OAKS AT ALDENHAM. 



169 



three sprigs of it form the crest or cognizance of the Dyers' Company, 

 whose arms were granted before the middle of the fifteenth century. 

 It is mentioned both by Chaucer and Shakespeare, but in spite 

 of the fact of its European origin, and that it has been well known 

 for something like 500 years, and was introduced and cultivated here 

 as early as 1683, it cannot be said to be at all a common tree in these 

 islands. 



In Canon Ellacombe's lifetime I was familiar with his plant 

 at Bitton, near Bath, which must by now be 25 ft. high if no mis- 

 fortune has befallen it ; some half a dozen other specimens are 

 recorded by Mr. Elwes. It is the commonest oak to be found in 

 Syria, and Abraham's oak at Mamreh belongs to a variety of this 

 species, to which the exceedingly ill-chosen name of pseudo-coccifera 

 has been given : of this variety I also have one specimen, for which 

 my gratitude is due to Sir John Ross of Bladensburg, whose climate 

 in the beautiful Mourne Mountains I envy as much as a Christian 

 can with propriety do. 



Q. coccinea (Muenchhausen). — This is one of the most satisfactory 

 of the American oaks when transplanted to an English soil and climate, 

 but it is too well known to require any elaborate account of it here. 

 My oldest tree is 33 ft. high, with a girth of 1 ft. 10 in. I have also 

 two specimens of the variety Q. coccinea splendens, which was in- 

 troduced by Anthony Waterer. As far as I can see, it only differs 

 from the type in that its autumn colouring is exceptionally brilliant, 

 and for this reason alone the tree well deserves a place in any 

 collection, all the more that the lovely colour is retained in an ordi- 

 nary season for many days before the leaves fall. 



If, as is the case with many, I had but little space for tree-planting 

 and could only spare enough for, say, six oaks, I should select, having 

 regard to the distinct character as much as to the beauty of their 

 appearance, the following : Q. coccinea, Q. marylandica, Q. conferta, 

 Q. Phellos ; and among evergreens, Q. Vibrayeana and Q. acuta, for 

 the latter, if no handsomer, is indubitably hardier than Q. glabra. 



Q. conferta (Kitaibel), the Hungarian Oak. — If one regards its 

 shapely habit, stately rigid growth, or its showy, deeply-lobed foliage, 

 this is to my mind as satisfactory an oak as anyone can grow, and is, 

 as I have remarked in the last paragraph, one of the half-dozen which 

 I should plant if I were restricted to that number. Although European 

 in origin (from the S.E.), it does not appear to have been introduced 

 into the British Isles till towards the middle of the nineteenth century. 

 I have seen a good many specimens in various places on various soils, 

 but cannot anywhere recall a shabby, ill-grown one, and that for an 

 oak is high praise. I possess several young plants, of which the oldest 

 and biggest is now (191 9) over 25 ft. high, with a girth of 1 ft. 8 in. 

 at 3 ft. above ground. I think fig. 17 will prove that I have not 

 exaggerated its good proportions. Mr. Elwes records the existence 

 of this plant at Aldenham in 1908, when it was of course much smaller. 

 It is allied to Q. Toza, and was at one time regarded as a variety 



