48 
SCARLET OAK, 
quercitron yields as much colouring matter as eight or ten parts of \ 70 ad. 
The decoction is of a brownish yellow, which is rendered deeper by alkali, 
and lighter by acids. A solution of alum causes a small portion of the 
colouring matter to fall in a deep yellow precipitate ; solutions of tin afford 
a more abundant precipitate of the same color, but of a much brighter 
hue. 
To dye wool, it is sufficient to boil the quercitron with an equal weight 
of alum ; in dipping the stuff, the deepest shade is given first, and after- 
wards the straw-colour; to animate the tint the stuff may be passed, in 
coming out of the dye, through water whitened with a little washed 
chalk. A brighter colour is obtained by means of a solution of tin. 
Quercitron may be substituted for woad, in giving all the shades of yellow 
to silk; the proportion is one part by weight to twelve parts of silk. In 
the advertisements of Philadelphia for February, 1808, this substance is 
rated at forty dollars a ton, and from that city chiefly it is exported to Europe. 
Though the wood of the Black Oak is of a better quality than that of 
the Scarlet, Spanish, Red, Pin, Gray, Willow and Water Oaks, which are 
all comprehended under the name of Red Ocd:, it is much inferior to that 
of the European Oak. But its stature, the rapidity of its growth in the 
coldest climates and on the most indifferent soils, and above all, the value of 
its bark in dying, recommend it powerfully to the notice of European 
foresters. 
PLATE XXIV. 
J1 leaf of the natural size. 
]SfoTE. — The small branch with the acorns belongs to the Scarlet Oak. 
SCARLET OAK. 
Q,uercus COCCIXEÂ. Q, foliis longé petiolatis, oblongis, profunde siniiatis, 
glabris ; lobis dentatis, acutis ; cupulâ insigniter sejuamosa ; glande brcvi 
ovatâ. 
The Scarlet Oak is first seen in the vicinity of Boston, but it is less 
multiplied than in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the upper 
