CHAP. CV. 



C'ORYLA^CEiE. QUE'RCUS. 



1887 



weight of alum : to dye silk, the proportion is 1 lb. of the quercitron to 12 lb. of 

 silk. The quercitron is chiefly exported from Philadelphia. According to 

 M'Culloch, the average quantity imported for three years, ending in 1831, was 

 25,015 cwt. a year; and the price of this varied, according to the quality, from 

 12s. 6d. to 15s. per cwt., including Is. each for duty. Dr. Bancroft first dis- 

 covered and applied the dyeing properties of the quercitron ; and he obtained 

 a patent for his invention in 1775 ; but, the American war breaking out soon 

 after, he reaped little profit from his discovery, though it has been of great 

 advantage to the arts and manufactures of both England and America. {Com. 

 Diet., art. Bark.) 



Statistics. In England, in the environs of London, the largest plant we know of is at Messrs. Lod- 

 diges's, where there is a tree 20 ft. high, of which a portrait is given in ourjlast Volume. In Stafford- 

 shire, at Trentham, 26 years planted, it is 24 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 8 in., and of the 

 head 10 ft.; in Worcestershire, at Crooine, 40 years planted, it is 45 ft. high, the diameter of the 

 trunk 20 in., and of the head 40 ft. In the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, 10 years planted, it is 10 ft. 

 high. In France, in Brittany, at Barres, 8 years planted, it is 12 ft. high. In Austria, at Briick on 

 the Leytha, 30 years old, it is 12ft. high. In Italy, in Lombardy, at Monza, 6 years planted, it is 

 10 ft. high. 



£ 19. Q. palu'stris Willd. The Marsh, or Pin, Oak. 



Identification. Du Roi Harbk., 2., t. 5. f. 4. ; Wang. Amer., t. 5. f. 10. ; Michx. Quer., No. 19.; 



Arb,2 p. 123. t. 25. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 446. ; Ait. Hort. Kew., 5. p. 192.; Pursh El. Amer. 



Sept., 2. p. 631. ; N. Du Ham., 7. p. 172. ; Smith in Rees's Cycl., No. 63. ; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. 

 Synonymes. Q. montana Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836 ; Q. Banister/ Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. 

 Engravings. Michx. Quer., t. 33 % 34. ; N. Amer. Syl., 1. t. 27. ; our figs. 1758. and 1759. ; and the 



plate of this tree in our last Volume. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Leaves smooth, oblong, deeply and widely sinuated, on long 

 stalks ; lobes distant, parallel, acute, sharply toothed, bristle-pointed ; forks 

 of the veins densely woolly beneath. Calyx of the fruit flattened; nut 

 nearly globose. {Willd.) A tree, 80 ft. hi^h. Introduced in 1800. 



Description, §c. 

 The pin oak, accord- 

 ing to the younger 

 Michaux, is a tall 

 tree, rising, in marshy 

 ground, to the height 

 of 80 ft., with a trunk 

 3 ft. or 4 ft. in diame- 

 ter. " Its secondary 

 branches are more 

 slender and numerous 

 than is common on so 

 large a tree, and are 

 intermingled, so as to 

 gi ve it,at a distance,the 

 appearance of being 

 full of pins. This sin- 

 gular disposition ren- 

 ders it distinguishable 

 at first sight in winter, 

 and, is perhaps, the 

 cause of its being call- 

 ed the pin oak." (N. 

 Amer. Syl, i. p. 101.) 

 The tree, when young, 

 assumes an agreeable pyramidal shape ; and its far-extending drooping 

 branches, and light and elegant foliage, render it, in our opinion, the most 

 graceful of all oaks. The bark on the oldest trees of Q. palustris is scarcely 

 ever cracked : on young trees it is perfectly smooth. The wood is coarse- 

 grained, and resembles that of the red oak. In the climate of London, the 

 tree is remarkably hardy ; and its rate of growth is much more rapid than that 

 of every other American oak, with the single exception of Q.ambfgua. This mav 



6g 



