COLLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS. 
117 
the discovery may appear, the effects of it will he of the highest con¬ 
sideration to every planter who puts it in practice.” 
Forest Trees adapted for Plantations.—Ornamental 
Oaks.— Notwithstanding the great number of beautiful hardy trees, 
which have been introduced into Britain during the last twenty or 
thirty years, many persons continue to plant their parks and plea¬ 
sure-grounds with the commonest forest-trees, and generally speak¬ 
ing, with those indigenous to the country. Some persons vindicate 
this practice by alleging that the native trees of a country are most 
suitable to it; but we might just as well refuse to grow pine-apples, 
because they do not spring up wild in our woods, as reject the brilli¬ 
ant tints of American forest-trees, because nature has clothed ours in 
a more sombre livery. 
It is one of the most decided marks of civilization, and one of the 
greatest advantages of commerce to be able to assemble, in one spot, 
luxuries from different parts of the world. The savage is compelled 
to build his hut of the logs which he has felled, and to live on the 
game which he has killed with his own hands, or on the fruits pro¬ 
cured by his own labour; but the man living in civilized society has 
the products of a dozen different nations on his break fast-table. 
Foreign commodities have become necessary for our food, our furni¬ 
ture, and our clothing. Why then should foreign trees be banished 
from our pleasure-grounds P 
The prejudice in favour of native productions is not, however, the 
only obstacle to the introduction of foreign trees : many persons are 
ignorant of their beauty, and those who have heard them spoken of 
are perplexed by the nomenclature of a nurseryman’s catalogue, and 
are afraid of ordering trees designated by names which they do not 
understand, or which, at best, convey no definite ideas to their mind. 
Every one who has been in America speaks with rapture of the 
beauty of an American forest in autumn; the brilliant colours which 
the forests then assume are said to be almost dazzling, and most 
persons who have read a glowing description of American scenery at 
this season would be glad to realise it in Britain in their own plea¬ 
sure-grounds. This may now be very easily done, and at a very 
small expense. The beautiful reds of the American forests are prin¬ 
cipally produced by the oaks. It is not, perhaps, generally known 
that nearly a hundred different species of oaks may now be procured 
in our nurseries, nearly all of which are perfectly hardy, and may be 
grown with as little care as the common oak (Quercus pedunculata) 
of the British forests. Above forty of these oaks are from America, 
and one of the most beautiful of them is the Quercus coccinea, or 
