SCARLET OAK. 
49 
part of the Carolinas and Georgia, where it forms a part of the forests that 
are still standing : it is much less common in the lower parts of these 
states, which, as I have already observed, produce nothing but Pines. I 
have not seen it in the District of Maine, the States of New Hampshire 
and Vermont, nor beyond Utica in Genessee. In the Northern States it 
is confounded with the Red Oak, and in those of the South, with the 
Spanish Oak. The name of Scarlet Oak was given it by my father, and, 
though not in use by the inhabitants, it will probably be adopted, as the 
tree is evidently a distinct species. 
This is a vegetable of more than SO feet in height and of 3 or 4 feet in 
diameter. The leaves, which are supported by long petioles, are of a 
beautiful green, smooth, shining on both sides, and laciniated in a remark- 
able manner, having usually four deep sinuses very broad at the bottom. 
They begin to change with the first cold, and, after several successive frosts, 
turn to a bright red, instead of a dull hue like those of the Red Oak. At 
this season the singular colour of the foliage forms a striking contrast with 
that of the surrounding trees, and is alone a sufficient inducement to culti- 
vate the tree for ornament. 
The acorns are large, somewhat elongated, similarly rounded at both 
ends, and half covered with scaly cups. As this fruit varies in size with 
the quality of the soil, it is difficult to distinguish it from that of the Black 
Oak ; the only constant difference is in the kernel, which is yellowish in 
the Black Oak, and white in the Scarlet. 
The wood of this Oak is reddish and coarse-grained, with open pores. 
As it decays much more rapidly than the White Oak, it is employed 
by the builder and wheel- wright only from necessity or economy. It is 
poor fuel, and is used principally for staves : in the Middle States, a large 
part of the Red Oak staves are furnished by this species. 
The bark, though very thick and generally employed in tanning, is in 
no respect preferable to that of the Gray and Red Oaks. 
That this tree will flourish in France, is shown by an example at Ram- 
bouillet, where it makes part of a beautiful plantation 45 feet in height, 
formed in 1786, of species sent home by my father soon after his arrival 
in the United States. It is to be regretted that so fine a tree, which is so 
well adapted to our soil, shotfld afford such indifferent wood that we can- 
not recommend its introduction into the forests of Europe, nor its preserva- 
tion in those of the United States. 
PLATE XXV. 
A leaf of the natural size. 
Note. — The acorns in this plate belong to the Black Oak, 
7 
