182 
IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
and sawed into lumber. In the line of rail fences the 
white oak had no competitor for durability. Rails are now 
in use that have resisted the elements for forty years, 
though the average life cannot be stated to be so long, but 
is probably ten or fifteen years shorter. On the building 
of the railways large quantities of white oak timber were 
used for piling, bridge material, or ties; many of the ties 
being fashioned with abroad-ax driven by human power. 
The primeval trees are nearly all gone. The second 
growth consists of numerous individuals and constitutes 
the major portion of our white oak groves. The older 
trees range from sixty to one hundred feet in height and 
have a trunk diameter of from three to five feet. The 
young grove trees are from thirty to sixty feet in height, 
and are from four to ten inches in diameter. The former 
are usually much-branched, the branches rather large, 
while the latter are slender and with few or many small, 
slender branches. The second growth material gives excel- 
lent fuel, posts, small piling, etc. 
Our specimens are from Johnson, Van Buren, Appanoose, 
and Decatur counties. We have observed the species in 
Winneshiek, Allamakee, Clayton, Jefferson, Wapello, 
Ringgold, and Union counties. The State University has 
specimens from Delaware, Louisa, Lee, Dallas, Webster, 
and Pottawattamie counties. Professor Bessey reports the 
species from Story and Des Moinps counties; Professor 
Fink, from Fayette county; Professor Pammel, from Boone 
and Hardin counties; Mr. Reppert, from Muscatine county; 
Messrs. Nagel and Haupt, from Scott county; Professor 
Macbride, from Dubuque and Humboldt counties; Mr. 
Gow, from Adair county; and Mr. Mills/ by letter, from 
Henry county. 
White, Geol. Sur. of Iowa, Vol. 1, p. 1B8; Bessey, Contr. 
to the Flora of Iowa, p. 119; Arthur, Contr. to the Flora of 
Iowa, p. 29; Hitchcock, Trans. St. Louis Acad, of Science, 
Vol. 5, p. 517; Nagel and Haupt, Proc. Davenport Acad, of 
Nat. Sciences, Vol.. 1, p. 163; Fink, Proc. Iowa Acad, of 
Sciences, Vol. 4, p. 101; Fitzpatrick, Proc. Iowa Acad, 
of Sciences, Vol. 5, p. 127 and p. 163; Vol. 6, p. 196; Iowa 
