212 



OAK. 



and the top of the tree fastened to it with a soft string ; or 

 two such stakes may be so set that the upper ends may 

 meet over the top of the tree." — Beam. 



The seeds which are sown in a nurser}" should be se- 

 lected from the best sorts of fruit. See p. 17 of this work. 



OAK. — Quercus. — IMiller's Gardener^s Diciionary says, 

 oaks are best produced from the acorns in the places where 

 the trees are to remain ; because those which are transplant- 

 ed will not grow to so large a size, nor remain sound so long. 

 He advises to plant the acorns as soon as they are ripe in 

 October, which mil come up in the following April. But, 

 says Dr. Deane, " Another writer directs that the acorns 

 be gathered in autumn, and kept in a box or boxes of sand 

 till the following spring. Then open them, and carefully 

 plant those of them which are sprouted, which, he says, 

 will not fail to come up. But no time should be allowed for 

 the sprouts to dry. I incline to prefer this method, especially 

 since I have tried that which is recommended by Miller with- 

 out success. Not one in a hundred ever came up." 



The ground designed for a plantation of oaks, according 

 to Miller, should have a good and durable fence, should be 

 prepared by three or four ploughings and harro wings — the 

 acorns should be taken from the largest and most thrifty trees 

 — ^be sowed in drills about four feet asunder, and two inches 

 deep, and two inches apart in the drills. The ground should 

 be ploughed and hoed among them, during the first eight or 

 ten years ; after two years, some of the plants should be 

 dra^vn out where they are too close ; and so from time to 

 time, as they grow larger, till they come to be eight feet 

 distance each way, w^hen they will want no thinning for a 

 long time. But after the trees come to be large, he thinks 

 twenty-five or thirty feet apart will be the right distance. 



The oak thrives better in hilly than in boggy ground, 

 but flourishes most luxuriantly on rich, black soils, or in 

 strong, moist loam. It will grow, however, on almost any 

 soil that is not too wet. 



The Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agricul- 

 ture have offered a premium of one hundred dollars for 

 the best plantation of white oak trees,, not less than one 

 acre, nor fewer than one thousand trees per acre, to be 

 raised from the acorn, and which trees shall be in the best 

 thriving state on the first of September, 1827. 



It is observed, in the work called Gleanings^ &c. on 

 Husbandry and Gardening^ that oaks, " when very young, 

 may be transplanted twice or thrice, if, each time, the prin- 



