OAKS AT ALDENHAM. 



211 



troduced, the date being certainly anterior to 1700, it is still far from 

 common here, and it must therefore be assumed that, like so many 

 trees whose natural home is east of the Rockies, it does not readily 

 accommodate itself to European conditions. Messrs. Elwes and 

 Henry devoted much time and labour to the search for fine specimens 

 of exotic trees before publishing their great work, but they failed to 

 find any old or large examples of Prinus. Q. Muehlenbergii, which 

 is so closely allied to it that it used to be classed as a variety thereof, 

 has been growing (or to speak more accurately, standing still) at Alden- 

 ham for at least seventeen years, and is, as I have indicated under that 

 heading, a pretty hopeless proposition. With this fact before us, and 

 taking into consideration the history of Q. Prinus itself, there is 

 no ground for expecting that it will do any better than its close 

 ally. On the other hand, Mr. Bean records that young specimens 

 are thriving at Kew. 



If it could be persuaded to grow, it would be indubitably worth 

 growing, as the shining dark green obovate leaves, with their pale 

 grey downy under side and conspicuous bright yellow midrib, are 

 very striking. I have also a hybrid, Prinus X alba. As such hybrids 

 of the first generation are often exceedingly vigorous, it is quite possible 

 that this one may thrive better at Aldenham than either of the two 

 oaks, of which it is a conglomerate. My plant is 9 ft. high, and so far 

 is going strong. 



Q. rubra (Linnaeus), Red Oak. — This being one of the first to be 

 introduced and the commonest of American oaks to be seen in cultiva- 

 tion in Europe, it was naturally one of the first to be acquired at 

 Aldenham. For an oak it is in early life a veiy fast grower, and our 

 best tree. One on its own roots, given me about 1888 by the late Lord 

 Redesdale, is now nearly 40 ft. high, with a girth of just under 3 ft. 

 at 3 ft. above ground level. This species has a general similarity to 

 Q. coccinea and Q. palustris, but the leaves are larger, less deeply cut, 

 and with a duller under side ; the autumn colour too is usually inferior, 

 and the habit of growth is looser and freer in this than in those kindred 

 species. In respect of autumn colouring, this varies much in different 

 cases from dull brown to bright red, but whether this be due to soil, 

 climate, or to the characteristics of the particular plant, I cannot say ; 

 the colour seems to me to tend to become less brilliant as the tree gets 

 older. When grown in the open as a specimen, it is inclined to produce 

 over-long, weak, and spindly boughs, which if left unpruned give the 

 tree rather a weedy aspect, and cause it to take up too much room 

 for a medium-sized garden. On the other hand, it can be counted 

 on to thrive in most English soils and situations, by no means a usual 

 feature in a tree whose habitat is the eastern side of N orth America, 

 Westerners proving as a rule much easier to acclimatize. It is too, of 

 course, absolutely hardy. 



This is not a tree which has given birth to many notable varieties, 

 none are mentioned in Elwes, and only one in Bean. This, which 

 I possess, is a tall grafted standard, Q. rubra aurea, 20 ft. high, with 



