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TEntored  Hocordlng  to  Act  of  Conifross,  in  the  year  1876,  by  the  Ilural  PubllahlnK  Company,  in  the  oUlce  of  the  Ijlbrarlan  of  OonffresB  at  WashlnKton.i 
l^rboiiraltural, 
THE  OAKS. 
BY  THOMAS  MEEHAN. 
I  HAVE  made  the  Oak  family  a  Mpecial  study, 
and  from  the  experience  and  Jaiowlodgo  tbus  ac¬ 
quired,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  tho  lover  of 
trees  woiild  have  more  satiafacticpn  in  growing 
Oaks  than  ho  would  with  any  other  class.  Homo 
have  hewltaled  to  grow  those  trees  because  of  an 
idea  that  they  are  dilh<!ult  to  transplant.  This 
is  ti-uo  of  a  tree  that  has  never  been  moved.  To 
take  an  Oak  from  tho  wild  wooil  to  tho  garden  is 
surely  labor  throivn  away.  Oaks  have  each  a 
large  tap-root  and  a  few  main  roots  that  run 
ratlier  deep.  If  these  are  cut  olf  when  tho  tree 
is  but  a  year  or  two  old,  the  tree  makes  a  new 
set,  and  these  latter  keep  tolerably  near  tho  sur¬ 
face.  In  tho  com'SQ  of  a  few  years,  however, 
they  assume  a  downward  tendency,  and  ought  to 
be  again  transplanted. 
A  good  nursery  Oak  tree  should  be  transplanted 
twice  —  once  when  one  or 
two  years  oM,  and  again 
when  five  or  six.  Such 
trees  never  die  when  trans¬ 
planted  under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstaucos.  I  have  seen 
hundreds  moved,  after  such 
previous  treatment,  that 
were  at  least  12  feet  high 
and  9  to  12  inches  in  cir¬ 
cumference,  with  no  more 
loss  than  if  they  had  been 
willows  or  poplars  and  but 
6  or  8  foot  in  bight.  Two 
years  ago  I  saw  over  a  thou¬ 
sand  planted  with  a  loss  of 
less  than  five  i)or  cent. 
In  tranHj)lanting  all  trees 
a  httle  pruning  is  neces¬ 
sary,  a/id  to  the  Oak  espe¬ 
cially  is  the  use  of  the 
pruning-knife  very  grateful. 
But  a  pi’oper  discrimination 
should  ho  made  as  to  what 
you  cut  away.  Usually 
IJeople  simply  “  shorten  the 
branches. ’’  I  have  seen 
them  cut  so  that  they  were  'Sfea 
but  slumps,  with  half  a 
dozen  snags— mere  posts  for 
clothes-lines.  >.  7^ 
The  common  people,  who 
who  are  supposed  to  have 
little  horticultural  sense, 
say  they  may  as  well  get  a 
small  tree  as  pay  for  a  large 
one  and  then  cut  it  back  to 
stump.  And  I  guess  they 
are  right,  as  there  is  no  oc- 
casion  for  it.  It  is  bad 
pruning  in  science  as  well 
as  m  practice.  Good  prun- 
hig  leaves  all  tho  solid,  vig- 
orous  branches  and  cuts 
away  only  the  weaker  ones. 
It  is  these  sickly,  delicate 
things  that  always  die  first  - - 
Id  a  pinch,  any  how,  and  --tt 
when  We  are  going  to  have  - 
a  fight  witli  Nature,  as  w'e  — 
do  wheii  we  transplant,  the 
sooner  wo  dear  the  field  of 
^  sickly  soldiers  tho  better 
it  will  be  for  tho  rest.  Let 
any  one  try  this  in  trans- 
planting  and  li©  will  find  it 
literally  as  well  as  figura-  ^ 
lively  true.  Some  people 
object  to  meddling  with 
Oaks  because  they  grow  slow.  They  say  they 
will  not  live  to  see  ti’eos  of  them.  Now,  it  is 
rather  tho  other  way. 
Most  of  tho  Oaks  oi'o  rather  rapid  growers. 
True,  they  do  not  grow  with  tho  hriskness  of  a 
[  willow  or  a  poplar,  or  tho  Uerirdniera  of  Africa, 
which  will  increase  its  diameter  four  iuohes  a 
year  ;  but  I  know  of  numerous  cases,  and  in  dif¬ 
ferent  species,  whore  tho  diameter  of  the  Oak 
has  mcreaso<l  throo-qaarters  of  an  inch  in  a 
year,  and  not  timlcr  specially  favored  clrcum- 
stauoes  either.  I  have  cut  many  a  branch  from 
an  eight  or  ten-year  old  tree  that  has  given  four 
and  five  feet  of  growth  as  its  seasoirB  work. 
I  once  made  a  dozen  first-class  hitching-posts 
out  of  an  Oak  tree  but  tw’olvo  years  old,  and 
which  I  had  to  cut  away  because  of  a  now  street. 
Surely  that  was  growth  enough  to  satisfy  any 
reiisoiiablo  creature.  That  tree  was  of  a  foreign 
Hijccics,  however,  tho  Qiu^mn  robur,  or  Royal 
Oak,  which  tho  English  toll  us  has  “borne  for 
a  thousand  years  tho  battle  and  tho  breeze,” 
though  I  presume  not  growhig  at  this  rate  all 
the  time  throughout  the  centuries. 
Now,  1  am  not  much  of  a  materialist.  I  love 
money,  perhaps,  some,  but  I  prefer  to  have  with 
it  some  of  tho  spiritual  enjoyments  of  life,  I 
have  some  trees  on  my  property  no  money  could 
btiy.  They  seem  friends  of  mine.  There  are 
among  them  Cedars,  Tulips,  Chestnuts,  Gums, 
Sassafras  and  Oaks,  and  many  a  time  have  tlioy 
entertained  both  mo  and  mine. 
I  fancy  there  are  thousands  who,  like  me,  look 
up  to  some  tree  as  to  a  part  of  themselves,  and 
who  would  indignantly  spurn  tho  thirty  pieces  of 
silver  offered  to  betray  it.  But  there  are  other 
trees  and  other  aspects,  and  1  never  feel  so  much 
lilio  going  West  and  making  money  as  when 
I  look  uijon  my  young  Oaks  and  note  how  freely 
they  grow.  There  is  no  timber  to  equal  that  of 
the  Oak  for  certain  purposes.  Ask  any  railroad 
man,  any  fouco  -  maker,  any  bridgo-bnilder,  any 
maker  of  a  “barrack”  or  otlier  farm  building — 
tJiey  all  place  the  Oak  aliovo  and  far  in  advo.nco 
of  ethei-  wofsls.  Ask  British  shipbuilders  as  to 
its  value  lii  tho  construction  of  ships,  and  they 
will  tell  you  of  its  lasting  qualities  and  point  en- 
thnsiiistioally  to  tlner  old,  wooden  walls  nf  Gak 
hi  jiroof  of  what  they  say.  It  is  indeed  tho  Oak 
which  has  made  England  tho  great  nation  sho  is 
to-day. 
A  plantation  of  Oak  in  tho  West  would  be  a 
fortune  to  any  man,  and  he  could  turn  the  for¬ 
tune  over  a  dozen  times  in  a|  lifetime,  for  Oaks 
bocom©  profitable  very  soon.  I  should  plant 
them  about  as  far  apart  and  in  tho  same  manner 
as  corn,  so  that  for  the  first  two  or  three  years 
they  could  ho  hoo-harrowed  like  com,  to  keep 
tho  weeds  down. 
TTie  first  thinning  might  then  oommeuce,  and 
the  product  bo  turned  to  account  for  “stiaps" 
for  hoops  and  boxes,  for  which  there  is  always  a 
gocKl  demand ;  and  for  some  years  afterward,  in 
ways  which  ai'o  hardly  necessary  to  specify,  there 
is  an  annual  use  to  which  the  thinning  can  bo 
aiqilicd.  In  about  ten  years  tho  acorns  appear, 
and  then  the  mast  is  of  value  iii  feeding  bogs 
and  turkeys,  and  long  before  wo  know  It  tho  real 
timber  is  there !  I  am  quite  sure  that  if  I  had 
1(!0  acres  of  land  in  a  prairie  country,  I  would 
put  at  least  10  acres  of  it  in  Oak  timber,  foohng 
perfectly  satisfied  that  long — yes,  fon^— before  I 
should  grow  gray,  if  I  were  as  young  as  I  once 
was,  1  would  make  more  out  of  the  land  in  that 
way  than  I  should  out  of  any  other  part  of  the 
fanu. 
Of  varieties  for  rapid  timber  growth,  I  inolino 
to  the  opinion  that  the  English  is  tho  best,  not- 
withslauding  my  regard  for 
the  spociea  of  our  own  land. 
I  believe  it  will  grow  into 
money  faster  and  that  the 
thnbor  is  at  least  as  good  as 
any  in  this  oomitry,Livo  Oak 
not  excepte<l,  and  then  for 
the  purpose  of  hog  feeding 
none  can  ixiuie  near  it.  It 
bears  young  and  abundant¬ 
ly,  and  every  year. 
For  timber  puqioses,  of 
the  hardy  kinds  of  our  own 
species  adapted  to  cold  cli¬ 
mates  tho  White  Oak  is 
good;  80  Is  the  Chestnut 
Oak ;  next  I  should  place 
the  Black,  Hcarlet  and  Red 
Oaks.  Tho  hark  of  the 
Black  and  Chestnut  Oaks 
is  valuable  for  tanners’  use, 
for  after  all  tho  substitutes 
for  bark  in  tanning  and  the 
-  4  x>er  cent,  of  tannin  found 
in  HiiiniKi,  Volypodium  antr 
phihiuTn,  and  other  things, 
I  df  tubt  whether  must  tan¬ 
ners  would  not  prefer  good 
old  Oak  bark.  At  any  rate, 
wliile  wo  are  growing  good 
oak  timber,  we  are  making 
bark  also,  whereas  in  most 
i  IIiD  substitutes  tho  whole 
growth  is  useless,  except  for 
tho  percentage  of  tannic 
acid  they  coutuiu. 
rasahig  now  from  the  Oak 
as  an  aid  to  the  physical 
wants  of  man,  1  may  say  a 
few  words  for  tho  benefit  of 
^  those  who  take  an  intellect- 
ual  enjoyment  in  knowledge 
II^  ‘'"'o  wolf.  There  are 
about  8(H1  different  species 
of  Civic  known.  A  few  of 
tlietu  are  natives  of  Europe, 
V  But  are  more  abundant  in 
IBd  United  States.  The 
^  xJT  Oaks  of  tho  latter  country, 
I  however,  have  not  much  in 
—  ■  J  common  with  tho  European 
HIp  V  i  JjjlJ/  “lieelos.  The  Japanese  Oaks, 
1  oil  tho  other  hand,  bear  a 
close  afiiuity  to  those  of 
tho  Eastern  United  States. 
When  we  get  to  the  Rocky 
Monntalus  we  fiud  (^uercus 
undukUa,  and  here  we  find 
the  first  near  approach  to 
NEW  YORK  CITY,  SEIT,  %%  1876, 
VOI,.  X.VXIV.  Nil.  13.1 
WHOLE  No.  1391.  f 
I'llICK  BtXX.  CENT» 
PER  YEAR. 
