1864 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART 111. 



is, they have for the most part been planted in clumps along with elms; which, 

 being vigorous, rapid-growing trees, have robbed the soil of moisture, and 

 overshadowed and stunted the oaks. In any of the London nurseries where 

 the American oaks have been allowed to stand 6 or 8 years in the same place, 

 they will be found of twice the height of those in the Chiswick Garden; 

 and, instead of being crooked, stunted, and unhealthy, they are straight and 

 \ igorous. We may refer to a few which are generally to be found in the 

 Hammersmith and Fulhain nurseries; but we wish, in a particular manner, to 

 direct attention to the specimen trees of American oaks in Loddiges's arbo- 

 retum, and to some hundreds of plants which they have for sale in their 

 adjoining nursery ground. Among the latter, we observed on May 5th, 1837, 

 above 100 plants of Que'rcus palustris, the hardiest, the most rapid-growing, 

 and, in our opinion, the most beautiful, of all the American oaks ; which, at 

 7 years from the acorn, were from 15 ft. to 20 ft. in height. In the Leyton 

 Nursery, near Stratford-le-Bow, there were, till the sale of the stock of that 

 nursery in the autumn of 183G, a great variety of American oaks, selected by 

 the late Mr. Hill from seed-beds, and planted across the nursery in rows in 

 different directions, for shelter. The variety and beauty of these oaks ex- 

 ceeded anything of the kind we ever before saw : in spring, when they were 

 coming into leaf; in summer, when they were in full foliage; and in autumn, 

 when they were dying off of every shade of brilliant scarlet, yellow, red, and 

 purple. The plants were mostly from 10 to 12 years from the acorn; were 

 transplanted into these rows, after making 2 years' growth in the seed-beds ; 

 and, with the exception of Q. Banisters', and two or three other low-growing 

 kinds, they were all from 20 ft. to 30 ft. in height. The portrait of Q. palustris 

 in our last Volume, taken from a tree in the Leyton Nursery, will give an idea 

 of the progress made by that species there. In the London Horticultural 

 Society's Garden, though about the same age, it is not half that height. ( See 

 U. palustris.) 



*t 8. Q. a'lba Lin. The American white Oak. 



Identification. Lin. Sp. PI., 1414; Banist. Cat. Stirp. Virg. ; Willd. Sp. PL, 4. p. 449. ; Pursh, vol. 2. 



p SsVj Michx. Quer., No. 4. t. 5. ; N. l)u Ham., 7. p. 175. ; Smith in Rees's Cycl., No. 69. 

 Sunonumes. Q. &lba virghmna Park. Thcat. Bot., Cat. Carol., 1. t. 21. f. 2. ; Q. a. pinnatffida 

 " \Valt\Carol, p. 2.30., No. 10., Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., c 2. p. 195. ; Q. palustris Marsh., p. 120. No. 3.; 



Cbene blanc de I'Amerique, Fr. ; weisse Eiche, Ger. 

 K n "ravings. Cat. Carol. ,1. t. 21. f. 2. ; Michx. N. Amer. Syl., vol. 1. 1. 1.; our Jigs. 1723. and 1726.; 



and the plate of this tree in our last Volume. 



Spec. Char., cfc. Leaves oblong, pinnatifidly serrated ; pubescent underneath ; 

 lobes linear-lanceolate, obtuse, entire, attenuated at the base. Fruit pedun- 

 culated. Calyx somewhat cup-shaped, warty, and flattened at the base, 

 Acorn oval. {Willd.) A native of North America, where it grows to the 

 height of CO ft., or upwards, and flowers in April. Introduced in 1724. 

 Varieties. The elder Michaux gives the two following forms of this species, 

 the leaves of both of which are shown in fig. 1723. copied from Michaux's 

 //- .inirc (Irs Chines Ameriques: — 



It Q. a. 1 pintiatifida .Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., ii. p. 1723 



19.0., Hist, drs Chenet Amer., t. 5. f. 1., and our 



A-. 1723. a; Q. alba Ban. Cat. Stirp. Vwg.\ Q. 



nrginiana Catesb. Carol., \. p. 21. t. 21.; and 



Q. a. palustris Marsh., p. 120. No. 3 —This is VJIV ^^W/tf? 



the usual form of the species, and is common 



in North America, from Canada to Florida. 

 I \ {('). is a sprig and acorn of Q. alba pin- 



natifida, taken from Michaux's North American 



Syfoa, vol. i. t. I.; and the acorn without its 



c;ilyx is shown in /fV. 1722. at a. 



'/. Zrepdnda Michx. I.e., Hist, des Chenes, t.5. f.2., l)u Roi, t. 5. f. •'->., 



Bnd our fig. 1723. b, which is found wild in the forests of Carolina, 



in<h sometim* occurs in seed-beds of Q. alba in Europe, ffig. 



