20 
BRITISH OAKS — THEIR SPECIES, VARIETIES, USES, AND CULTURE. 
when the whole 300 feet is finished, to have on it Plums, Figs, and a few of the best 
keeping Grapes, such as West’s St. Peter, Muscadine and Hambro’s. The wall is heated 
by flues, and from the limited space between the sashes and the trees, the heat is quite 
sufficient to keep off frost and dampness. 
It will be seen, by the annexed Sketch, that no great expense is necessary except for 
rafters, and these may be made in the roughest and cheapest manner. In giving air, 
the lights are allowed to rest on the ground ; but when fitted close, a screw in the 
middle of each light fixed in the wood they rest upon, will keep them firm in their places. 
I leave the two-feet space below them quite open, but have a small door at each end of the 
wall to prevent strong draughts of air or stormy winds from shaking the lights off. 
December 1848. 
BRITISH OAKS— THEIR SPECIES, VARIETIES, USES, AND CULTURE. 
By Mr. C. MMntosli, Gardener to the Duke of Buccleuch , Dalkeith Palace. 
It was justly remarked by Mr. Loudon that, “ the Oaks, in point of usefulness to man, 
are only to be equalled by the Pine and Fir tribe. The latter may be considered the 
domestic, and the former the defensive, trees of civilised society.” Of these we have two 
recognised species indigenous to Britain, the Quercus pedunculata , (a) and Q. sessiliflora (b), 
and of each of these, many described, and undescribed varieties. 
The utmost confusion exists in cultivation in respect to these two species, and this must 
ever be the case whilst the seeds are gathered indiscriminately, and the culture of the trees 
carried on in the same way. When we state that the latter species will thrive in extremely 
poor soil, in which the former would make but little progress, it may induce planters to pay 
more attention to collecting the seed. 
The specific distinction between the two species is, — that in the former, the leaves 
are on very short footstalks, of an oblong form, smooth, dilated upwards ; sinuses rather 
acute ; lobes obtuse. Stalks of the fruit elongated. Acoras oblong. 
In the latter the leaves are on longish footstalks, deciduous, smooth, and oblong ; 
sinuses opposite, rather acute ; lobes of the leaves obtuse. Fruit sessile. Acorns oblong. 
The varieties of Q. pedunculata worth our notice are Q. p. fastigiata (c), the Q. pyra- 
midalis of the gardens. This is a very interesting and distinct variety, resembling in habit 
the Lombardy Poplar, and producing the same spire-like effect in landscape scenery, hence 
a desirable tree to introduce in Oak plantations to take off that formal, and round-headed 
outline, the tops of the common Oaks invariably present. 
