Note its rounded, dome-like top. Its wood is 

 coarse and reddish brown; its bark also has a 

 tinge of red in its brownish-gray surface. The 

 leaves have from seven to nine triangular lobes, 

 which point in the direction of the tip. The 

 leaves are thin and smooth. They come out 

 pink in the spring and all covered beneath with 

 a white down. In the fall, they turn to a fine 

 dark red, or to various shades of russet. The 

 acorn sets in a quaint curved-rim saucer, in- 

 stead of in a cup after the usual fashion of 

 acorns. 



Over here is a group of pin oaks. They shoot 

 up in tall, unbroken shafts, branching out to- 



