THE GROWTH OF THE OAK 



look just at the right time in the spring — are 

 known as "staminate catkins," — which, being 

 interpreted, means that there are also pistillate 

 flowers, much less conspicuous, but exceedingly 

 necessary if acorns are to result ; and also the 

 fact that the familiar "pussy-willow" of our 

 acquaintance is the same form of bloom — the 

 catkin, or ament. I ought to say, too, that 

 some of the oaks perfect acorns from blossoms 

 in one year, while others must grow through 

 two seasons before they are mature. Botanically, 

 the oak family is nearly a world family, and 

 we Americans, though possessed of many spe- 

 cies, have no monopoly of it. Indeed, if I 

 may dare to refer the reader to that great 

 storehouse of words, the Encyclopedia Britan- 

 nica, I think he will find that the oak is 

 there very British, and that the English oak, 

 surely a magnificent tree in England anyway, 

 is patriotically glorified to the writer. 



But we want to talk of some of our own 

 oaks. The one thoroughly characteristic is 

 surely the noble white oak, a tree most admi- 

 rable in every way, and most widely distributed 

 over the Northern States. Its majestic form, 



33 



