208 



that's it; 



of all the pine and fir tribe, more especially 

 before they begin to decay, are monotonous ; 

 and the same may be said of the forms of 

 the cypress, the Lombardy poplar, and the 

 weeping willow. If we imagine ourselves in a 

 forest of pines, firs, poplars, or weeping willows, 

 it is easy to conceive the melancholy impression 

 that the scenery would produce on us ; and 

 hence, perhaps, the suitableness of these, and 

 other uniform regular headed trees, for ceme- 

 teries. Bat let us imagine ourselves in a forest 

 of oaks, either of one kind or of several kinds, 

 and how different will be the ideas that will 

 arise in our minds, and the effect that will be 

 produced upon our spirits! Oaks, then, not only 

 stand alone in regard to the form of their leaves, 

 and that of their fruit, but even in a great 

 measure, as to their general shape.* 



with hair-like processes. The 

 acorns of the sessile-flowered oak, 

 spring immediately from the 

 stem in pairs, or groups, without 

 foot-stalks ; the acorns of the 

 Turkey oak, 12, are mossy-cupped; 

 those of the Austrian oak, 13, 

 have prickly cups ; those of the 

 Ragnal oak, 14, are bristly ; 

 those of the lyrate oak, 17, are 

 broad, round, depressed, and the 



* Loudon's Trees and Shrubs of Britain, 

 t Qutrcut tessijlora. 



The acorns of the different 

 species vary considerably in their 

 forms, and the mode of attach- 

 ment to the branches. Those ol 

 the peduncled or common oak, 2, 

 are attached to elongated stalks ; 

 the acorn cups, 3, are small and 

 shallow ; while, as already shown 

 in the American oak, 4,* they are 

 deeply embedded in the cupula, 

 the border of which is fringed 



cups, which are nearly closed 

 over them, are thin and scaly, each 

 scale being terminated by a short 

 fine point, or bristle ; those of 

 the olive-fruited American oak are 

 oval, with the cup deep, scaly, and 

 fringed at the margin, 15 ; those 

 of the dyer's oak, 16, are set in 

 fiat cups, and the acorns are 

 shaped like the half of an egg ; 

 while those of quercus turbivata, 

 18, are shaped like a boy's top. 



• Quercus maerocarpa. Britoio. 



578. 



