VEGETABLES. 



particular genera. Of these ninety trees, thirty rise 

 toaheightof from sixty to an hundred feet, fifty-seven 

 from forty to sixty feet : three species may be added 

 on account of the excellence of their wood, of which 

 the height is from twenty-five to forty feet. 



For the following excellent account of the Ameri- 

 can oaks, we are indebted to the late celebrated bo- 

 tanist Michaux, whose truly superb work* ought to 

 be in the hands of every gentleman in the United 

 t^tates. 



The oak family comprehends a great number of 

 species which are not known ; and the greater part 

 of those which grow in America, appear under such 

 diversified forms when they are young, that we can- 

 not be certain what they are, until they hlave ar- 

 rived at maturer age, or have attained their full 

 growth. It seems that nature has incended to mul« 

 tiply this tree, and render it of general utility, by 

 causing to grow in the same latitudes, various species 

 which could accommodate themselves to the diver- 

 sity of temperature and soil. For the oak does not 

 always grow in the forests, nor elevate its top to a 

 very great height. There are places which produce 

 nothing but dwarf oaks, such as the kermes oak 

 (quercus coccifera), and some others, which are 

 naturally small, while there are others which grow 

 among the rocks, on the shores of the Mediterranean 

 sea, whose moderate height is owing merely to the 

 dryness of the soil where they have taken root. 

 There are also some varieties produced by causes 

 purely accidental; in North America there is a 



* On the oaks of America, Paris, 4to. 1301, 



